LEADS Academy for Women is a platform that allows women entrepreneurs in Latin America to take a program that will offer them tools and knowledge to improve their business strategy, with the objective of growing their businesses.
This is a multi-phase training program in which a select group of 40 women entrepreneurs will receive training, mentoring to develop a robust business plan, regional networking and personalized follow-up for 6 months after completion of the plan to measure success in implementation.
LEADS, which stands for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Development and Sustainability, stems from research conducted at DRCLAS at Harvard and covered by CNN on "The Challenge of Women Entrepreneurs in Latin America", in which more than 400 women entrepreneurs across the region identified lack of funding resources, lack of support networks and lack of management training as a risk of abandonment. This study was conducted by Cardoza, Ilie, García and Fernández.
A group of women entrepreneurs will be selected to participate free of charge in a virtual program taught by INCAE on strategy, upside down marketing, finance, operations, personal branding, networking, marketing and sales.
After the academic module, participants will receive mentoring sessions and supervision of their acceleration project. For three months, expert mentors will help them develop a clearer vision of their company's future and strategies for growth and internationalization.
The entrepreneurs will present their acceleration project to a panel of professors from INCAE, potential investors and stakeholders, who will evaluate them and select the most outstanding projects that will receive financial awards for the growth of their businesses.
In the final stage, each participant will receive personalized follow-up for six months by their mentors, to measure the success in the implementation of their acceleration project, make adjustments and an accurate measurement of the improvements for their business.
LEADS Academy for Women is a 4-phase program that will provide a select group of women entrepreneurs with the tools to develop competencies and skills to foster creative thinking and accelerate their businesses.
All women entrepreneurs who believe they have an innovative business can register, even if they do not meet all of the additional requirements.
* LEADS Academy for Women takes the commitment of selected participants very seriously, so there is a monetary penalty for dropping out of the program at any stage. For more details, please refer to the Program Regulations.
