The five selected women, their companies and their respective countries are:
LEADS Mujer, the education platform created to encourage and promote entrepreneurship, leadership and empowerment of Central American women and developed by the Center for Collaborative and Women's Leadership of INCAE Business School and sponsored by Mastercard, announced the five finalists of its third edition, characterized by the large number of applications received.
LEADS Women is born with the objective of impacting women entrepreneurs committed to bring about significant change in themselves, their teams and their companies and brings the most up-to-date concepts of business acceleration into practice, empowering participants to transform knowledge into impact through the LEADS pillars: Lead, Undertake, Advance, Develop, and Sustain.
The selected women were chosen to refine their presentations on topics such as: persuasion and influence techniques, communication with impact, technical components of a business pitch; and on this occasion, they will be prepared to present their business before a panel composed of potential investors, experts and Mastercard executives, such as Luz Gomez, director for Latin America of the Center for Inclusive Growth.
Today, 29% of leadership positions are held by women globally, and it has been shown that companies with higher levels of gender diversity in management positions perform up to 35% better than those with lower levels.
On October 7, the selected companies will present their business acceleration plan to an international panel of judges, who will select the three winning projects that will receive financial awards to consolidate their companies. In addition, they will have the opportunity to receive private sessions with potential investors in order to begin negotiations in search of capital to accelerate their projects.
This program was born in 2019 as a space to promote female entrepreneurship in the region, and seeks not only an improvement in the business model of the participating project, but also to generate a productive chain that promotes the economic development of the communities where these companies operate.
The world is facing an unprecedented situation due to the COVID-19 crisis. Equipping women entrepreneurs with strategies to refine their strategy, evaluate plans, rethink, budget, forecast, stabilize their supply chain, adapt to new technologies and stay ahead of the curve is more important than ever.
According to the World Bank, women own 50% of small, medium and large companies in Latin America. However, there are still a number of challenges that Central American businesswomen face on a daily basis.
INCAE Business School and Mastercard join forces to strengthen and reward the efforts of women entrepreneurs in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. The program seeks companies that are in the growth phase, i.e. companies with sources of income and a customer base that drive their business, to take them to the expansion phase.
40 women from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama will be selected to participate free of charge in the Women's Entrepreneurship Development Program (WEDP), a virtual program taught by INCAE on strategy, upside down marketing, finance, operations, personal branding, networking, marketing and sales.
The program will also provide guidance on how to initiate the development of a business plan tailored to the current situation of COVID-19.
Date: November, 2020
Mode: Virtual
After completing the program, 10 of the 40 participants will be selected to receive mentoring sessions and business plan supervision.
For three months, professors from INCAE will help them develop a clearer vision for the future of their business.
The remaining 30 will receive one hour of feedback on the entrepreneurial growth business plans they developed in Phase I.
Date: February 15 to May 15, 2021
Mode: Virtual
In the final phase, 5 entrepreneurs will present their business to a panel composed of professors from INCAE Business School, potential investors and Mastercard executives, who will choose the 3 winning projects for an economic prize to consolidate their companies.
In addition, they will have the opportunity to meet with potential investors in order to begin negotiations for the search for capital. The finalists will receive training to prepare them for the presentation of their projects before a jury.
Date: July 5 to July 9, 2021
Modality: To be defined
LEADS Women is a 3-phase program that will provide a select group of women entrepreneurs with the tools to develop competencies and skills that foster creative and entrepreneurial thinking.
We invite all women entrepreneurs who consider having an innovative business to register, even if they do not meet all the additional requirements.
Here you can read the Regulations and our Data Handling Policy.
Receive highly specialized training in women's entrepreneurship, provided by expert faculty.
Meet and interact with women from other countries and invited experts to share experiences and learning.
Receive one-on-one mentoring with a faculty member at INCAE. Develop a business plan considering the current situation of COVID-19.
Have the opportunity to present their Business Pitch to a jury composed of faculty, Mastercard executives and potential investors.
The Entrepreneurship Center at INCAE , with the support of Mastercard, offers a free program through the IDB's Connectaméricas platform.
The Virtual Accelerator is an online certification in which the necessary tools for business growth are provided. Those who participate can expect:
Modules:
1: Growth and Internationalization Strategies
2: Marketing and Sales
3: Talent Management
4: Cash flow, financial management
5: How to finance growth?
6: Challenges in operations when scaling up
7: Corporate Governance
For the second consecutive year, INCAE and Mastercard launched the joint LEADS Mujer initiative in Central America, a three-phase program that provides a select group of women entrepreneurs with training, mentoring, access to seed funds and networks to accelerate or grow their businesses. This time, unlike last year, women from Guatemala and Honduras also participated.
In this edition, first place was awarded to Thelma Magdalena Martínez of Honduras with her company Koben Food Service S. de R.L.; second place went to Marianela González Alfaro of Costa Rica and her company Pimiento Rosa; and third place to Georgia Zárate Campos of Costa Rica and her company Gia&Co.
In 2018, the 1st Edition of LEADS Mujer was held, which began as an alliance between INCAE and Mastercard to strengthen the entrepreneurial skills of Central American women and reward the efforts of female entrepreneurs from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador.
The winners of this edition were: first place, Mónica Porras Picado, from Nicaragua, with her company ECOVIDA; second place went to Andrea Meoño Marín, from Costa Rica, and her company Hope Home; and third place to Ximena Esquivel, from Costa Rica, and her company Ximena Esquivel Joyería.
