From the regions of Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Biobío, Los Lagos and Metropolitana come the 70 women entrepreneurs who have participated in the two versions of the Despega Mujer program of the Luksic Foundation, in alliance with the Simon de Cirene and Construyendo Mis Sueños corporations.
Aware that the pandemic has had a greater impact on female labor participation, in 2021 the Luksic Foundation launched the Despega Mujer program, which aims to empower women who already have a good entrepreneurial profile to promote their passage to a higher business segment, through comprehensive support with a gender approach.
“We are very proud of the good results of these two versions, where in addition to supporting the winners with new tools and knowledge to apply to the growth of their business, we have given them the confidence to empower themselves as women and have confidence in themselves and their abilities,” said Paola Luksic, president of Fundación Luksic.
In the first version of the program, women entrepreneurs who had previously received support from Fondo Esperanza were invited to participate, while for the second edition Banigualdad joined the program. Both are entities that offer financial support, training and accompaniment to micro and small entrepreneurs in the country.
Despega Mujer: comprehensive support
The program has four components: financing, training, personalized mentoring and learning circles. Each entrepreneur received a total of 2 million pesos, who used these resources to acquire fixed assets and construction materials to improve the physical spaces of the business and productive capacities.
In addition, through an online platform, the winners had access to different modules that addressed financial issues, efficient use of money, organization, new sales and marketing strategies, among others.
With respect to the mentoring, each entrepreneur was accompanied by a woman, an expert in the business area, who provided the entrepreneurs with guidelines to establish the needs of the business and how to overcome certain obstacles.
“I want to thank you for this tremendous experience and opportunity, for everything you taught us and for making us more confident, empowered and much more capable women. Now I am confident to continue to grow and meet new goals,” says Gladys Sáez, winner of the second edition of the Despega Mujer program.
Finally, the entrepreneurs participated in sessions in the learning circles, whose main objective was to enable them to share learning and experiences, in addition to building a local support network, since the groups are created on the basis of the geographical proximity of the winners.
“The winners of Despega Mujer have once again confirmed to us the strength of Chilean women entrepreneurs. Due to the good results, this year we will launch a new version to continue empowering more women and shortening the gender gap in the entrepreneurship ecosystem,” explained Cristián Schalper, director of the Entrepreneurship area of Fundación Luksic.
