In 2023, Impulso Chileno celebrated its 5th anniversary. Since its first edition, the initiative founded by Andrónico Luksic and now a program of Fundación Luksic, has supported over 650 entrepreneurs from across the country.
This entrepreneurship support program has three components: funding, training in partnership with the UC School of Management, and mentoring provided by the Simón de Cirene Corporation. Over the five editions, around 500 volunteer mentors, including entrepreneurs, academics, and professionals with outstanding expertise and experience, have participated to support the winners.
Since 2020, Fundación Luksic’s Entrepreneurship department has promoted the participation of executives from the Luksic Group in the program’s mentoring sessions. 37% of them come from companies such as Banco de Chile, Enex, SAAM, CCU, Antofagasta Minerals, among others.
To celebrate and highlight the participation of the mentors who have been involved in Impulso Chileno, the Foundation invited them to a gathering at the IF Blanco de Recoleta. Amidst long hugs of reunion, much joy, and emotion, the nearly 100 attendees had a space to get to know each other, share their experiences in this process, and learn about the evaluation, redesign, and impact assessment cycle that the program has undergone.
Fundación Luksic’s Director of Entrepreneurship, Cristián Schalper, welcomed the attendees and presented the program’s results: “Mentors play a crucial role in an entrepreneur’s business journey, inspiring and sharing their experience, providing support, emotional assistance, and a boost of confidence. In these 5 years, we only want to emphasize our greatest admiration and gratitude to each of the mentors. The growth of the winners is also thanks to you.”
At the event, mentors also had the opportunity to taste products from three winning ventures: Cervecería Keyer, Partisanos Pizzería, and Bendita Fe’s artisanal Italian ice cream popsicles. Additionally, special recognition was given to Beatríz Masferrer, Ariel Matus, Fernando Gaete, and Catalina Bay Schmidt for their commitment as mentors in the last five editions.
“I always feel among friends, welcomed, and I appreciate the support from the mentors. Hopefully, we can continue impacting more entrepreneurs and that this work can continue to scale. I am very grateful for the opportunity to contribute and give a little something to make Chile better,” remarked Bay Schmidt during the event.
On the other hand, Cristóbal López, a mentor from the Simón de Cirene mentoring network in the Valparaíso Region, also attended the gathering. “I’m really happy to be here; this reception is great. I’ve been working as a mentor for a long time, so I know several people. It’s always nice to meet again. For me, mentoring is a way to give back everything that has been given to me through education. Doing mentoring is time well spent,” he said during the event.
In January 2024, the 250 winners of the sixth edition will be announced, bringing the total number of entrepreneurs who have participated in the program to over 900. Like in the previous five editions, each winner will be assigned a mentor based on the “match” logic to achieve their objectives, according to their interests and challenges. All information will be published on fundacionluksic.cl.
