“When an entrepreneur moves forward, Chile moves forward”. With that phrase and the joyful guitar playing of the song and official video of the third version of Impulso Chileno, the Luksic Foundation welcomed the 100 new winners of the contest who, gathered via Zoom, showed their faces of enthusiasm and expectation on their small screens.
After the video, Álvaro Ípinza, general manager of the Luksic Foundation, gived some words to the entrepreneurs: “You, the 100 winners of Impulso Chileno 3, are ambassadors of the entrepreneurial spirit in our country. I congratulate you enormously for all the work you have done in the Impulso Chileno process, for how you told us about your projects with conviction and heart. Keep that energy because now comes the most important part: the academic program. Good luck for what is to come and congratulations again!
The 100 winners of this third version won between $3 and $5 million chilean pesos to finance their entrepeneurs and six months of classes and training with experts from the Escuela de Administración UC and the Corporación Simón de Cirene. The academic support will begin on January 14.
This year’s call was made in a difficult context for entrepreneurs, who were greatly affected by the economic crisis that arose as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. For this reason, the Luksic Foundation decided to increase the total number of winners and the total fund to be distributed. The results were surprising: more than 18,000 entrepreneurs from all over Chile applied, of which 400 semi-finalists remained in the race and 100 winners were finally selected. Of these, 70% were from the regions and 30% from the Metropolitan Region.
During the activity, the head of Entrepreneurship of the Luksic Foundation, Cristián Schalper, officially welcomed the program. Also participating in the ceremony were José Tessada, director of the Escuela de Administración UC, and Alejandra Iacobelli, Head of the Entrepreneurship Area of the Corporación Simón de Cirene, who joined in the congratulations and, together with their respective teams, explained how the program will work in terms of financing, mentoring, training and the projection of expected results.
Finally, a space was given to the winners to clarify doubts and give their appreciations and expectations of the program, where they were able to share words of gratitude, excitement and expectations of what is to come.
Much success to all, we hope that together we can move your business forward!