The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will train 600 Ecuadorian entrepreneurs in vulnerable situations, through a project implemented by the Ecuadorian coworking company Impaqto.
The project “Economic Reactivation of MSMEs led by women in vulnerable situations in Ecuador” seeks to build a more inclusive ecosystem within Ecuador for MSMEs led by women in vulnerable situations.
Over the next 3 years, 600 women entrepreneurs will receive training in technical skills and soft skills, and a community of empowered women entrepreneurs will be developed, Impaqto said in a statement.
The project was born because women leaders of micro and small businesses in Ecuador, particularly those who belong to minority or vulnerable communities, face multiple challenges for the growth and sustainability of their businesses.
The goal is to establish and support an empowered community of women business leaders, including women from vulnerable groups, while providing them with guidance and tools for themselves and their families to improve their personal resilience.
For this, they will work with a diverse group of entrepreneurs from four different regions of Ecuador and will specifically seek to include indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian, rural, migrant and women communities with disabilities.
Among the topics that the training program will include are access to digital financial tools, financing opportunities, support to formalize businesses through the tax registry (RUC or RIMPE) and environmental sustainability.
In this way, it seeks to address the economic and social challenges faced by women entrepreneurs.
According to the report “The Costs of Violence against Women in Microenterprises in Ecuador”, by the German cooperation agency GIZ, five out of ten women owners of a microenterprise in Ecuador have been violated at least once during a relationship for their partner or ex-partner
To combat this and other issues, each participant will connect with female mentors from the entrepreneurial community as part of their training.
In addition, the best participants will be selected to be ambassadors and receive training to share information and experiences with their peers.
Through this project, the participating women will be empowered to lead more resilient and sustainable MSMEs, noted Impaqto, who will present the initiative on May 5 at its Coworking La Floresta, in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito. EFE