By | Fundación Belcorp
At Fundación Belcorp, our objective is to promote the potential of women to transform society. For this purpose, and for 20 years since our creation in Lima, Peru, we have worked for women through programs that strengthen their leadership and entrepreneurial skills, and we seek to contribute to their economic empowerment and the construction of a more equitable society.
Our story began in Peru, and then we expanded to Colombia and Ecuador, where we identified the potential of our programs and were able to generate a significant impact in the communities. Then, we crossed borders and reached countries such as Chile and Bolivia, which allowed us to face and overcome great challenges to expand our purpose of transformation for Latin women. In 2023, with great enthusiasm, we will start operations in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, countries that have welcomed us very well and in which, like the rest, we have forged great alliances with local actors for the implementation of our programs.
At Fundación Belcorp, we have always understood that women are the most powerful agents of change and peace building in society, and that is why we have created a range of programs that allow us to provide them with the tools for such and to contribute to closing gender gaps. We started with programs such as Grandes Mujeres (Great Women), Emprendiendo Avanzamos (Entrepreneurship Moving Forward) and Mujeres Iluminando Mujeres (Women Empowering Women), which allowed us to enter the world of female entrepreneurship, providing training to strengthen businesses led by women, and likewise, supporting the financing of access to quality higher education for our Belcorp consultants and/or their daughters.
Today, we have programs such as the digital version of Mujeres Sin Límites (MSL), Mujeres Sin Límites Rural (MSL Rural), Emprendedora Lab and the business accelerator, through which we have generated value for women entrepreneurs and their businesses in Latin America, hand in hand with universities and operators noted for their excellence. With these programs, we provide tools for the development of their business, and entrepreneurial and personal skills, through training sessions, mentoring, and technical advice to invest in their professional and personal growth.
Our actions in different countries:
Our Foundation’s regional management is located in Peru, so all regional initiatives start from there. In the two decades of our existence, we have benefited around 13,000 Peruvian women with scholarship programs for higher education and strengthening of entrepreneurship, in which we have worked with the Universidad del Pacífico (Pacific University) and important allies.
During 2023, we held the first edition of the “Emprendedora Lab (Entrepreneur Lab)” contest, calling more than 130 university students, who proposed projects to solve current problems faced by women entrepreneurs. We are also sponsors of the Kunan Challenge in the ‘Impulsa Mujer (Women Empowerment)’ category, a scenario that allows us to significantly support women’s initiatives aimed at generating value and closing gaps in their territories and communities. During 2024, we will launch the MSL Rural program to reach rural Peruvian women entrepreneurs.
In Colombia, through our scholarship program, Mujeres Iluminando Mujeres, we have been able to benefit more than 400 women and young people through scholarships so that they can access higher education in high quality universities, allowing them to access opportunities to improve their quality of life.
In addition, together with our partners, we have benefited more than 18,000 women entrepreneurs. We operate the MSL program with the Universidad del Rosario (University of the Rosary) from Bogota to reach every corner of Colombia, connecting with women from all regions, cities and departments; a great union of the entire national territory. We also participate in initiatives for women, including the Cafam Women’s Award, with special recognition from Fundación Belcorp, as the only sponsor to award an extra prize at the ceremony.
In 2023, we launched the Women Without Rural Limits program with the Women’s World Corporation and USAID Colombia in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca. This program, of about one year, provides 100% face-to-face and personalized training to women entrepreneurs in rural areas of Buenaventura and Valle to strengthen their businesses, production chains and cultural and empowerment skills. From 2025 onwards, we will continue to launch this program in more areas of the country.
On the other hand, towards the south of the continent, in Chile, the actions of Fundación Belcorp have allowed strengthening the importance of the role of the entrepreneurial woman in society, encouraging the training of hundreds of female entrepreneurs together with Chilean universities such as Universidad Adolfo Ibañez (The Adolfo Ibañez University) and Universidad Andrés Bello (The Andrés Bello University), contributing not only to the formation of their entrepreneurial capacities, but also to the strengthening of their self-esteem and self-valuation of the role they play in their daily lives.
Also in this area, we have focused on sponsoring organizations that work directly with women entrepreneurs, such as Corporación Dolores Sopeña (The Dolores Sopeña Corporation) and Fundación Mil Mujeres Más (A Thousand More Women), contributing to build spaces to make female entrepreneurship visible through entrepreneurial fairs, as well as events that bring together women from different areas, in order to join forces to promote gender equality.
On the Ecuadorian side, since 2007, we have impacted 4,311 women throughout the country, of which 1,000 women entrepreneurs have been part of our MSL program operated by the Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEC), ranked as the 5th best university in the world. Together with TEC, we have been able to strengthen the entrepreneurial leadership, value proposition, solid sales growth, and adequate financial management of Ecuadorian women entrepreneurs. It is clear to us that learning in community strengthens the experience of our participants and of entrepreneurial women who are part of organizations such as Fundación Nuestros Jóvenes (Our Youth Foundation) and Clown Hospitalario (Clown Inpatient), which have also benefited from our program.
In 2023, in Ecuador we will sponsor the Women Entrepreneurship Award at the EWC Entrepreneurship World Cup, the most important startup competition in the world, organized by Krugerlabs, with a total of more than 370,000 entrepreneurs in more than 200 countries. We know that joining forces multiplies benefits and leads us to generate greater impact on the women of Latin America.
In the case of Bolivia, we launched the second edition of the Mujeres Sin Límites (Women Without Limits) program, and to date, we have reached 738 women entrepreneurs, growing 23% vs. 2022. We count on our partner the Universidad Privada Boliviana (Bolivian Private University), which is an expert in entrepreneurship. We are proud that in 2023 we will have exceeded the goal of women trained, as we graduated 410 women.
In our most recent countries of intervention, with the MSL program we have benefited around 1,000 women in Mexico and more than 400 in the Dominican Republic. We have forged important and strategic ties as we seek to strengthen social investment in these countries, for which we count on allies such as the TEC de Monterrey (TEC of Monterrey) and the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM). In both countries we exceeded the goal of graduating women entrepreneurs by 2023, and in the case of Mexico, we had a success rate of women graduates 51% higher than projected. For 2024, we will launch MSL Rural for Mexican women with Fundación ProEmpleo (Pro Employment Foundation).
