Portfolio of eight projects to receive investments of more than $10.3 million from USAID, and organizations and businesses from various sectors to support Small and Growing Businesses
Contact: Alissa Moen
alissa.moen@aspeninstitute.org
Guatemala City, Guatemala, July 12, 2022 – The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Guatemala presented the eight organizations selected to receive funds from the Guatemala Entrepreneurship and Development Innovation (GEDI) Initiative. Vice President Kamala Harris announced GEDI in June.
The organizations proposed creative and novel approaches to address issues that Guatemalan entrepreneurs face, particularly around access to finance and markets. These innovative solutions will also increase capital and provide business support services for Guatemalan entrepreneurs in the departments of Quetzaltenango, Jalapa, Jutiapa, Santa Rosa, Retalhuleu, Suchitepéquez, and Huehuetenango.
The initial portfolio of projects led by entrepreneurial service organizations will receive investments of more than $10.3 million from USAID, and organizations and businesses from various sectors to support Small and Growing Businesses (SGBs).
Representatives of the United States Embassy, USAID, civil society organizations, and the entrepreneurial sector held an announcement event at El Cubo Centro, near Antigua Guatemala, where they presented the following organizations and projects:
- Alterna will provide technical services for business-market intelligence, strategic-financial knowledge, and digitalization for 80 SGBs and six groups of organic coffee, cocoa, and vegetable growers.
- EARTH University will help entrepreneurs in rural communities increase investment capability and access new markets for specialty mushroom, honey, and coffee products.
- FUNDES will provide entrepreneurs access to start-up capital and new markets, to establish new sale points. The project will also establish 100 enterprises with a social microfranchise model for the sale of prepared foods.
- Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas will create a network of women entrepreneurs through tailored business training and mentoring for 80 women-led, small and medium enterprises.
- Mercy Corps will help 770 coffee farmers gain access to more profitable markets by coffee quality certification, and it will bring improved water and sanitation to the communities of 1,500 farmers.
- Multiverse will establish a regional business center in Huehuetenango and Quetzaltenango, to foster a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem and to create linkages between distant communities and regional hubs.
- Pomona Impact Foundation will develop a private capital portfolio of $3 million for SGBs, of which $1.5 million will be invested in renewable energy companies.
- Red Global de Empresarios Indígenas will offer business services in local Maya languages, designed for indigenous entrepreneurs to overcome barriers to entry into formal markets.
For more information, please contact GEDI manager Alissa Moen: alissa.moen@aspeninstitute.org
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