Driven by the Libertad-Gaete Business Board and taught by IRADE

With the delivery of diplomas and competitive funds, the “Entrepreneurial Capacity Development Program” concluded, an initiative executed by IRADE and promoted by the Libertad-Gaete Business Board, a collaboration and work instance made up of the companies Blumar, CBB, CAP Acero, Friopacífico, Inchalam, Landes, PacificBlu, as well as Asipes.

In total, 15 entrepreneurs from Talcahuano approved the Program, of which six also secured competitive funds to boost and scale their projects. The participants underwent an intensive work agenda that included nine online workshops that translated into 27 hours of training.

Jeanette Villegas, a beneficiary entrepreneur who stood out with her fabrics using the amigurumi technique, stated that “this project has been spectacular because it has helped me grow more, I didn’t think I could accomplish many more things than I can do now and with the training and all the tools they gave us, I believe that each one of us will go very far”.

It is worth noting that the objective of the program was to strengthen the businesses that existed in the Libertad-Gaete territory, most of them led by women, and that operated informally. The idea came from the residents themselves as a response to the need to support entrepreneurships that emerged many of them in the context of the health and economic crisis that the country is experiencing.

According to the Director of Public Affairs at PacificBlu and spokesperson for the Libertad-Gaete Business Board, Carla Pettinelli, “the possibility of training and strengthening the informal micro-enterprises in the Libertad-Gaete sector fills us with pride and we are confident that this training will be a great tool to strengthen them and continue scaling their respective enterprises, which in most cases are the economic support of the family and engines of the economy in the neighborhoods”.

For her part, IRADE’s General Manager, Carolina Parada, highlighted that “the most important thing here is the collaboration between companies in service of a cause that is very concrete, which is to contribute to the formalization of the issue and to strengthen the entrepreneurial capacities of the residents of the Libertad and Gaete neighborhoods. The work that companies do together under this board can have significant effects on people’s lives and I think that should be valued greatly”.

Finally, the Regional Secretary of Economy, Development and Tourism of the Biobío Region, Mauricio Gutierrez, stated that “there are several things that we as a government have always wanted and that are achieved today; the promotion of entrepreneurship which is key to the country’s development, the linking of companies with the environment and with the social environment where they operate is also very desirable”.