May
13, 2004 - Washington, DC. On May 13th, 2004 the Young
Americas Business Trust (YABT) and their local partners
at the University of Rafael Landivar (URL) in Guatemala
hosted the international conference "Linking Entrepreneurial
Training and Incubators with the markets across the Americas
region." The conference made it possible for over
100 participants from 17 countries to learn from each
other, exchange best practices between their experiences
and collaborate in future programs of entrepreneurial
training and incubators. The goal was to identify needs
and linkages among programs and initiatives across the
region using the presentations made at the conference,
as well as to assess how these programs can add value
to the emerging markets in participating countries.
The YABT collaborated with the World Bank Global Development
Learning Network (GDLN) to offer a Dialogue through a
videoconference session with four other countries. This
allowed 35 participants from over 17 countries who were
present at the Guatemala conference to participate and
interact with other experts in Brazil, Costa Rica and
in Washington, DC. The Dialogue was incorporated into
the larger conference as a separate session, hosted at
the World Bank offices in Guatemala.
Panelists in some of the participating sites included
Mr. Roman Villaescusa, President of the Iberio-American
Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs from Spain;
Mr. Paulo Miranda, Executive Director of the Incubator
Development Resource Center (iDISC), an initiative supported
by the World Bank InfoDev project; Mr. Manuel Rosales
from the Office of International Trade at the Small Business
Administration (SBA), along with other representatives
from several Incubator Centers and training programs across
the region.
The opportunity for these panelists and others to speak
via this GDLN Dialogue allowed the participants to learn
from different experiences presented by the various
sites. From Brazil, Mr. Paulo Miranda explained details
about the management of the iDISC network of incubators,
and how the experiences and successes of Anprotec, www.anprotec.org.br,
made them the leading national incubator in Brazil.
Mr. Eugenio Peral, a US based representative of the
Codespa Foundation, www.codespa.org, stated: "The
possibility of learning about different points of view
was very interesting for me and for my Organization,
with a focus on job creation through vocational training.
Even though I did not have time to share my views with
the group, this discussion was very productive. I would
like to have the opportunity to participate in the next
Dialogue on this issue."
Also, the possibility of linking participants and programs
across borders was another positive outcome of this
dialogue. After hearing comments from Mr. Jorge A. Gandara
Gaborit, a leading director of the FUNDAP organization
in Guatemala, in the Washington, DC studio, Mr. Samuel
Perez, the Dean of Economics at the University of Rafael
Landivar, requested YABT to connect with Mr. Gandara
to explore collaboration between FUNDAP's rural entrepreneurial
programs and Mr. Perez programs at the University itself.
The SBA representatives in Washington, DC also received
several emails from other participants requesting further
information and collaboration between the different
incubator and trade programs offered by the SBA with
the participating countries in the Dialogue.
The positive feedback received from the participants
at this Dialogue has encouraged YABT, GDLN and its partners
across the region to organize another Dialogue on Incubators
in the following months. The Dialogue will provide real
examples and models of successful incubators from various
countries and allow them to share their experiences
with new and aspiring incubators across the region,
strengthening the exchange of knowledge and collaboration
between each other.
For more information on Youth Entrepreneurship related
activities in GDLN, please contact Bari Rabin at brabin@worldbank.org,
or Rafael Pinto (YBIZ2@oas.org).
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