Wednesday night’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Day event was inspiring. The conference was led by Karla Ruiz, Guatemala’s WED Ambassador, who started the event by saying “It is not only about women entrepreneurs, it’s about the entrepreneurship movement in general”.
The conference started with an inspiring speech by Emilio Mendez, followed by an introduction to a Mentorship Program in Guatemala and ending with a recognition to one of Guatemala’s greatest women entrepreneurs, Isabel Gutierrez de Bosch.
Emilio Mendez, an innovator and a businessman, pointed out the the lack a long term vision that exists in Guatemala. He talked about the importance of redefining who we are as Guatemalans and how he felt that the newer generations of young entrepreneurs are on their way of achieving this.
The Mentorship Program selected 10 young women entrepreneurs who are an example of this new generation. Therefore, the Mentorship Program paired up each of these young entrepreneurs with not only a Mentor but also an Advisor in order to incentivize and guide them as they work towards improving our country. Here is the list of women who are changing Guatemala’s story with their energy, beliefs and visions.
Cris Acevedo: Founder of Alma Active
Mentor: Toti Fernandez
Advisor: Gabriel Delgado
Sol Girón: Founder of Kaleidoscopio
Mentor: Soizic Pallacher
Advisor: Juan Carlos Ruiz
Clara De Tezanos: Co-Founder of La Fototeca and GuatePhoto
Mentor: Mónica de Zelaya
Advisor: Carlos Luna
María Rodríguez: Founder of ByoEarth
Mentor: Nicole Rossell
Advisor: Rodrigo Arenas
Regina Sosa: Founder of Happy Mondays
Mentor: Carla Hess
Advisor: Pepo Toledo
Stephanie Zelaya: Singer and Founder of “Es Un Viaje”
Mentor: Verónica Riedel
Advisor: Emilio Méndez
Stephanie Falla: Co-Founder of Maestros del Web
Mentor: Sylvia Gereda
Advisor: Daniel Panedas
Marisabel Ruiz: Founder of SHEVA
Mentors: María Pacheco & Karla Ruiz Cofiño
Advisor: Philip Wilson
Adriana Godoy: Founder of Servilleteros Adriana Godoy.
Mentor: Carla Matta
Advisor: Alex Poulias
Andrea Villacorta, Gabriela Camacho & Mónica Niederheitmann: Founders of Look Magazine Guatemala
Mentor: Claudia Bosch
Advisor: Edgar Hernández
And to end the night, Claudia Bosch introduced an amazing woman who taught her many things in life, her mother Isabel Gutiérrez de Bosch. Isabelita, as she is known by her loved ones, is the woman responsible for the success of Corporacion Multi Inversiones. She received this honor with such modesty by thanking everyone and then saying “I don’t feel like I did that much”, which was such an understatement. She is an admirable woman, an inspirational entrepreneur, a woman who was born to help and has the spark of a 10 year old who loves life. We hope one day, we can accomplish as much as she has.
We believe in women empowerment and it was inspiring to see all those women and the amazing projects they are all working on. We can’t wait to see what happens in the next 10 years.
