WeXchange, a program of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group’s IDB Lab, recently started accepting applications from female entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean for the WeXchange Women STEMpreneurs Competition. The competition targets women whose businesses leverage science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and are “raising financing from pre-Seed to Series B rounds.” Applications will be accepted until March 31.
On May 15, a jury of investors will select 15 startups, whose leaders will travel to Colombia for the IDB Lab Forum on June 13-14, 2023. The entrepreneurs will have access to a range of workshops as well as mentoring via the Startup Academy, a program of US-based technology firm Google.
Google is owned by Alphabet, which reports having earned net income of USD 76 billion during the calendar year 2021, ending the period with total assets of USD 359 billion.
Established in 1993, IDB Lab is an “innovation lab” that tests models for facilitating growth that is inclusive of “vulnerable people affected by economic, social or environmental factors.” During the third quarter of 2021, IDB Lab approved 49 projects with a total value of USD 60 million.
The IDB Group is active in Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition to the IDB Lab, it comprises IDB, which provides “financial and technical support for countries working to reduce poverty and inequality,” and IDB Invest, which funds “projects to advance clean energy, modernize agriculture, strengthen transportation systems and expand access to financing.”
By Renata Samadova, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
IDB press release
https://www.iadb.org/en/news/idb-lab-and-google-launch-new-call-women-stem-entrepreneurs
WeXchange homepage
https://wexchange.co
IDB Lab homepage
https://bidlab.org
IDB Lab report for the period ending September 2022
https://www.iadb.org/document.cfm?id=EZSHARE-369913193-161
IDB homepage
https://www.iadb.org
Google description
https://about.google
Previous MicroCapital article on IDB
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-soleco-deetken-idb-deliver-women-in-solar-training-in-jamaica/
Did you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Download a sample at https://www.microcapital.org/products-page/.
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