- The Wiese Foundation, a non-profit organization, will launch the second edition of its “Entrepreneurship Fund” program, with the objective of forming citizens committed to the sustainable development of the country.
- The program is directed at social businesses at the national level, and the call for applications will begin on November 15 at www.fundacionwiese.org/fondo-emprendedor.
- The Entrepreneurship Fund’s purpose is to become a platform for Impact Investment that allows for the identification and promotion of legally constituted social businesses in Peru.
Lima, October 26, 2022 – The Wiese Foundation, a non-profit organization, will invest at least S/. 150,000.00 and an equivalent amount in training, mentorship, and advising to businesses that are in the stages of validation or preparation for scaling, and that have been created to address a social problem, in a sustainable way, through their commercial success.
The second edition of the Wiese Foundation’s “Entrepreneurship Fund” program’s goal is to become a platform for Impact Investment that allows for the discovery and promotion of legally constituted social businesses in Peru. As part of their mission, these businesses incorporate people from a vulnerable community into their production chain as providers of goods or services, or offer them physical and economic access to products and services that fit their needs, providing for their wellbeing and improving their quality of life.
In line with this, and for the second time, the Wiese Foundation is preparing the call for applications to the program, which it is planning to launch this November 15. The Wiese Foundation invites businesses and entrepreneurs to submit their applications.
“Every three years, the Entrepreneurship Fund calls for applications from social businesses at the national level with the goal of choosing those that will make up its portfolio; the selected social businesses receive professional strategic mentorship, training, and direct financing, personalized to fit their needs, over the course of at least 18 months”, explains Ingrid Claudet, general manager of the Wiese Foundation.
In 2022, the Entrepreneurship Found is being supported by various institutional allies committed to the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship, such as Unesco, W-Capital, and UTEC Ventures: “More and more institutions are committing to our project, joining us and working for the development of the country through impact investment and social entrepreneurship”, states Claudet.
“At the Wiese Foundation, we believe in the power of cultural heritage, as a creator of legacy, as a generator of identity and socioeconomic development for Peruvians. Furthermore, we are convinced of the urgent necessity to improve the quality of education that the country offers its citizens, to unblock our path as a Nation toward inclusive and sustainable progress”, details Claudet. “Therefore, in this edition, we will give bonus points to the social businesses that can demonstrate some type of connection to the valuation and preservation of our material and immaterial cultural heritage”.
Application process: Stages
- STAGE 1: Selection and evaluation of applications
Applications will be received and evaluated, and those selected will be invited to the pre-acceleration stage.
- STAGE 2: Pre-acceleration and the process of due diligence
During this stage, a process of due diligence will be completed for each of the eight (8) finalists. During this stage, the entrepreneurs will be analyzed, the abilities of their management team will be assessed, and action plans will be developed to fill in gaps in skills; parallelly, the business model will be evaluated for its opportunities for growth, capacity for scaling, and impact.
- STAGE 3: Entry into the portfolio of the Entrepreneurship Fund and the acceleration stage
The social businesses that, during the pre-acceleration stage, manage to complete the due diligence process satisfactorily will be evaluated by the Investment committee of the Entrepreneurship Fund. As a result of this evaluation process, four (4) social businesses will be selected to make up the Program’s second portfolio and, consequently, continue on to the acceleration stage.
This stage provides the following additional benefits; financing of at least S/. 150,000.00 in the form of (1) revolving donations, (2) soft loans, and/or (3) grants; strategic mentoring and strengthening of the professional network for a period of up to eighteen (18) months; and personalized training for the management team of each business, through workshops led by renowned mentors and institutional allies of the Program.
