My business pitch awarded two female entrepreneurs in Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo.

On October 29, eight women entrepreneurs participated in the “My Business Pitch” event in the city of Pachuca de Soto in the state of Hidalgo. This event was part of the 9 pitches held in 10 states of the Mexican Republic during the months of October and November.

This celebration was made possible thanks to the collaboration of The Trust for the Americas, through Proyecto VIVE, and CREA Comunidad de Emprendedoras Sociales A.C., which joined forces in June 2019 to implement the “Women Discovering Their Potential” (MDP) program.

The training in the MDP program consisted of taking a 52-hour course. During this period, topics such as personal initiative, customer service, the CANVAS model, business skills development, and the prevention of violence against women and girls were covered. The culmination of this entire process was the presentation of a business idea or the strengthening of their ventures in a unique, innovative, and different way.

The prize for the winners was a cash award of $1,000 USD and specialized mentoring aimed at strengthening their startups.

The presentation of the eight finalists kicked off after the speech by Klaudia González, National Coordinator of the VIVE Project. “We are very happy and excited to be with you and learn about your businesses; today everyone is a winner since we know it was not easy to get here,” she commented.

Each participant had a 3-minute intervention to show the jury the value proposition and strengths of each business idea. The attendees concluded that it was a tight contest since the presented ventures were well-developed, but a decision had to be made to award the prizes. The process to choose the winners considered a few aspects: CANVAS model, training performance, and Pitch presentation.

After the tallying of the points, the award ranking was determined: Laura Mejía Mendoza earned the highest score with her artisanal candy and snack business “El Trompadín”; the second winner was Sharon Aguilar Islas, who, along with her sister, makes artisanal treats for dogs, “Las galletas de Toby”.

We also had the opportunity to learn about many of the business ventures run by the women of Pachuca, since a fair featuring businesses from other women who are also part of the Women Discovering Their Potential program was set up in Independence Square next to the monumental clock.

The sum of these efforts is making a difference in reducing the economic and social inequality gap experienced by women in this country. One can feel that Proyecto VIVE helps create an environment of sisterhood that inspires other women to break the stereotype of what it means to be a woman in Mexico.