Pro Mujer Launches Emprende Platform to Incubate Women-Owned Microenterprises in Latin America

The US-based social enterprise Pro Mujer this week launched the pilot phase of its Emprende platform, a Spanish-language resource for women running “subsistence” enterprises. Pro Mujer chose 600 women from 3,000 applicants to participate in the three-month pilot, which offers “pre-incubation” and incubation services in three categories - skills, collaboration and e-commerce.

Over time, Pro Mujer plans to expand the platform in multiple ways, such as by offering: (1) a range of modes – in-person, online and hybrid; (2) mentoring provided by peers and executives; and (3) replicating the platform in Portuguese to serve women in Brazil and in English to serve women in the Caribbean. Although the program is free to users at this time, Pro Mujer plans to begin charging a fee – perhaps in 2023 – to users who are able to pay for the service. As of now, a primary funder of the pilot phase is the Visa Foundation, an affiliate of the US-based payment technology form Visa.