Tech Latinas: Latin American Women for Technology

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Aim/Purpose: The directors of Tech Latinas were happy with what they had created and the impact their company had made in Ecuador, Peru and Guatemala. Now that they had seen their vision come to fruition in ways that were astounding to them. They wanted to take the next steps in growing their business so Tech Latinas mission could spread beyond its current bounds. Before working out the logistics, the Tech Latina team expanded their vision. They wanted to scale Tech Latinas throughout Latin America. They hoped to find the best talent among the 37 million young women in these countries who were currently either unemployed or informally employed. They estimated that 1.2 million web developers in Latin America would be required that by 2025. Background: The entrepreneurial tech wave has hit Latin America hard, and it appears to be gaining momentum. A new generation of millennials and post-millennials, led by a group of early entrepreneurs in their late 30s to early 50s, believes that it can improve lives by creating new and better solutions to everyday problems. One such area is teaching coding and tech skills to women who live in middle to low-income Latin American households. Despite the advantages and opportunities, there are also great obstacles to make it all happen in Latin America. Some cultural and some systemic. Culturally, Latin Americans are very averse to risk, and most only invest in “secure” ventures such as real estate. The lack of financial education is a key factor that does not allow potential entrepreneurs to thrive. On the systemic side, corruption, lack of institutional trust and impunity are probably the biggest hurdles to surpass in the next few years. Companies need to think globally and compete against global competitors. Methodology: Data was collected through a qualitative approach with several in-depth interviews Contribution: In following trends of Latin American growth and development, the main opportunities will end up being in the technology sector as advances in education and know-how disseminate. The hope is that this knowledge gap will provide jobs for millions trying to lift themselves out of poverty. Findings: That nascent ventures in Latin America face different and unique challages. The ability to scale and the lack of capital that would invest in social causes is unfortunately scarce in the region. This makes it difficult to Recommendations for Practitioners: This case could be used for discussion around lessons from emerging market entrepreneurship. Many strategies of the struggles and triumphs of Latin American entrepreneurs are worth noting as practitioners due to the acute necessity-driven approach to many Latin American entrepreneurs toward venture success. Recommendation for Researchers: Maybe employing a scale of some sort to differentiate net impact socially and economically these tech educational training facilities Impact on Society: That there is a need to support organic entrepreneurial efforts in not only gaining returns but supporting social causes that lift societies. Also, it is a wise investment to invest in women and in emerging economies. Future Research: It would be interesting to further follow the Tech Latinas and other initiatives in this area of knowledge transfer and economic development. It would be interesting to do a study or a scale of results of impact between countries not only in Latin America but other women coding and IT training efforts around the world.