Emprende.Lab

In Colombia 51% of the population are women and 48% of the entrepreneurs here are also women. The gap is closing, but women faces barriers to develop businesses such as: perceived as less prepare, less investment and access to entrepreneurship programs, adding the growing unemployment due to the actual crisis.

Emprende.Lab is born as an inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem where women and their families access an integral support program where they develop soft and hard skills through an app and mentorship that will give them feed back, and benefits such as networking, financial and investment opportunities, among others.

Our technology and support program has already change the lives of 10 families and 40 people and we are prepare to scale to 300 families in Colombia, our goal is to support 6000 families in at least 3 countries in Latin America, and we want you to be part of this dream

Crisis caused by Covid 19 have become a serious threat for women and how they participate in economic activities, especially for informal economy and according to experts, the gender gap is expected to widen globally.

When we analyzed the data for Colombia, we found that 48% of entrepreneurs in the country are women but 67% of them failed every year , in accordance to the studies this happens for lack of confidence, the need of mentorship and development of soft and hard skills, but less opportunity to access entrepreneurial programs and financial and investment opportunities compare to men. 

Unemployment is growing in Colombia due to the actual situation, and today it is up to 18% for women and 42% for young women, this compared to a worst tendency in Latin America, but a great opportunity to give this women and their families the support and skills they need to develop their business and create new jobs for their communities.

Emprende.Lab is an inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem for women and their families. We start from gamification and the benefit of virtual tools to promote the learning process of entrepreneurs by improving the development of competencies and skills in a specific topic and favor interdisciplinary learning processes, enhance the use of new technologies, encourage digital transformation and reduce the learning curve by up to 40%.

Our solution is an interactive application built jointly by developers, designers, animators and experts in business sciences, which combines entrepreneurship with gamification strategies, to enhance the learning in topics such as entrepreneurship skills, business model, production, access to markets, finances, among others. 

The process is support by mentorships with experts via zoom in group sessions, to clear doubts and learn from others experiences, this complemented by networking sessions. The program also takes into account the fact that each family and business is different and need personal sessions to empower them with their skills and knowledge. At the end they travel through a program where the work on their propuse, life goals, develop skills, empower their knowledge, get to know the context and have access to strategic allies, mentors, market, investors, and tools to develop the family business  

The target population are initially women entrepreneurs and their families gorups in Colombia, and in a near future in Lantin America, whom seek to start or strengthen their business units and have the need of comprehensive support to reduce the risks of failure of their company, given the fact mentioned before, of a 67% of female entrepreneurship failure. These women have less access to networking and social capital, they feel less capable and prepared to develop businesses, they have less access to capital, advice and business support.

We have carried out an analysis of the experiences in working with female entrepreneurship, compiled the knowledge of the three companies that put together our team we found that the main needs are access to an entrepreneurship ecosystem framed in a practical, dynamic methodology, fun and integrated; where through the game they can appropriate concepts, apply them in a virtual world and in their real ventures, to reduce uncertainty and increase the probability of success

Our solution creates a learning ecosystem for women entrepreneurs and their family group, so they can develop skills and abilities for their business, reducing the probability that the jobs they generate and their quality of life will be lost because they do not have the knowledge, tools or capacities to sustain them.

With COVID 19, many women have lost their income and use their skills to generate livelihoods, some do it with fear because they need to improve their business knowledge. Our solution accompanies these entrepreneurs, through a gamified, practical, close and integrated methodology to their needs.

Emprend.Lab aims to accompany entrepreneurs in their business training career through a comprehensive program that not only includes the active participation of our business experts in personalized advice for entrepreneurs, but also the creation of virtual environments to strengthen the processes of learning topics related to entrepreneurship.

Our solution is innovative because it complements the training of entrepreneurs through new disruptive learning processes based on theories of gamification and serious games, which seek to boost traditional training through game mechanics that strengthen learning processes and user experience through reward systems that enhance the development of specific skills and competencies for the comprehensive training of entrepreneurs.

Our solution is potentiated thanks to the Unity development engine that allows the creation of virtual environments to stimulate learning and the development of new skills through game mechanics. Unity is the preferred and most popular development engine today for creating content in real time such as video games, animations and applications in Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (RA).

In order to be better, at Emprende.Lab we potentiate and strengthen our processes, thanks to the results and the information we obtain from our entrepreneurs. That is why our tool is powered by cloud technologies through Firebase. Firebase is a platform developed by Google focused on providing cloud infrastructure for the development of web and mobile applications.

Through the services of Cloud Functions, Authentication, Cloud Storage and Realtime Database we synchronize all our information and maintain the traceability of each of our users.

Our solution starts from game theory, gamification and the benefit of virtual tools to favor the learning process of entrepreneurs. Virtual tools improve the development of competencies and skills in a specific subject, favor interdisciplinary learning processes, enhance the use of new technologies, encourage digital transformation processes and reduce the learning curve by up to 40%. This leveraged by technologies like Zoom that allow the complimentary support with the ecosystem. 

The video game as an educational tool is a concept that has gained exponential prominence in recent decades, the benefits of serious games have provided more and more arguments for academic and training areas, they are mechanisms that are being socialized more and more frequently and transversally, even in the different sectors of the industry, in order to transmit knowledge through unconventional strategies that aim motivation, enhance the level of recall, in addition to simulating situations that test the user's experience.

There are a lot of examples in the environment that use this type of tools successfully, making them an important support for pedagogy. At the local level in the city of Medellin we can name institutions such as the colegio la Enseñanza, la caja de compensación familiar Comfama ,El Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (SENA), who have used the video game to leverage educational and training processes, through the motivation and the options that the playful tools provide, even in the peripheries of the city, the video game is used to educate around the recycling culture for the students of the last grades of some schools.

Globally, the references are greater around various topics, Game learn is a specific example of a gamification-based platform for training on corporate issues.

It is an initiative that seeks, with the following inputs, to generate transformation in entrepreneurship:

1. Solid and practical knowledge about the development of a company and key factors for its success (marketing, costs, finances, administration, business model, product, design).
2. Tools to strengthen life project and human skills for business success.
3. Technological tools and concepts to experience this knowledge.
4. Gamified route in the virtual world according to the evolution of the business
5. Experience of three companies that operate in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the department of Antioquia, Colombia and are experts in women, entrepreneurship, innovation and technology.

We carry out the transformation with the following methodology:

* Route designed according to the level of maturity of the venture
* Entrepreneur`s avatar
* Tasks and activities from the application
* Virtual accompaniment
* Access from mobile devices

With the support from Emprende.Lab, we seek that, as people fulfill their purposes, the next level is unlocked and that the fulfillment of individual objectives adds up to continue advancing.

This support would result in entrepreneurs being clear about their business model, strategies, and practical tools, accessing sources of financing, increasing the number of customers and sales; finally impacting the sustainability of their business, families and communities. 

Currently: 10 families and 40 people

1 Year: 300 families and 1000 people

5 Years: 6000 families and 30000 people in at least 3 countries in Latin America

For this year we can serve 300 families with the actual development and leveraged by social technologies that allows the interaction with them. Our goal is to positively impact millions lives world wide and the plan in 5 years is to serve 6000 families and 30000 people in at least 3 countries in Latin America which required a better, faster and lighter technology that allow as in addition to give the mentorships and support through the same app with a bot that replace some parts of the human interaction and networking spaces that can be managed by the users, so our technology can be fully licensed for companies, institutions and governments.   

Emprende.Lab faces barriers related to technological appropriation and those of entrepreneurship and cultura:

* Cultural: Colombia is a country that tends to use analogous or face-to-face tools, so that technological appropriation is slower, although people show interest in using technological and digital tools, it costs a lot to appropriate its use. On the other hand, the experience of the three organizations in the world of entrepreneurship shows that the successes of these programs are achieved when the participants complete them, making it a challenge to maintain the users interest.

* Technological: We can find challenges regarding the volume of users and the stability of the platform, when the use of the application expands. Hand in hand with the cultural barrier, the technology available to develop this type of applications is very rigid and could make it user-friendly difficult.

* Accompaniment: The application contemplates not only a virtual world, but its complement with specialized advice, so that as the number of users or beneficiaries on the platform increases, the team could find it difficult to have all the personnel that guarantee a wide capacity of attention, with the required levels of knowledge, which is why we will need to develop more features like bots and networking spaces.

* Allies: To expand attention and offer solutions in other states, the team would require allies in the entrepreneurship ecosystem of these new territories

The solutions to the barriers are the following:

* Cultural: In the model it's proposed to have adequate audiovisual communication, so that the user can always count on help, support in the use of the application and open communication channels with specialized advisers. On the other hand, the gamification strategy, a clear and defined route and personalized support, will help to maintain the motivation and interest of users to complete their program with Emprende Lab.

* Technological: Technical support, with multidisciplinary teams that allow us to have the ability to find optimal solutions and the latest technology for the improvement and expansion of the application.

* Accompaniment: Develop mentor and consultant campaigns to accompany the entrepreneur. Likewise, having a bank of specialized advisers, working hand in hand with different employment service platforms and other companies in the ecosystem, complimented with bots technologies and autonomous interaction between users

* Allies: Take advantage of the capacities of the three institutions to access different business networks worldwide.

Full time staff 7 people

Lina M Barrios - CEO (Estratek)

Eliana Arboleda - Head of growth (Estratek)

Lina Palacios - Research and development (CMM Medellin)

Camila A Morales - Head of development and support (CMM Medellin)

Andres F Montoya - Product owner (Nediar)

Juan D Jaramillo - Ux and gamification developer (Nediar)

Carlos Rojas - Business development and strategy (Nediar)

Corporación Mundial de la Mujer Medellín: non-profit entity with 35 years working for the development of the micro-business sector: 23 years with the microcredit service and 9 years (since 2011) as a provider of training, advisory and support services, with a team of more than 50 people and two locations in Antioquia department. http://www.cmmmedellin.org/

ESTRATEK: Is a group of professional entrepreneurs, that has been developing disruptive businesses for 8 years within large corporations; clients / allies are large companies and life-changing ventures are build with them, changing their status quo, creating markets and solutions never before explored, Estratek is part of the new global industry called “Startup as a Service”. With a team of 30 entrepreneurs in Bogotá, Medellín and Cali. https://estratek.com.co/

NEDIAR: startup with the capacity to provide solutions to a wide range of technological needs through innovation; Nediar develop different projects, among which the integration of technologies and the design of virtual trainers allow a high internalization of knowledge in users stand out.
http://nediar.com/sitio/

The 3 organizations put together a group of 7 experts to direct and develop Emprende.Lab, this experts have backgrounds in: social innovation, entrepreneurship, disruptive business models, exponential organizations, lean startup and agile methodologies, impact measurement, women issues, research and education, business model design,  entrepreneurship ecosystems, video games, apps development, scrum, mentorship for entrepreneurs, projects formulation, women in entrepreneurship, gamification, serious games, Ux, management for tech companies and 4.0 technologies

Science, technology and innovation organizations such as: Ruta N - Proantioquia - Créame - Parque E - Tecnoparques - SENA - Innpulsa - Esumer - UdeA - ITM - UPB - CEIPA - Chamber of Commerce give us advisory and mentorship in different stages

International cooperation organizations: ACNUR - USAID - ONU work directly with Corporación Mundial de la Mujer Medellin un diferent projects 

Banks: Bancamia - Bancolombia, are strategic allies to get financial aid and advisory if needed 

Emprende Lab's target audience are women entrepreneurs and their family group, who work to launch and / or strengthen their business units.

Our value proposition is the transformation of their ventures, through a gamified, innovative, practical and fun application that offers comprehensive support and the improvement of the skills; with an accompanying route integrated to the user's needs and a specialized consultant who monitors the process. With this proposal we have impacted 40 people and in 5 years we hope to impact 30,000.

The channels we use are: open business days and digital media. The activities that are described as keys to the development of this business model are those related to the development, constant improvement and support of the detected technology; the management of channels to reach the target audience, the management of specialized advisers that complement the virtual experience of female entrepreneurs; same that represent the main costs.

The key resources are the Know How of the three companies that build up the program, the methodologies and tools that complement it; technological development capacity and human resources. Our key alliances are made with entities promoting science, technology and innovation, international cooperation organizations and banking entities.

On the other hand, revenues provide the use of the application through licensing to users, institutions and governments, and the surpluses will be re-invested affected to strengthen this business model.

- Partner contribution

- Seed capital: entities that support initiatives in early stages

- Offer services to employments fonds, organization, governments or institutions that wants to improve entrepreneurship for the target

We are applying to get support in the next steps on the development of our technology so it can be faster, lighter and better in order to positively impact millions of women and their families and guarantee the best learning experience and skill development for them. We also want to have access to the best mentors to accomplished the goal as well as media and marketing exposition. We are aware that in order to fulfill the goal we need to raised funds and Solve will be the first step to do it and enter in an ecosystem that will help us access to more opportunities. 

The biggest challenge for us ir to build a better technology that supports the number of users we want to reach and gives them the best user experience allowing them to learn and develop the skills they need to build successful business and guarantee an income for their families and new jobs for their communities. For that we need support with the tech solution, access to the best mentors and advisors as wells as media exposure and funding. 

MIT Faculty for the technology solution and Solve members in terms of mentors and advisors. We will appreciate a lot to have another view in our model and received advise from the most experts in the world. 

Emprende.Lab is an inclusive ecosystem that is capable to attend refugees in order to give them skills and develop knowledge so they can access to economic inclusion by funding or developing their own businesess

Emprende.Lab is a technology based ecosystem specially design for women and their families in order to give them the position they deserve in the entrepreneurial world

Our technology is design as an education platform to develop new skills and knowledges with special support and the aim to help women in accomplished better things for their lives 

Our solution has not get there yet but we it has the potential to includes artificial intelligence and machine learning so we can accomplished the goal to positively impact millions of women and their families world wide, which is something we would not accomplished if we do not implement this in the program