The Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) will make a $2.7 million grant to a project to expand the Latin America activities of Endeavor, an international organization that helps dynamic entrepreneurs build globally competitive companies.
The Endeavor network of nonprofit agencies, which operate in Africa, Asia and Latin America, identifies individuals with great entrepreneurial potential and provides them with training, guidance and contacts to transform their businesses into world-class enterprises.
Since its founding in 1997 Endeavor has backed 333 entrepreneurs who today employ more than 91,000 people in firms that last year achieved over $2.4 billion in sales.
The MIF-supported project will assist Endeavor, which is already present in the largest cities of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay, in expanding its operations to other cities in those countries. It will also reach out especially to women entrepreneurs and people with "green" businesses.
Under the project Endeavor will recruit more business leaders and outstanding professionals to serve as mentors to fledgling entrepreneurs. It will also encourage the sharing of experiences and the transfer of knowledge among agencies through an intranet and a program of visits between its offices in the region.
The MIF, an autonomous fund administered by the IDB, supports private sector development in Latin America and the Caribbean, with an emphasis on microenterprises and small businesses. It also promotes dynamic ventures with high growth potential through business development services and access to angel investors and seed capital.