Article published in the 2022 Annual Report
Since its inception in the 1980s, the Puerto Rico Community Foundation (PRCF) has recognized and supported business incubation as a philanthropic strategy for economic activation in the communities.
In 2021, the Small Business Incubators & Accelerators Program was implemented, an initiative supported by the Puerto Rico Department of Housing through CDBG-DR program funds. The program assists three small business incubators and accelerators, which belong to various non-profit organizations: CRÉALOS of the Office for the Promotion and Human Development Inc. (OPDH), in Arecibo; Sede de Incubadora Solidaria (SIS) de Mujeres de Islas, in Culebra; and the Centro de Microempresas y Tecnologías Agrícolas Sustentables (CMTAS), in Yauco.
These incubators, together with the FCPR, provide workshops and mentoring to people with business ideas, and accompany them in the formalization of these with the mission of contributing to economic activation in their regions.
In the first of four cycles (2021-2022), the program graduated 25 participants and 19 businesses were able to develop a business plan or obtain their merchant registration at the time of graduation. Among these 25 participants is Karen Valle Timbers, 21, an architectural engineering student, who decided to enter the soft drink industry with the business La Esquina Fría, located on Caza y Pesca beach in Arecibo.
“Karen demonstrated from the recruitment process a great confidence in realizing her business idea; and with a consistent spirit of professionalism and dedication, she was strengthening her business idea during the training cycle,” shared Geraldine Nieves Malavé, economic development specialist at
BELIEVE THEM.
“The business training work that the community incubators carry out is vital for the economic development of the country, as well as to sustain the community economy. We offer excellent material so that entrepreneurs learn about the business field and can establish their businesses with greater security,” he explained. “These entrepreneurial workshops, accompanied with psychosocial workshops, are the perfect combination for participants to strengthen their emotional health in the face of all that the entrepreneurial world entails,” he added.
For the second cycle of the program (2022-2023), 63 people applied to participate; these are residents of 20 villages in the archipelago. In addition to this program, FCPR was also selected as a subrecipient to implement a Workforce Training Program, supported with CDBG-DR funds, which it expects to launch in 2023.