Problem Statement:

After our participation in the virtual hackaton HACKCOVID19UY, where the Montevideo Hub worked on designing a solution for a relevant problem related to the sustainability of micro and small businesses in times of health crisis, we decided to take the designed idea into practice and created "Potenciarte: Artesanos en Acción” (https://www.globalshapersmontevideo.com/projects/potenciarte%3A-artesanos-en-acci%C3%B3n).

 

Target Group:

We focused on the impact of the pandemic on the business continuity of artisans who worked in tourist areas and who were strongly affected by the lack of tourist demand.

 

Proposed Solution:

We launched and implemented a support and strengthening program to provide artisans with the resources to cope with this major challenge and to build a sense of community among participants.

 

Hub Activities:

Our main objective was to enroll +12 artisans into the program to provide them with practical tools and a personalized and individual accompaniment process to recommend measures to facilitate their business continuity while facing the challenges of COVID19 impact.

 

The first pilot program consisted of the following activities over a one month period.

• 
  5 Virtual workshops with Keynote speakers. The capacity-building workshops were divided into 5 themes: marketing, entrepreneurship, community, business strategy and e-commerce.
  


• 
  Mentoring Program: we matched 14 artisans with experienced mentors (graduated from ORT University and members of AJE), who donated their valuable time to support them during the program. Helping them to put lessons learned at the workshop into practice in their micro and small business.
  


• 
  Kick off and closure meetings: we evaluated the experience together with mentors and artisans.
  

 

Available Metrics:

• 14 artisans engaged as participants (our target audience)


• 5 workshops and 5 keynote speakers


• + 6 individual meetings with mentors per artisan


• 
  19 mentors graduated from ORT University and some members of AJE Uruguay (Association of Young Entrepreneurs)
  


• 2 media appearances

Collaborators:

ORT University MBA Alumni Network and Association of Young Entrepreneurs (AJE Uruguay).

 

This project has been completed: Start date JUN 2020 | End date: OCT 2020