Center for Entrepreneurship and the CLED Revolving Fund in Popayan for youth and rural organisations

The project CLED has as goal to promote sustainable peace and economic development by integrating entrepreneur / livelihood capacity building and peacebuilding activities in three project phases: mapping, capacity building, and incubation/roll out in three municipalities in the province of Cauca, Colombia.

Some of the main project outputs have been the design and implementation of a revolving fund for incubating business, and the development of the Entrepreneurship Center at the Fundación Universitaria de Popayan FUP, main beneficiary of this OKP Institutional Collaboration project.

These were challenging outputs taken with determination and a recognizable participatory approach by all partners (FUP, CREPIC, ESAP and SENA). It also implied a growing process which started at the very beginning of the project in 2019, with the advice and support from MSM’s consultant leading to the update and improvement of an internal policy, to stablish a strategic plan to approach entrepreneurship, and to propose activities involving all project partners and improving the connection with rural organizations.

In March 2022, the Center for Entrepreneurship (Centro de Emprendimiento y Desarrollo Empresarial CEDE) at FUP was inaugurated. This is a physical space within the university building which was adapted into a modern facility and equipped with computers, smart boards, and also counts with an information system. The Center aims to impact all the programs and all graduating students. With support from the project, 16 teachers from the different faculties and covering all the bachelor programs have been trained as coaches/mentors for entrepreneurship, using a standardized curriculum and supported by teaching methodologies and training materials. This Center runs the program “ Emprendelo FUP” which invites the students who have a business idea to a special training to identify from the beginning the possibilities of a product and a business model, and especially, to foster a growing and active entrepreneurial mentality within the university. Students from the other partners SENA and ESAP can also participate, as rural organizations associated with students. The Center is also open to the public and offers advice to small entrepreneurs who can approach the staff in charge of this place during their working hours.

The first “bootcamp” for this entrepreneurial route (Emprendelo FUP) was a successful full day work on the 15th October, with the participation of 180 students and more than 20 staff members from FUP, SENA, ESAP and CREPIC (all project partners). Many of the students participating in this first training come from rural areas around the city of Popayan and some belong to indigenous groups and come from protected indigenous areas (Resguardos).

With the clear aim to offer these business ideas the required backup and accompaniment, the project partners were determined to innovate and go out of their normal activities, challenging themselves with the design and implementation of the “CLED Revolving Fund”, initiated with the support and resources from the OKP Project. The mappings made at the beginning of this project showed evidence of how proper support and training is key to successful business incubation and how participatory work and peer collaboration is very relevant to building up trust and commitment. This last applies also to the project partners who sat together for a period of several months to design the rules and regulations of this fund and to fully commit to its success. Before the end of this year several businesses will receive the first “grants” and the revolving fund will be a fact. Confidently, many business will be created with the support of this fund, contributing to the development of this region in Colombia.

The revolving fund has clear rules, and it is truly the result of the participative effort from the partners. A Board in which all the partners have a representative will have the decision power mechanisms to run the fund. The administration will be the responsibility of CREPIC during the first two years and then this will be transferred to FUP once there are some rounds of business incubated and lessons learned that can be evaluated and applied for continued improvement. The fund will also be audited by other partner members of this Board, and it will alternate in time.

With this the project is also supporting the partners in Colombia to go closer to fulfilling their own mission and their efforts in promoting development in the region with economic activities that are sensitive to conflict. This offers the population, especially young students, the chance to build up their own businesses and to contribute to the progress of their own family and region.

About the project
The Cauca Local Economic Development (CLED) project is managed by Maastricht School of Management (MSM) and promotes sustainable peace and economic development by integrating entrepreneur / livelihood capacity building and peacebuilding activities in its three project phases: mapping, capacity building, and incubation/roll out. The project develops a Triple Helix+ framework for integrating capacity building, peace building and rural economic development in a holistic, inclusive and sustainable manner. MSM, along with UU-CC and the University of Medellin (UdeM), will work with key Colombian partners (the University Foundation of Popayan (FUP), National Service for Learning (SENA), Higher School for Public Management (ESAP), and the Regional Centre for Productivity and Innovation of Cauca (CREPIC)) to implement the CLED project in three rural Municipalities: Caldono, Tororo, and Silvia. Taking a Train the Trainer approach, the project will capacitate FUP, SENA, ESAP and CREPIC to be more effective training, research and extension organizations, with improved capabilities in offering market based and conflict sensitive programs. The approach will address the educational and opportunity gap in the project area while promoting and documenting peace building and economic development lessons learned.

Orange Knowledge Programme
This project is part of the Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP) which is funded by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by Nuffic. For more information click here.

MSM's Expert Centre on Emerging Economies
This institutional collaboration project is part of MSM's Expert Centre fon Emerging Economies. The department is an expert centre on local economic development in emerging and developing markets. We capacitate managers and professionals from government, private sector, NGOs, and post-secondary education in Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Latin America. We offer consultancy and customized training programs, and we manage complex projects in key sectors, e.g. water, agriculture and health. For more information click here.