Voices from the Field: Entrepreneurship in Movement
The Challenge
Socio-economic instability in Venezuela has contributed to a mass exodus from the country. Today, more than 7 million Venezuelans are refugees or migrants, with more than 80% residing in 17 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. Many migrants and refugees in the region are highly skilled with diverse educational backgrounds and a range of expertise that can help fill critical labor gaps and contribute to local economies. However, many express concerns about their prospects for employment and income generation in their new communities.
The early support that migrants and refugees receive when integrating into new communities is key to jumpstarting the process of rebuilding lives and livelihoods while simultaneously helping to fuel local economies.
The Approach
Entrepreneurship in Movement provides displaced Venezuelan migrants in Ecuador and Peru with the skills training, seed funding and other resources they need to scale and grow businesses, helping to rebuild their livelihoods and positively impact the economies of their new host communities. The program is implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Migration Agency. It is supported by the Citi Foundation through USA for IOM, the non-profit partner of IOM in the United States.
Entrepreneurship in Movement first helps analyze the local labor market to identify promising opportunities for migrants. For example, market studies have focused on sectors with high growth potential and job creation opportunities, such as technical positions in creative and cultural industries like film production and environmental sectors like urban agriculture.
Then, through a competitive application process, migrants and local community members are selected to receive training courses in entrepreneurship and financial management, all while building strategic plans for their new business ideas. Finally, participants present their business plans, and the most promising projects are awarded seed capital. Ongoing mentorship is offered to further develop participants’ skills through virtual coaching sessions.
In 2021, program participants in Lima, Peru who had received seed funding were invited by Citi to present their stories of success and resilience in a virtual roundtable discussion. Citi volunteers came to listen to the beneficiaries’ stories and provided their recommendations and mentorship to help strengthen and accelerate participants’ business plans.
Since 2019, Entrepreneurship in Movement has helped over 3,800 migrants gain employment or start a business in their host community, trained over 1,300 entrepreneurs in critical business skills and provided seed funding to 300 entrepreneurs to launch or grow their businesses.
“The Entrepreneurship in Movement program is reinforcing livelihoods for thousands of people in the Americas, building the skills and capacity of young entrepreneurs in the region and giving Venezuelan migrants and refugees the agency to become drivers of socio-economic development and resilience in their host communities.”
“Citi Foundation aims to equip people, particularly those from underserved communities, with the skills and networks needed to expand economic opportunity. As a Venezuelan migrant myself, I understand the barriers and vulnerabilities many beneficiaries of this program are facing. It hits close to home. I feel grateful and inspired by the life changing opportunities USA for IOM is presenting to many migrants in the region.”
Participant Spotlights
Cristina – Acropole Fit
Upon arriving in Ecuador from Venezuela, Cristina Marin had the goal of opening an athletic studio for women. Beyond helping them build physical strength, Cristina aims to increase her clients’ self-confidence. Through the support of the Entrepreneurship in Movement program she received business training and seed funding, which she used to purchase weights and mats to enhance her Pole Fit exercise studio. Learn more about her story here.
“I expanded with functional and flexibility classes. We want to instill in women that ‘I can do anything’. I provide an example, that if I have achieved all of this, alone, to show them that they can do it too.”
-Cristina Marin
Photo: IOM Ecuador/ Carlos Luzuriaga
Ramón - Amaretto's Tradición
Ramón Alberto Ortegano is a university professor who, at 32 years old, left Venezuela for Peru and started a cake business, Amaretto's Tradición, from scratch. In 2020, two years after his arrival in Peru, his business situation unexpectedly changed when his business partners left and the COVID-19 pandemic began. In this time, he launched a new line of “personalized cakes” that allowed him to rapidly grow his client portfolio. He received seed capital and training from the Entrepreneurship in Movement program to further accelerate his entrepreneurial vision. Learn more about Ramón and his cake business here.
“One of Entrepreneurship in Movement’s great contributions was the mentoring program... Nora, our mentor, had a vibrant energy and professionalism, and managed to get me involved in that program without any possible excuse to leave... From that moment, with each exercise of self-reflection, with each strategy of inner strengthening, I was rediscovering myself, and I could explore my new abilities.”
-Ramón Alberto Ortegano
"Ramon’s products and quality enable him to grow his business. Why? He has high-quality products, which creates demand, his customers respect him, resulting in more work, which also contributes to my business."
-José Silva, A supplier of Amaretto's Tradición
Ramón Ortegano shows off cupcakes from his business in Peru.
Ramón with his partner. Photos: Incarnata, 2024
Erika – Therapy Dec
In 2018, Erika Beatriz González Correa, from Venezuela migrated to Peru at 31 years old and created Therapy Dec, a business to help people improve their quality of life through physical rehabilitation and recovery. Erika knew she would have to overcome challenges, including building clients’ trust in her knowledge and experience in physiotherapy and facing her fear of rejection in a new country. With the help of a Peruvian colleague, she specialized in older adult-focused treatment and her business started to grow.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many clients stopped attending appointments. In that period, she was invited to participate in the Entrepreneurship in Movement program. She took part in courses on business strengthening and financial education, which enabled her to improve her business model and financial planning. With the seed funding she received, Erika purchased physiotherapy equipment and supplies to expand offerings to her clients.
Therapy Dec continues to grow, improving its clients' quality of life and creating jobs, thereby contributing to socio-economic development. Learn more about Erika and her physiotherapy business here.
“I gained strength and personal appreciation at a very difficult time… the most important thing is that thanks to the program I managed to be a better businesswoman, mother, daughter, wife, and a better person every day, to provide each one of my clients the best I have. I know that I not only help them recover from an injury, but that I also seek to help them from a human perspective, as life has helped me since I arrived in this wonderful country.”
-Erika Beatriz González Correa, Venezuelan migrant in Peru
Erika provides physical therapy to a client. Photo: Incarnata, 2024
Erika and her daughter, who are Venezuelan migrants rebuilding their lives in Peru. Photos: Incarnata, 2024
USA for IOM is a Citi Foundation Pathways to Progress grantee. Learn more about the Citi Foundation’s program in the recent report here.