In the spotlight: Some prominent women entrepreneurs from Chile
Today, Chile has a rich entrepreneurship ecosystem, which includes significant representation of many women entrepreneurs. And the country has made strong efforts to expand entrepreneurship programs, with a focus on women entrepreneurs.
Is it easy to start a business in Chile? According to the World Bank, Chile is ranked the easiest Latin American nation for setting up a business. To add to the progressive landscape, Chile has a strong economy, good infrastructure, educated workforce and a business-friendly culture.
It is seen that startups led by women have a higher survival rate; and past experience has shown that the presence of women in the founding teams of startups has a direct impact on the survival rate of these businesses.
Meet some prominent women entrepreneurs in the country of Chile.
> Barbara Silva, BeST innovation Founder, Women@TheFrontier Latin America Director
Barbara Silva is Founder, BeSTinnovation which is a corporate accelerator that focuses on promoting innovation through transfer of knowledge through international connections. BeST together with local and international partners has developed many initiatives like – Corporate Bootcamps to Silicon Valley, Landing programmes for international companies, business networking events in Silicon Valley and mentorship networks.
> Alejandra Mustakis, Founding Partner, iF / Medular / Kauel / Stgo Maker Space
Alejandra Mustakis is an industrial designer and entrepreneur from Chile. Daughter of businessman Constantine Mustakis, her family has Greek and Palestinian origins. After completing her studies at the Universidad Diego Portales, she holds a degree in Business and Management from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez. She is founding partner of several companies like Medular, Kauel, Stgo Makerspace and iF. Besides that, she plays other roles too – like she was President of the Entrepreneurs Association of Chile and in 2012 she also received the “Young People with Success” Award. Another distinction is that she has also been recognised as one of the top ‘100 Women Leaders by El Mercurio in for several years from 2008.
> Susana Carey, CEO, Chilean Association of Supermarkets (ASACH)
Susan Carey is chief executive of ASACH and currently she is placed in very critical positions – like she is a board member of AxisRSE (Consultant in Corporate Social Responsibility), a board member of Fondo Esperanza (Microcredit Bank from Hogar de Cristo) and counsellor of the Commercial Engineers Foundation of Catholic University. She is also chairman of the board of Correos de Chile and sits in the executive committee of SOFOFA. Equipped with a Commercial Engineering degree from Catholic University of Chile, her previous work experience shows that she was previously the executive director of ComunidadMujer (and she still works for them as a consultant). Carey was also in Seminarium Head Hunting and The Newfield Network.
> Paula Figueroa, Chief Marketing Officer, TelefónicaMóviles Chile SA
Paula Figueroa is Chief Marketing Officer at Telefonica MovilesEspana SA. Besides this, she is also a Director-Marketing at Telefónica Chile SA, General Manager at Telefónica Multimedia Chile Dos SA, and a Director-Marketing & Innovation at TelefónicaMóviles Chile SA. She received her undergraduate degree from Universidad Diego Portales.
> Alicia Hidalgo, Chile National Television (TVN) Executive Director
Alicia Hidalgo was a commercial engineer at TVN (for 14 years), and was commercial manager and general manager before she climbed up to the post of Executive Director. She has navigated the company through poor rankings and an economic crisis too. Hidalgo was also Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Administration of the PUC, where he also headed the department of studies of the UC Capital Market.
Source:
https://www.finam.cl/famous-chilean-women-entrepreneurs/
Other Links:
https://repositorio.udd.cl/server/api/core/bitstreams/26a1f85f-362f-4f25-af48-
8346c16178f1/content
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