Organizations in the Region Will Be Able to Learn About Alternatives for Innovation, Growth, and Sustainability at La Red Grand Summit

Mar 17, 2021 2:30 PM ET
Campaign: Capacity Building

To register for this free event, click the following link:

La Red de Innovación e Impacto led by the World Environment Center (WEC) and funded by the United States Department of State organizes its seventh annual meeting, where it expects to bring together more than 500 participants online to connect different actors and influence the development of Latin America and the Caribbean.
 

La Red Grand Summit, March 2021. La Red de Innovación e impacto (La Red) will hold its annual meeting entitled: “Gran Summit: Reinventándose con Innovación e Impacto” [Grand Summit: Reimagining with Innovation and Impact]. Due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, this virtual platform will bring together more than 30 organizations dedicated to fighting poverty and seeking sustainable development. The Grand Summit will hold an open virtual meeting on March 25, 2021 . Additionally, La Red will organize two sessions on March 23rd and 24th aimed at its members in order to highlight the Central American member organizations and connect them with different key stakeholders.

The event promises to connect more than 500 participants from different countries within the Americas in order to share experiences and open the way for specialists and relevant discussion topics, such as the following: impact investment, innovation and entrepreneurship as drivers for change, local development and digital transformation, resilient agriculture and climate change, as well as sustainability and expansion opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Registration for this virtual summit is completely free and will also allow attendees to learn about success stories of scaling up innovations with an impact in Central America by La Red member organizations. Participants will have access to other networking activities with investors, multilateral organizations, and members with the purpose of generating connections and strategic alliances to promote sustainable, economic growth, and prosperity in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"Thanks to this annual meeting, many micro-enterprises in Central America in the agricultural, tourism, agro-industrial, and textile sectors have a great opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs. Likewise, MSMEs and participating organizations can learn how to access international value chains, in these challenging times that force us to produce with ingenuity and engage with differentiating agents to achieve success due to the changes in consumption and production patterns generated by this pandemic," stated Ernesto Samayoa, Director of Operations for the WEC of Latin America.

Currently, 95% of the companies in Central America are MSMEs, which generate 61% of total employment in the region. During this pandemic, according to official figures, there has been a loss of 8.3 million jobs as a result of the health emergency. Therefore, the reactivation of this sector is key to resuming economic growth. The ultimate objective of this type of event is to contribute to this goal.

Through La Red de Innovación e impacto, MSMEs and organizations have access to tools that allow them to improve their technological processes, supports and incentives that open the way to new markets, strategies that promote the adoption of sustainable practices, and the strengthening of workers’ rights—all of the above under the coordinated work between public-private alliances at local and regional levels. As of July 2021, the application will be opened for new candidates who want to join the La Red Network.

This is the seventh edition of this meeting in which, thanks to La Red, an accumulation of more than 5,000 MSMEs in Latin America have benefited from technical assistance (95% of these belonging to Central America). Among the achievements highlighted by this platform is the fact that approximately 1,800 workers found a new or better job thanks to this mechanism, and more than 4,500 Central American farmers improved their operations as a direct result of working with member organizations.

To register for this free event, click the following link:

https://www.grandsummit.laredinnovacionimpacto.com/es/laredgrandsummit/Inicio

About La Red de Innovación e Impacto
La Red de Innovación e Impacto (La Red), was launched in 2014 and brings together 30 organizations with innovative solutions from 11 countries in the region. It was created through a selection process of organizations that have continued to accelerate the development of sustainable businesses and promote economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean; the project has been financed and carried out by the United States’ Department of State through the World Environment Center (WEC) and its allies, Le Groupe-conseil baastel ltée (Baastel), and RioSlum Studio. Starting in July of this year, La Red will be sustained through the leadership of its own member organizations and coordinated by the Núcleo de Biotecnología de Curauma (NBC) of Chile.

About the World Environment Center (WEC)
WEC is a non-advocacy, independent, global non-profit organization that fosters sustainable development through the operations of its member companies and in partnership with governments, multilateral organizations, non-governmental organizations, universities and other stakeholders. WEC's mission is to promote business and social values by fostering solutions for problems related to sustainable development.

About Baastel
Baastel is recognized for its quality services in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), Results-Based Management (RBM), strategic planning, project and program management, and building individual and institutional capacity in these areas. Baastel's outstanding reputation in the industry has been built on a track record of national and international successes and experience backed by attention to detail, quality, transparency, and neutrality.