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TechnoServe and Local Nicaraguan Partners Award $90,000 to Winners of First National Business Plan Competition

TechnoServe and Local Nicaraguan Partners Award $90,000 to Winners of First National Business Plan Competition

Published 11-29-04

Submitted by TechnoServe, Inc.

MANAGUA - Nicaragua's first nationwide business plan competition, "Idea tu Empresa," concluded when nine entrepreneurs' business plans were selected as the winners and each was awarded $10,000 in start-up capital to help start a new businesses or expand an existing enterprise, during an awards ceremony held Monday at the Hotel Seminole Plaza in Managua.

TechnoServe is a U.S.-based non-profit development organization that has worked in Nicaragua since 1976.* Together with four local partners - La Fundación Roberto Terán, La Fundación para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Agropecuario y Forestal de Nicaragua (FUNICA), La Asociación de Jovenes Empresarios de Nicaragua (AJE), and the Instituto Nicaraguense de Apoyo a la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa (INPYME) - TechnoServe designed Idea tu Empresa to enable promising Nicaraguan entrepreneurs to launch, diversify or expand their businesses in order to promote economic development and job creation, particularly in rural communities.

Nine grand prizes were awarded today in three different categories: five in agro-industry, two in tourism, and two in light manufacturing. Each winning business plan has great potential to create new jobs and economic development for an entire community.

The nine winners, who presented and defended their business plans before a jury panel earlier this month together with the other ITE participants, are:
1. Carlos Eduardo Morales Rodriguez - hydroponics production plant
2. Dinorah Maria Somarriba Padilla - forestry seed bank
3. Roger Robleto Flores - fruit wines
4. Jose Benito Ubeda Zeledon - cardamom processing
5. Edgar Aguilar Ibarra - fruit processing to produce jams, marmalades, wine and vinegars
6. Luis Lopez Okrassa - the Islamar eco-resort on Little Corn Island
7. Felipe Maranhao Rodriguez - the La Makina Resort
8. Jose Luis Osorio Morales - manufacture prefabricated materials for construction projects
9. Jacqueline Estrada R. - furniture manufacturing

Eighty-five highly motivated entrepreneurs from every corner of Nicaragua were initially accepted into the program. For six months, these Idea tu Empresa participants learned to start and effectively manage a business by attending seminars in marketing, finance and business law as well as intensive business plan writing workshops led by the staff of Universidad Americana de Nicaragua. Idea tu Empresa participants also had access to industry information and institutions that offered both professional support and financing. For many of the 85 Idea tu Empresa participants, the biggest attraction was the chance to work one-on-one with executive-level mentors from Nicaragua's premier companies, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Pro-Nicaragua, Universidad Americana de Nicaragua, and the Alumni Association of INCAE (Latin America's premiere graduate school of management).

The success of the Emprende tu Idea! business plan competitions held in 2002 and 2003 in neighboring El Salvador - and co-organized and co-sponsored by TechnoServe and local partners Conamype, Fundemas and Fusades - encouraged many Nicaraguan organizations and companies to contribute as mentors, judges and sponsors to this year's Idea tu Empresa. TechnoServe recently completed a follow-up survey of participants from both Salvadoran competitions, and the results are even better than projected: to date a total of 61 new businesses have been launched; 70 existing business have been expanded; 761 new jobs have been created (for a total of 1,410 employees); and an additional $7.17 in annual revenues is being generated (out of a total of $11.2 million) - all directly attributable to the business plan competitions that TechnoServe and its local partners launched in El Salvador.

Idea tu Empresa was made possible with financial support from: la Corporación Roberto Terán, el Grupo Financiero LAFISE, Pro-Nicaragua, and TechnoServe/Nicaragua with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

* TechnoServe left Nicaragua in 1984 and returned in 1991.

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TechnoServe, Inc.

TechnoServe, Inc.

TechnoServe is leading a movement that empowers people in the developing world to build businesses that break the cycle of poverty. Growing enterprises generate jobs and other income opportunities for poor people, enabling them to improve their lives and secure a better future for their families. Since its founding in 1968, the U.S.-based nonprofit has helped to create or expand thousands of businesses, benefiting millions of people in more than 30 countries. The Financial Times has rated TechnoServe one of the top five NGOs for corporate partnerships. Charity Navigator has also awarded its highest Four Star ranking to TechnoServe.

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