Project Name：Project for the Capacity Strengthening to Support the Incubation and Entrepreneurship for MIPYMEs (Guatemala)

Project status：Completed projects

Cooperating Country：Central America, Guatemala

Project Description：

The main objective of this project is to strengthen the capacity to support incubation centers and to boost entrepreneurship, by means of integrating private, academic and government resources. The key aspects of the project consist of: 1. Generate an inventory of resources available from the government, academic and private sectors to propose a support ecosystem for MSMEs and entrepreneurs. 2. Train advisors/ consultants in a comprehensive manner to attend to MSMEs in incubation and entrepreneurs. 3. Establish an information platform in incubation linked to investors, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs to promote entrepreneurship and obtain investments. 4. Support the establishment of incubation centers. 5. Offer advice and technical assistance to incubation centers and individual clients.

Implementation Start Date：2019-07-11

Implementation End Date：2021-12-31

Project Objectives：

1. Support non-profit and academic institutions to establish 5 incubation centers.
(1) Conduct training through universities to train professional advisors on entrepreneurship and incubation issues with at least 60 trainees.
(2) Support the incubation centers to provide advice to 300 cases.
(3) Complete the planning report of the incubation centers in Guatemala with the objective that each center establishes its niche so as not to prevent resource overlap.

2. Match 9 cases to acquire investment funds.
(1) Establish a platform that promotes information on incubation, entrepreneurship and that help match investors and entrepreneurs.
(2) Hold at least 12 matching events to assist entrepreneurs in obtaining investment funds.

3. Support the Government of Guatemala to devise policies for incubation center development.
(1) Compile the guide for the establishment of incubation centers, in order to motivate universities and other potential institutions, to provide their facilities, available resources, trainers and technical resources for the cause.
(2) Develop the evaluation mechanism for incubation centers, with the aim of motivating them to improve their service based on the evaluation results.
(3) Prepare the annual analysis on the quality and efficiency of incubation centers, which serves as reference for management for the Ministry of Economy.

Executing Agency：

Taiwan Investment and Trade Service Mission in Central America / Ministry of Economy (MINECO), Guatemala 

Current Progress：

To the end of December 2021, the following activities have been completed:
1. Trained 62 consultants of 5 incubation centers.
2. 5 incubation centers (Landivar, Da Vinci, CUNSURORI, KUTIK, ASORED Chiquimula) have recruited 108 entrepreneurs and assisted startup companies to develop.
3. 5 incubation centers (Da Vinci, ASORED Chiquimula, Jalapa, Xela, Campus Tec) have recruited 203 entrepreneurs and undergoing for assisting startup companies to develop.
4. Six reports were published: a. Guide for establishing the entrepreneurship incubation center；b. Manual for incubation center；c. Planning report of entrepreneurship incubation center for Guatemala；d. Mechanism of incentives for excellent entrepreneurship incubation centers; e. Report of green Industry in Guatemala and f. Performance Study to Entrepreneurship Incubation Centers.
5. Established the web site of promoting the entrepreneurship information and investment matchmaking.
6. Completed e-commerce training course and technical coaching from Taiwan short-term professional consultant.
7. Completed 8 professional teaching audiovisual modules for social media applications and e-commerce.
8. 176 startup companies and more than 400 products or services that participated in the exhibition and online sales for promotion of the startup companies in the Chiquimula, Jalapa, Huehuetenango Quetzaltenango and Guatemala City Incubation Centers.

Project Contact：Ju-Lan Wu

Phone：+886-2-28732323 Ext.6046

E-mail：j.l.wu@icdf.org.tw

Projected Benefits：Integrate public and private resources so that at the end of the project, more than 20% of the entrepreneurs or MIPYMES companies participating in this project are able to sustain themselves for more than three months.

Mission：Taiwan Investment and Trade Service Mission in Central America