USAID CATALYZE to Drive Economic Prosperity in Latin America and the Caribbean through White House Initiative
In June 2022, President Biden unveiled the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP) initiative, aimed at fostering economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Leading APEP’s Accelerator Activity, USAID CATALYZE aims to:
- Enhance the internal capacities and performance of startup enterprises.
- Mobilize additional investment for startups in the target countries.
- Strengthen and integrate regional entrepreneurial systems and networks.
The APEP Accelerator will operate across 10 countries in the region: Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay.
To kickstart the project, the USAID CATALYZE team conducted a Rapid Market Assessment (RMA) to identify critical gaps, barriers, and opportunities within the entrepreneurial ecosystems of the target regions. A key milestone in this work was a virtual co-creation event facilitated by the USAID CATALYZE APEP Accelerator team. More than 50 stakeholders, including startups, accelerators, investors, and policymakers, convened to provide insights and validate findings from the RMA.
The event featured opening remarks from Mileydi Guilarte, USAID’s Deputy Assistant Administrator of the LAC Bureau, and a panel discussion that included perspectives from accelerators, investors, and men and women entrepreneurs operating within Latin America. Participants engaged in focused design sessions, delving into strategies to mobilize capital, expand geographic reach, fortify networks, and support the informal economy, with special attention on empowering women-led enterprises.
Insights gleaned from the RMA and the co-creation event emphasized the need for holistic support beyond financial investment, with capacity building tailored by stage and needs of enterprises as well as linkages to markets not only financing. Connectivity across the region emerged as a pivotal factor, alongside the potential of social impact startups in addressing the needs of the informal sector. Additionally, integrating data and technology into capacity-building efforts emerged as critical for the success of startups.
Drawing on the learnings from the RMA, the CATALYZE team designed a program that will include a regional Accelerator that will provide tailored capacity building in sales growth, financial management, data usage and digitization, adoption of environmental practices, as well as facilitate market linkages and access to financing. The APEP Accelerator also will build a network of Transaction Advisors across the APEP countries who will support enterprises participating in the regional Accelerator as well as other enterprises that meet the APEP Accelerator criteria and are seeking investment facilitation.
Most recently, the CATALYZE team attended Foro Latinoamericano de Inversiones de Impacto conference, the largest impact investment conference in Latin America which brings together various actors from the entrepreneurial landscape to collaborate, share learnings, and cultivate partnerships. The CATALYZE team leveraged the event to promote the APEP Accelerator, explain its purpose, and recruit entrepreneurs and partners. As part of the APEP Accelerator, CATALYZE will recruit and provide technical assistance to 300 enterprises across its 10 target countries over the life of the activity. To develop a stronger and more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem, the APEP Accelerator will be intentional in its selection of participating enterprises to ensure that at least half the selected enterprises are women-led enterprises. T CATALYZE expects to begin recruitment of entrepreneurs for the accelerator program in early April.
USAID CATALYZE’s involvement in the APEP initiative signifies a crucial step toward unlocking the region’s full economic potential as it fosters innovation, and drives investment.
