Cisco announced the inauguration of the Cisco® Entrepreneur Institute in Paraguay to help owners of small and medium-sized businesses improve their business skills and learn how to effectively use information and communications technologies.
The first training center will be the Fundación Paraguaya, which during the first year will provide basic courses from the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute curriculum to more than 100 Paraguayan entrepreneurs.
Fundación Paraguaya is a company that promotes entrepreneurship among individuals with few resources, helping them to create jobs and increase their family income.
Highlights:
- The Cisco Entrepreneur Institute resulted from an agreement signed between Cisco and the Fundación Paraguaya. The initiative aims to contribute to the development of small and medium-sized businesses through the use of ICT, the expansion of broadband penetration, and the transfer of knowledge about business practices and information and communications technologies.
- Initially the Fundación Paraguaya will provide Cisco Entrepreneur Institute courses in the city of Asunción.
- Workshops for entrepreneurs and business people will start on March 5 and 6.
- Courses will be delivered through a combination of e-learning, in-person lessons and audiovisual material.
- Students at the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute will have access to Web 2.0 technologies and advanced and open architecture tools such as Moodle (the mostly widely used e-learning platform in the world), as well as collaboration technologies like Cisco WebEx® for a more comprehensive learning experience.
- Courses at the institute will be based on the experiences of successful entrepreneurs, business leaders and major companies, combined with Cisco's practical knowledge acquired in more than 25 years of business experience.
- The institute uses teaching resources made available from institutions such as Stanford University, Cornell University and My Own Business, a nonprofit organization with more than 15 years of experience supporting the creation of successful businesses.
The Cisco Entrepreneurship Institute in Latin America
Currently, the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute is present in the following countries of Latin America: Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru, and has the support of the government of each country.
In Mexico, the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute has trained 120 owners of small and medium-sized businesses during its two years of presence in the country. In Chile, the institute has trained the owners of 200 small businesses.
In Colombia, the institute works with the Red Nacional de Emprendimiento del Ministerio de Comercio Industria y Turismo (National Venture Network of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism) and with the Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje, SENA (National Learning Service). During the first six months, the institute trained about 4,500 entrepreneurs in Colombia.
Last December the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute opened its doors in Peru, in alliance with the Asociación Pro Bienestar y Desarrollo, or PROBIDE, to train 800 entrepreneurs in Lima during its first year.
In Costa Rica the most recent institute in Latin America was opened, in alliance with ITS InfoCom and Parque Tec, which during the first year will train 500 Costa Rican entrepreneurs.
