BBVA’s global program, with a specialized training stage designed by EGADE Business School, has consolidated its position as a benchmark in driving social entrepreneurship.

By JOSÉ ÁNGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

For the eighth time, EGADE Business School - Tecnológico de Monterrey joined the BBVA Momentum program, which supports training and acceleration for social ventures that are influential in Mexico. This initiative of BBVA México seeks to help social entrepreneurs flourish in a complex economic environment, fomenting their growth and survival.

The program’s 2021 call resulted in the selection of 100 ventures with a social and environmental focus and oriented towards the United Nations Social Development Goals (SDGs).

The selected companies met the criteria of presenting economically sustainable, innovative and scalable projects that produce a relevant social impact; having been operational for more than two years and having more than two employees; earning a provable annual income of over 1.5 million Mexican pesos; and carrying out activities with an impact in Mexico.

Representatives of the 100 selected companies participated between October 4 and November 12 in an Online Training stage, offered by Tec de Monterrey’s Digital Continuing Education, and an Acceleration stage, designed by New Ventures.

Subsequently, out of the 100 companies, 20 were selected to participate in the Specialized Training stage, designed by EGADE Business School specially for the program.

In this second phase, which took place from November 16 to 30, the entrepreneurs enjoyed the strategic mentorship of experts in finance, business strategy, marketing, storytelling, among other topics.

In addition, they received advice on defining a business plan that would ultimately enable them to apply for a loan with special conditions as BBVA Momentum participants.

The program ended on December 1 with the Social Investment Day, where the 20 companies from the second phase presented their pitches to investors and relevant players in the impact ecosystem.

Irma Acosta, Director of Responsible Business and Sustainability, BBVA México, and Rodrigo Villar, CEO of New Ventures, took part in diverse sessions.

Participants from Tec de Monterrey were Francisco Fernández and Christiane Molina, Executive Director and Academic and Research Director, respectively, at the Center for Conscious Enterprise, and Jaime Martínez, Director of EGADE Business School, Mexico City site.

Throughout the history of BBVA Momentum, BBVA México has allocated an investment of 34 million pesos in training and acceleration, and made available 116 million pesos to grant preferential loans to any ventures that needed them.

BBVA Momentum is a global program of BBVA, implemented with several training partners in different countries.