While supporting social enterprises and impact-focused businesses falls under Agora’s direct mission, throughout the years we have also developed a parallel strategy focused on more traditional small and growing businesses (SGBs) in order to help them incorporate sustainability and impact into their operations and to grow, thus expanding our concept of impact.
This strategy originated in Nicaragua in the early days of Agora and has since then been reactivated and broadened to include other Central American countries, where instability and socio-political crises have turned the creation of more inclusive and entrepreneurial economies into a necessity.
Since 2015, Agora Nicaragua opted to extend the core of its traditional service offering (mainly business growth advisory) to also include border topics such as productivity, digitalization, the refinement of businesses’ value proposition to adapt to a new market situation, as well as emphasised skills specifically related to emotional resilience.
Achievements
Organization of 10+ commercial fairs
A series of 50+ free webinars and workshops with more than 600 participants in total
40+ hours of free on-demand consulting sessions through the Agora 1:1:1 initiative
The creation of an emergency online community during Nicaragua’s 2018 socio-political crisis
Launch of #CompraNica social media campaign to promote local entrepreneurs’ products and foster consumption of locally produced goods
AgoraChallenge to strengthen companies’ value proposition
Agora2030 to enhance leadership and managerial skills of entrepreneurs who have incorporated or wish to incorporate sustainability components in their businesses.
Emprendiendo360 to coach entrepreneurs through an incubation process
The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (Nicaragua edition) to equip women entrepreneurs with the skills necessary to create and grow their own businesses, raise capital, and network with other successful business owners in order to reach their economic potential
Through these various initiatives which all aimed at strengthening entrepreneurs’ leadership and management skills through a combination of group workshops, one to one consulting, mentoring and networking sessions, Agora Nicaragua managed to reach hundreds of entrepreneurs in total.
Just recently, since the 2018 crisis in Nicaragua, Agora has supported over 1,200 Nicaraguan micro and small enterprises with much-needed support at no cost for the participants. Programs in Nicaragua have historically served a majority of women-led businesses which currently represent over 80% of the 200+ companies actively engaging with the Agora alumni community.
