IAF and Young Americas Business Trust to Empower Youth Entrepreneurs

Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Luis Almagro, Inter-American Foundation (IAF) President and CEO Paloma Adams-Allen, and Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) CEO Luis Viguria launched the InnovAction Challenge at a special event on October 26th. This competition will connect outstanding young entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean with tools and resources to respond to the needs of communities most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The InnovAction Challenge will support at least 750 young people in transforming their ideas into viable social enterprises for grassroots reconstruction. Everyone who registers for the Challenge will receive business training and access to a regional network of entrepreneurs. Winning projects in four categories—social inequality, gender equity, citizen youth participation, and industry reactivation—will also receive seed capital and additional technical support. 

Adams-Allen states, “With the InnovAction Challenge, we are drawing on our extensive network of grassroots organizations to reach that cohort of brilliant yet underserved young people who have historically had less access to business funding.”   

“Through the InnovAction challenge, the young innovators and entrepreneurs of our hemisphere will assume responsibility and seize the opportunity of bringing social and economic relief to our region,” states Viguria. “We thank the Inter-American Foundation, the Summit of the Americas Secretariat, and the Organization of American States for making this challenge possible, reiterating once again our commitment for creating opportunities for participation and development for our youth.”