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Business Incubator - Terre des Hommes
Terre des hommes Foundation is the largest non-governmental organization (NGO) for children’s aid in Switzerland. With three areas of expertise: health, social care, and the rights of the child; it has development projects in 28 countries and emergency relief programs in 3 others. In Peru, TdH works in the area of the rights of the child, providing legal support to minors in conflict with the law, organizing training for those involved in the Justice system (judges, lawyers, police officers, youth and social workers, etc.), and working among political and judicial authorities by campaigning for the respect and application of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child and the system of restorative justice. In El Agustino (Lima) they run a “rehabilitation”

programme for adolescents in conflict with the law. This program promotes community re-insertion and gives adolescents the psychological and emotional tools to get out of the circle of juvenile delinquency. One of the challenges they have is finding opportunities for these young adults to become productive members of society. A small business incubator may be a good way to meet this challenge.

One of the more popular techniques to help entrepreneurs and start-up business firms survive their early years and grow and prosper in the community is the small business incubator. The small business incubator is a physical facility, which provides a space and equipment (copier, fax, and computers to facilitate small businesses development. The incubator also assists participants in preparing business plans, securing financing, business counselling and management advising. Participants are expected to graduate from the incubator within a reasonable time frame to allow others to use the service. In time, the incubator recoups costs by charging reasonable rates and fees and charges for the use of specialized services and equipment.

The Incubator to be installed in El Agustino in September 2008 and will be slightly different from a regular incubator for several reasons:
1. Participants will not be able to pay a fee for using the incubator (at least at the beginning)
2. Participants start with a major disadvantage – they often lack a formal education and many have barely finished high-school and many of them do not even have a business idea

To overcome this, the project will:
1. Incorporate an initial additional element to the project: a series of “ideas generation workshops” and a series of training sessions for participants to learn about basic management concepts and how to write a business plan. Participants will also be advised in the process of writing their business plans

Beneficiaries: 10 young adults from the area of El Agustino

Volunteer responsibilities in 2009:

• Identify opportunities of improvement within the management style and tools used by the advised micro-entrepreneurs.
• Identify growth opportunities for the advised micro-entrepreneurs.
• Issue recommendations for the advised micro-entrepreneurs and oversee their implementation.
• Train and coach micro-entrepreneurs so as to consolidate their business management capacities.
• Do follow-up to analyze the performance of the micro-businesses and the impact of the different components of the project (micro-credit and trainings).

To apply, please contact:
Maricarmen Valdivieso
mvaldivieso@nexosvoluntarios.org