The U.S. government and global business and financial leaders have teamed with Univision to help promote the “La Idea” competition, giving Latino businessmen and women the chance to win money for their business plans. Potential private investing in successful ideas is up to $100 million.
La Idea aims to connect the American Hemisphere through entrepreneurship and innovation with a goal of creating jobs and prosperity. La Idea will host a business plan competition that will provide grants and loan access to winning ideas that involve U.S. Latino entrepreneurs and local entrepreneurs in Latin America.
The first round of the competition will focus on the U.S., Mexico and Central America and will target entrepreneurs that want to expand their operations across borders, from North to South or South to North.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide the expertise from the African Diaspora Marketplace competition while contributing $200,000 for La Idea winners. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation has pledged $100 million in project financing for La Idea applicants that meet its credit and policy requirements.
U.S. Hispanic entrepreneurs who are prepared to expand to Latin America and Latin American entrepreneurs have a lot to gain from tapping the U.S. Latino market, which has a purchasing power of around $1.3 trillion, greater than the GDP of every Latin American country except Brazil, according to a Univision article.
To read more about the competition’s timeline and requirements, go to the official La Idea website.
