Latina Women Build Entrepreneurial Dreams
Through a grant from the Women’s Fund of Central New York, the WISE Women’s Business Center, a 
program of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, hosted a graduation and pitch competition for the women in the “Éxito!” program on Monday, Nov. 16, at the Tech Garden, 235 Harrison St. in Syracuse.
The six-week course “Éxito!” (Success!) was created by the WISE Women’s Business Center with the goal of assisting the Central New York Latina community. The course encompassed: online learning, in-classroom training, roundtable discussion, accounting practices training and pitch competition coaching. Each week, the courses were based around a special software program designed to train women in entrepreneurship to create the first stages of a business plan and clearly articulate that plan in a five-minute pitch to an audience.
“The women in our group have learned so much about owning their own businesses. The WISE Women’s Business Center staff, the Whitman School M.B.A. students and other experts have made a huge impact on these new entrepreneurs,” says Marisol Hernández, “Éxito!” program facilitator.
The grant from the Women’s Fund of CNY was awarded to the WISE Women’s Business Center to better the lives of women and girls and in this case, to teach them entrepreneurship can be a pathway toward economic independence and creation of community wide economic impact.
The Women’s Fund of Central New York seeks to improve the lives of women and girls, serve as a voice and advocate for women and girls, educate women about philanthropy and engage women in creating change through collective and targeted giving.
This article was written by Lindsay Wickham and translated into Spanish by Marisol Hernández. Photo provided by Laiza Semidey. Caption: from left to Right: Susan Blanca, Crisol Matos, Olga Otero, Laiza Semidey, and Berenice Bonilla (Not in the picture Jamie Osorio and Mariana Blanca).
