107 young people and women from the Trifinio Region trained in entrepreneurship and business models

• This training process is part of the ESCALAR Juventud 2025 initiative within the framework of the ESCALAR project.

The third edition of the ESCALAR Juventud 2025 call for proposals began the incubation process for rural entrepreneurship with training in entrepreneurship and business models, with the participation of 107 young people, of whom 12 are from El Salvador, 39 from Guatemala and 56 from Honduras.

This process is being conducted as part of the ESCALAR project: “Scaling climate change adaptation solutions for resilience and migration reduction in the Central American Dry Corridor”, led by CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center), in partnership with the Tri-national Trifinio Plan Commission (CTPT), with support from the Swedish Cooperation. The training and mentoring are developed with the support of incubation partners CDMYPE - UNICAES (El Salvador), PROMYPIME CUNORI (Guatemala) and the Foundation for Rural Business Development, FUNDER (Honduras).

The call, which ended on February 16, received 166 registrations from young residents of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, specifically from the Trifinio Region, interested in obtaining seed capital for their rural enterprises.

The objective of the training process is to provide young people and women between the ages of 18 and 29 with the skills and abilities to develop rural enterprises linked to the scaling up of agricultural innovations for climate adaptation.

The training program includes topics such as “Leadership and gender, client-centered approach and agricultural innovations for climate change adaptation,” taught by CATIE specialists in the three countries. In addition, the topic “Business Model Canvas” is provided by the Universidad Católica de El Salvador (UNICAES) in Metapán, the Centro de Promoción de la Micro, Pequeña y Mediana Empresa (PROMIPYME CUNORI) of the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala in Chiquimula and the Fundación para el Desarrollo Empresarial Rural (FUNDER) in Copán Ruinas and La Labor. Finally, training on “Investment Plan and Business Proposal Pitch” is provided by UNICAES and CATIE in Metapán, by CUNORI and CATIE in Chiquimula, and by FUNDER and CATIE in Copán Ruinas and La Labor.

ESCALAR Juventud is an inclusive incubation process that promotes the creation and strengthening of rural enterprises that provide solutions to climate change led by young people between the ages of 18 and 29 who reside in the Dry Corridor of the Trifinio Region.

The young people participating in this training process implement innovative enterprises in areas and technologies such as coffee, livestock, basic grains, water harvesting practices, production and commercialization of bio-inputs, agritech, agroforestry / silvopastoral nurseries, and clonal coffee gardens.