Fundación Impulsar

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The Fundación Impulsar is the Argentine branch of the Prince’s Trust. It was started in 1999 in Salta, in Argentina’s northwest, by seven British companies working there. They were inspired by the Prince’s Trust to create a similar program in Argentina.

In 2000, the Prince’s Trust set up Youth Business International (YBI), an umbrella group to advise and certify similar programs around the world. Fundación Impulsar became an accredited member of YBI in 2002.

The foundation helps young, entrepreneurial people aged 18 to 35 who have a good business idea but lack funding, especially those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. It provides seed capital, help with business planning and development, and mentoring.

How it works: the foundation advertises its services and interviews applicants. If a project looks viable, they attend a course to write a business plan. If the plan shows a feasible business, they sign a contract and then receive funding and mentoring. The funding is a loan usually repaid over about three years.

Since 1999, eight more Fundación Impulsar branches have opened in Argentina: Tartagal, Tucumán, Mendoza, Córdoba, Misiones, San Luis, Puerto San Julián, and Buenos Aires. The Buenos Aires office is now the head office, while Salta continues to train staff for the other offices and for similar programs in Latin America.

To date, Fundación Impulsar has helped more than 1,000 people start businesses in Argentina. About 70% of these businesses are still operating after three years, and the average business employs about 2.5 people.

Each year, Youth Business International holds the Entrepreneur of the Year awards for the best new businesses worldwide. In 2009, the Argentine winner was Juan Ramón Núñez, who, with Fundación Impulsar’s support, started a community radio station along with a sound and lighting rental business in a deprived Buenos Aires suburb.

Ramiro Cornejo Torino, president of the Salta office, says: “You plant a seed, you nurture it, and you wait to see how far it will grow.”

One project funded by the Salta office is a leather workshop that now supplies luxury leather goods to Casa López, a leading Argentine fashion chain, and to Estados, a British company selling handmade leather goods in the UK.