Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) builds linkages between young business and social entrepreneurs in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, providing opportunities, training, tools, networks and resources to help them carry out their projects and contribute to their economic development.

This internship is a program of the U.S. State Department offered in Latin America, including Costa Rica, the Embassy of the United States of America in the country announced the and it is the second time that it is opening of the application period which will extend through April 23.

2017 participants will travel to the U.S for five weeks to strengthen their capacity to launch and advance their entrepreneurial ideas and effectively contribute to social and economic development in their communities.

Candidates travel to Georgia for an orientation, and depending on the characteristics of their project they are placed with Fellowship Hosts at businesses and organizations in 21 city hubs across the United States, this will serve as a mentoring experience and/or as a business strategy opportunity. The experience culminates with the YLAI summit in Washington.

“Twenty-four Latin American and Caribbean entrepreneurs participated in a successful pilot YLAI fellowship program in spring 2016, creating the beginning of a vibrant network of entrepreneurs in the Western Hemisphere. Following the success of this YLAI pilot, an additional 250 YLAI fellowships were awarded to rising young business and social entrepreneurs in fall 2016.
YLAI hopes to generate $1 billion for emerging business and social entrepreneurs by the end of 2017 by helping “Fellows” attract new investments and in-kind resources for their businesses or organizations each year”, explaines the YLAI site.

In 2016, Costa Rica had the participation of 10 entrepreneurs, among them Costa Rican Karla Delgado, a fashion designer and image consultant, who manages three brands: Koala Designs, Berman and Alma de Sirena, she stated “This opened my eyes to how this business operates in the United States, the opportunities that exist, being able to network with other entrepreneurs is a very enriching experience, and as a woman it empowered and inspired me”.

“Entrepreneurs will create a network that otherwise it would be very difficult to build on their own since it involves other participants in Latin America, they create contacts, business opportunities, they receive assessment and even investment opportunities”, explained Shirley Brenes, from the Public Affair Department of the U.S.A Embassy in Costa Rica.

YLAI has the participation of close to 250 entrepreneurs from different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, the application for the program can be completed online at: https://ylai.state.gov/ participants must have a full command of the English language.