Mexico City, October 6, 2023.- With the aim of recognizing entrepreneurship as a fundamental point in the transformation of our society towards a responsible future, the Universidad Panamericanawith the support of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, celebrated the third edition of the UP Innovation Awards 2023 at the Mexico City campus (Mixcoac and Ciudad Panamericana).
This call attracted entrepreneurs from all over Mexico and Central America, in areas such as internet of things, education, urban mobility, health and biotechnology, renewable energies, software, creative industries and community impact; grouped into three categories according to their level of maturity: validated idea (novice entrepreneur), functional prototype (intermediate entrepreneur) and market traction (advanced entrepreneur).
Entrepreneurs: agents of change
During the inauguration, Dr. Fernanda Llergo Bay, Rector General of UP-IPADE, congratulated the entrepreneurs who responded to the call and said: "People who are committed to entrepreneurship and innovation can change society".
He added: "The university, from its beginnings, was made to generate ideas, that is its ethos, but as time has gone by, it has been seen that it is not only made to change ideas, but to transform society, and this can only be done through innovation".
"In our country we are in need of talent that has clear ideas, that uses them to go beyond and see how their knowledge can impact society," he added.
Social entrepreneurship
In her presentation, Juana RamírezFounding partner and president of the Board of Directors of the Association of Entrepreneurs of Mexico (ASEM) (ASEM) and Founder, CEO and President of SOHIN Group spoke about entrepreneurship and how to match it with social problems and profitability.
"I am convinced that business is a great engine of social transformation when those of us who form companies understand that, yes, we are there to generate value and generate profits, but also to transform the reality of the people we work with, our clients and the community in which we participate," she said.
Panel of Companies
Subsequently, the Business Panel was made up of Christian Bravo from Brame GroupRodrigo Piñal from Umbrella and Juan Solana from E&Y; moderated by Ana Lorrabaquio from Mujeres en Finanzas, in which intra-entrepreneurship, which is the promotion of innovation within companies, was discussed.
When asked about how intrapreneurship occurs within E&Y, Juan Solana said: "We accompany companies to transform themselves and that has forced us to be in constant transformation of what we do. The way that allows us to achieve this is precisely by promoting intrapreneurship, enabling people to have the capabilities and skills to be able to do better, differently, what they have to do to better serve their clients".
Rodrigo Piñal shared that for Umbrella, successful intrapreneurship "requires the commitment of the entire organization. To foster that innovation and creativity what we do is that we work through the model we created called EMA: Education, Motivation and Action".
Finally, the importance of having innovative and multidisciplinary teams was discussed, to which Bravo added that not having one "is a perfect recipe for chaos, because there is no more dangerous place than where everyone thinks alike (...) The risk of not being interdisciplinary is quite high and the benefit of being so is very enriching".
Yunus Social Enterprise Center at the Panamerican Highway
Later, in a special message to Pan American, recorded from Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, celebrated the creation of the Yunus Social Enterprise Center at Pan American.
He indicated that in this "we focus on social business because that is how we see that we can build our future and create a new civilization and that is where we created the idea of social business, as opposed to conventional business that maximizes only economic profits".
Tips for entrepreneurship
In closing, Marcus Dantus, founder and president of Startup Mexicothe most ambitious program for the promotion of entrepreneurship in Mexico and Latin America, said: "entrepreneurship is more difficult than employment and if they do not undertake something they like, when they face obstacles they will overcome them".
He then provided advice on five ideas:
- The idea. - "Look for something that is a problem and that you solve in a unique way," he mentioned; upon which he emphasized competitive advantage and quoting Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, reminded, "If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete."
- The team. - The better the team, the more cohesive it is, the more multidisciplinary it is, the greater the chances of success". He also stressed the importance of having mentors, advisors, experts and investors.
- MVP (Minimum Viable Product). - Quoting Erick Ries, author of The Startup Way, he said: "The MVP is the version of a new product that allows your team to collect the maximum learning on validation with your customers with the least possible effort".
- Validation. - "Go with more than a hundred people, ask the right questions and learn from the validation; if something fails dare to change."
- Execution. - At this point he reminded those present: "Learn to sell what is the purpose (the why), mission (how to achieve the purpose) and vision (how do you see the company in the future) of the company. It sounds trite, but if you don't know where to go how do you get there?".
Winners of the UP Innovation Arwards 2023
At the end of the event, the awards ceremony was held for the UP Innovation Arwards 2023The event was organized through an open call to the public, national and international, where dozens of startups submitted their projects and, after an evaluation process carried out by more than 40 researchers, 15 finalists were chosen. The winning projects were:
- Validated idea
1st place: AureoBos, treatment for bovine mastitis.
2nd place: PumaCar, Application Management Service for the UNAM community.
3rd place: HUS, Fintech for real estate sales and purchases.
- Functional Prototype
1st place: Wuupi, rehabilitation for people with movement disorders.
2nd place: Forensic App GATU, Application to support field work of specialists.
3rd place: Retazzo, introducing circular economy in the leather industry.
- Market traction
1st place: Creative Food Labs, Sugar substitute for diabetics and fitness people.
2nd place: Suul, Substitute for washing machine soap.
3rd place: The real green, Products with nanotechnology for the care of plants at home and in the garden.
- OMG Special Award for Creativity
1st place for the Creative Industries thematic area: Retazzo
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- Creative Food Labs
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- Retazzo
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- AureoBos
Depending on the place obtained, the winners received cash prizes, scholarships at Universidad Panamericana, mentorships at SparkUP, ASEM memberships, Tucané gifts and presentations with potential investors.
Find out the details of the awards received by each venture here.
You can watch the full event here:
