Workforce Development & Micro-Entrepreneurship

​OBJECTIVE
To promote local economic activity, generate employment opportunities, and address local basic needs.
​
​WHY IT MATTERS
Sustainable economic development, involving the professional development of adolescents and adults, is a proven link to improved health, education and peace within a community.
​
​HOW IT WORKS
Coprodeli's Workforce Development & Micro-Entrepreneurship Program is implemented through 5 initiatives: Micro-Enterprise Development, Employment Development, the Habitat Program, the Fair Trade Program, and Curriculum Integration.
MICRO-ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
2 INDUSTRIAL PARKS
The industrial parks serve as microbusiness incubators providing microentrepreneurs with the following services and resources:
Workshop space for low rent
Legal incorporation services
Development of business plan, strategy, and analysis skills
Training in marketing materials development
Connections with Peruvian and international markets
Guidance on new processes such as logistics and import/export regulations.
​Ica
Currently at 70% completion, the Industrial Park will be home to 51 "MYPES" (microempresas, or microbusinesses). These 51 MYPES will generate 300 jobs. Microbusinesses already integrated into the Industrial Park include a corporate laundry service company, aluminum production companies, food preservation and bottling services, and many more.
Pachacutec
Launched in 2005, Coprodeli's first Microenterprise Industrial Park has graduated into being the home of many established businesses! The entrepreneurs that launched with Coprodeli now have successful and thriving businesses. The majority have maintained their workshops and offices on the grounds, or expanded into new spaces when others have moved out to other locations.
​1,338 adolescents
graduate every year​​​​​​​​​​​​
​​
​
​​​1,120 hours of coursework
required per certificate
​
​
​Accounting, Business Administration,
​Baking, Carpentry, Cosmetology, ​
Culinary Arts, Electrical Studies, Education, Informatics, Graphic Design, Nursing, Sewing, Pharmaceuticals
​​

16,246 graduates
trained in total
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Technical training in a wide range of professional paths (see right)
​
High quality education
at a very low cost

Varied scheduling options
​
Job placement opportunities
​
Assistance and consulting
in small business planning,
creation and administration
​
Certificate of Expertise
upon completion
3 TECHNICAL TRAINING CENTERS
Coprodeli Technical Training Centers enable those that may have economic or time limitations to still pursue professional development. The Technical Training Centers provide the following to each student:
SCHOOL CURRICULUM INTEGRATION
"Workshop School"
As part of last three years of high school in Coprodeli's Callao and Pachacutec schools, students must have completed the curriculum-required 1,120 hours of professional formation in order to graduate.
​
This professional formation is equivalent to that in Coprodeli's Technical Training Centers and students will each graduate with one professional certificate already under their belt.
"La CompañÃa"
Coprodeli's schools integrate La Compañia, the Latin American adaption of Junior Achievement, into all aspects of students' curriculum their second-to-last year of high school.
​
The students spend 4 hours a week planning, managing and analyzing a company they create, in addition to 4 hours a week spent producing their good.
​
The academic material is integrated into every class: economic principles in social studies, business trends in history, marketing and communications strategy in language arts, financials and sales analyses in math, and quality control in science.

Coprodeli's Companies have included pastry companies, chocolates companies, artisan companies, and many more.

Each year, students throughout Latin America participating in "La CompañÃa"take a test covering the principles learned in the program. The top scorers from each country attend a La CompañÃa conference the following year. The past two years, Coprodeli students have had the highest scores in Peru, and have made Coprodeli proud by being selected to represent Peru at these international conference.
FAIR TRADE
Artisans
Offers artisans a place to earn wages without child exploitation or discrimination against women.
​
Artisans produce traditional Andean arts and crafts such as paintings, jewelry, and home decorations.
Farmers
Offers farmers a place to earn a living wage by taking out 'fees' that would be lost to a middle-man that connects fresh produce with markets and supermarkets.
​
Farmers produce fruits and vegetables. Recently, Coprodeli farmers have begun taking on some micro-enterprise ventures by beginning to use their produce to create other products such as pisco, a typical Peruvian alcohol.
HABITAT PROGRAM
Capacitation
Trains companies in the construction trade and develops innovative construction alternatives and designs that allow for the maximization of materials and local labor. Affordable housing models offered through the program provide homes to families displaced by the earthquake.
COFOPRI
Please visit our Housing & Construction page for more information on this program.
A spin-off company by former Coprodeli employees who saw the necessity of such services within their community, COFOPRI works to get families and small companies the formal legal rights to their land.
​
Without COFOPRI, the process is too long, complicated, and expensive and therefore excludes marginalized populations from being able to formalize the ownership of their land, leaving them vulnerable.