Written by Alena Anderson, an intern with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State.
In 2023 and 2024, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and U.S. Embassy Mexico City collaborated with AT&T Mexico on ECA’s Academy for Women Entrepreneurs’ (AWE) local and national pitch competitions. Now operating in more than 100 countries, the Department established AWE in 2019 to provide women entrepreneurs the knowledge, networks, and access they need to launch or scale successful businesses.
Each year in March, graduates of the AWE program in Mexico come together to pitch their business ideas and compete for grants to further advance their businesses. Through U.S. Embassy collaboration with AT&T Mexico, AWE participants had the exciting opportunity to pitch their business ideas to U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar and AT&T Mexico representatives, including CEO Monica Aspe, Daniel Rios, Assistant Vice President, External Affairs & Sustainability, and Fabiana Porta Lopez, Vice President, Marketing. The top three winners of the 2023 and 2024 national pitch competitions shared their experiences with AWE, the competition, and thoughts about the future of their businesses.
Luz Castillo won first place in the 2024 national pitch competition with her business, Kaiseki, which sells organic products such as home gardening kits and recycled paper notebooks sewn by hand. Kaiseki’s mission is to have its customers feel more connected to nature and to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of life while simultaneously motivating them to take care of nature.
Castillo noted, “When I decided to enroll in AWE, I never imagined everything it would bring to my life” (translated from Spanish).
Castillo’s participation in AWE and the pitch competition allowed her to connect with other women entrepreneurs, gain confidence, and strengthen her public speaking skills. On winning first place in the pitch competition, she said, “When they said that I had won first place, I confess that I could not believe it, it will be a moment that I will not forget because the fact that the qualifying jury has seen the potential of my venture, is something too big...I am very grateful because this is a great stimulus to continue believing and working to make my business grow” (translated from Spanish). With the AT&T Mexico funds awarded through the competition, Castillo began selling her products in more than seven states, is currently processing her products to be sold on Amazon, and will soon customize Kaiseki’s online store to offer an easier shopping experience.
The 2024 second-place winner, Karen Rostro, won with her business, Omankal, which produces honey wine and promotes local sustainable beekeeping. Winning the competition and funding gave Rostro’s business greater security and helped her business gain national and international reach. Although Rostro won the funds, she acknowledged that, “We had all already succeeded just by meeting each other and having the honor of being evaluated by people with a lot of experience in business” (translated from Spanish).
Rostro used AT&T Mexico’s seed funds to purchase professional winemaking equipment, which has already helped her increase production volume, decrease production time, simplify cleaning processes, and enable easier packaging. After the competition, Rostro also collaborated with one of the judges who invited her to sell Omankal products in his restaurant.
Elizabeth “Liz” Escalante came in third place with her business, Happyfeed, an online service that provides information and courses on pets’ nutrition and diet. Happyfeed was inspired by Escalante’s own love of pets and her desire for more pet owners to be aware of the importance of a pet’s nutrition. She expressed that being an entrepreneur can be lonely at times, especially when starting a business alone, so sharing her business experience through AWE and the AT&T Mexico-sponsored pitch competition with other women experiencing the same situation was very inspirational. Thanks to the AT&T Mexico pitch funds, Escalante invested in trademarking her brand and hiring a business mentor, which allowed her to make great progress in a short time period. She is proud and thankful for AWE opening her eyes to the possibilities of expanding her business to new levels, including seeking international reach for her products in Canada, North America, and Latin America.
The winners from the 2023 pitch competition, Julia Asunción Virgilio Hernández (1st place, Recicladora Camelitas), Ixzi Juliza Flores Hernández (2nd place, CAD Centro Educativo Psicologico), and Luz Angelica Castro Jiménez (3rd place, Apotheke Custom Made Organics) shared similar experiences to this year’s winners on gaining valuable knowledge of business strategies, strengthening their confidence, and practicing other useful skills that will improve their businesses’ futures. Their businesses span several industries, including recycling and conservation, pediatric neurodevelopmental disorder services, and personal care products.
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Image above shows United States Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, surrounded by the 2023 winners and other participants of the U.S. Embassy Mexico City’s AWE and AT&T Mexico national pitch competition.
These three women noticed a measurable difference in their businesses’ capacity to expand and increase production thanks to winning the AT&T Mexico pitch competition funds. Julia Asunción Virgilio Hernández described her experience as eye-opening; she gained more knowledge on how to manage her business successfully. Luz Angelica Castro Jiménez expressed: “Since my participation, a sense of self-control took over the way I am developing my business and the pathway I want pursue. There is nothing but positive in this experience!” (translated from Spanish)
The pitch competition winners’ experiences in AT&T Mexico and AWE Mexico’s collaboration allowed them to not only win the grant funds, but also gain confidence, meet other women entrepreneurs, and expand their networking opportunities to have a wider audience for their businesses. By participating in AWE, these women are also Exchange Alumni, which allows them to join a community of others who have participated in U.S. government-sponsored programs and have access to an abundance of resources to support their businesses. AT&T Mexico’s collaboration with AWE helped these start-up businesses achieve successes early on in their careers.
