Fundación Soy Oportunidad

I am a lawyer and specialist in social responsibility and

development. Im also a very young mother and the Founder of Fundación Soy Oportunidad, a social organization that empowers young mothers who live in vulnerability and poverty in Colombia, through entrepreneurship and life projection programs that allow them to generate new economic and social opportunities for themselves and their families.

 Among the poorest and most vulnerable population, if you had to choose to offer a job opportunity between a poor person, and a young, pregnant, uneducated and poor woman ... to whom would you give that opportunity? 

We offer entrepreneurship and life projection programs for young mothers head of household in Bogotá. These women learn to work in various trades from home, in order to generate decent and sustainable income for themselves and their families. 

We bet on these women with more difficulties to get out of their circle of
poverty. We know that in them is the opportunity to improve the
quality of life of their own and their families, while they still can stay with their children at home.

Thousands of Colombian families living in poverty are not prepared to receive a new child in their homes. Unemployment, lack of sexual planning, teenage pregnancy, among other factors, encourage families to continue growing without control, preventing access to better conditions of life for them in the medium and long term. In Colombia, one of every five mothers is a teenager. 

According to the UN, only one in three children in Colombia live in multidimensional poverty. Today, there are several obstacles to the implementation of the life project of the Colombian children. Barriers such as social inequality, poverty and lack of education prevent their integral development and lead to the emergence of cycles of vulnerability almost
impossible to eradicate. 

Want to change the way mothers generate income while they stay with their children.  We created our program De Mujeres para el Mundo, a series of workshops, theoretical and practical training, where our mothers are the main characters, as they are trained and learn new skills that allow them to generate income for their families from home, without leaving their children alone. In this way we preserve this valuable time of love and company between mothers and children, while reinventing the way they generate income for their families.

These women begin as beneficiaries of our foundation through workshops and trainings. We teach them skills that allow them start a new business while continuing to care for their children. It has already been seen in multiple studies that reduce inequality and create greater opportunities for women, can help to reduce the risk of occurrence of teenage pregnancy and mitigate their respective effects. We offer 3 essential axes in order to get a integral training: 

1. Recognition of female body and sexual health. We offer information in women's rights, psychological care, prevention od domestic violence, among others. We need to prevent future pregnancies

2. Basic care of  our children.

3. Entrepreneurship training

We support mothers who live in vulnerable situations, between the ages of 17 and up to 50, with children under the age of 5 in Colombia. Our support is based on constant communication, preliminary investigation of your current situation and the personalized support offered to each of them. We offer the ability to develop job skills that allow them to undertake their life project, with the support of expert psychologists, social workers, among others. Once we understand their situation, we begin a process of personal, family and work development that allows them to continue working independently, once they finish our program.

Our project meets the requirements of the Elevate Prize, since we have a long-term program that allows single mothers (vulnerable population) and the possibility of being self-sufficient and projecting their future, once they finish our program. We work to not become a welfare organization. We want to work to ensure that they can get ahead without needing any kind of support.

As I mentioned before, once I became a mother at 18, I understood that I was in a "privileged place" that I had to share with thousands of women whose opportunities were interrupted, once they become pregnant. My foundation started by making donations, but thanks to this experience we understood that we were not solving any problem. On the contrary, we were perpetuating it. For this reason, we decided to create a life projection program, where we break with cycles of poverty and empower women to work and commit to their future and that of their children.

I became a very young mom. I was only 18 years old. Fortunately
I had the support of my family and friends and therefore I was
able to study, work and get ahead with my husband and my son.
However, I know that thousands of women in my country do not
have the same fate. I have always been a woman passionate
about social work and I used to visit hospitals to accompany
children. It was there where I met the true needs of thousands of
women who, like me, were very young mothers, but they did not
have the same opportunities that life gave me to get ahead.
Therefore, I created Fundación Soy Oportunidad (I am
Opportunity) We want to be that opportunity for someone else to
get ahead and end the cycle of poverty in which they are living.
Today my son and I are the proof that it can be broken with social
stigmas with commitment and much effort. Definitely, this little guy
motivates and reminds me everyday to help the more we can.

I feel that 2 essential factors come together: The first one is that this has been my dream for as long as I can remember. I always wanted to start a foundation where I could help people out of their problems. On the other hand, once I had my son, I understood exactly what population I wanted to work with. The experience that I have acquired during these 4 years has allowed me to create alliances with different companies in Colombia, as well as being recognized by national and international entities, when developing a project like this. For this reason, I feel that I am the right person to continue climbing our project, hand in hand with the Elevate Prize. 

In 2018 we were recognized by the Bancolombia Foundation and the Ventures Corporation, for having a sustainable and scalable business model. In 2019 we received 2 international seed capital awards with The Pollination Project and Talk Abroad, in the USA. In 2020 I was selected as a fellow of the Yunus & Youth fellowship program, and our organization was recognized as one of the 500 most important social companies in Latin America, according to the Green Latin American Awards.

Our greatest adversity, while still a small organization, has been our financial sustainability. However, our creativity has allowed us to continue working and providing the best opportunities for our beneficiaries. Last year, for example, we needed to get 2 industrial sewing machines for the sewing course that we had started with our beneficiaries. These machines are really expensive and we did not have the resources to have them. For this reason, we started a donation campaign, as well as a charity event so big, that we managed to get the best machines on the market! Today our moms can work on them!

Approximately 3 years ago, we met the Cumaco sidewalk, in the rural sector, where 80 children study in deplorable conditions. Although our work at the foundation is focused directly on mothers, I knew that I had to do something to help. The school teacher (There was only one) told us that they needed a library, because the children did not have a pleasant space, nor books to paint, read, study. I decided to create an event where I managed to get more than 300 people to attend! All the income that we obtained that day went to a didactic library that we had to take from Bogotá to the north of the country! Today this library welcomes children as well as adults who want to learn! Well, every year we keep sending learning materials for all ages! That day I knew that I could really move masses!

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We innovate because we not only train mothers who are heads of household so that they can start working. We want these women to stop finding themselves in the need to choose whether to work or care for their children. That is why we create alliances with companies that hire our beneficiaries in various forms of remote work (it is curious to see that the Covid-19 left this as great teaching!) Which will allow them to be present in the growth and development of their children. Thus we also prevent future problems of strengthening emotional ties, confusion in parenting, crime, among others.

At this time we have been able to serve more than 250 mothers in Colombia. For next year we will increase this figure to 350 women. In 5 years we hope to be able to support 500 more women in different parts of the country.

Our main goal is to have a space where our beneficiaries can train, with a space where they can keep their babies safe while they are in their classes. We want to take our program to other parts of the country and promote female entrepreneurship for the realization of thousands of women in Colombia

Our main barriers are financial. We need more resources to be able to receive more beneficiaries every year. In this way we could hire specialized personnel and offer better results for our beneficiaries.

Of course! Our main plan is to work with national companies that sponsor our organization and receive our beneficiaries in their companies. We have managed to create alliances with companies that donate time and money in order to support our process!

We have different ways to sustain our organization: Through business alliances that donate time and money to our project. Through the sale of products made by the beneficiaries of the foundation, through national and international calls and fundraising.

With this award we want to have the possibility of offering better learning opportunities for our beneficiaries. We want to have excellent face-to-face and virtual learning coverage. Have the machines and tools for the different programs. Offer greater security through our own space that allows us to meet with our beneficiaries.