Challenge: How do we create a more inclusive, productive, and sustainable economic future for all?

Solution: Laboratoria

Laboratoria takes advantage of a real market demand - the need for developers across the tech sector - and solves it by addressing one of the most pressing social problems in Latin America: the lack of quality education and job opportunities for low-income youth. We recruit young women with promising talent and take them through an immersive 6-month training program. Our comprehensive education approach includes not only technical skills but also a personal and professional development program that teaches soft skills essential to the job market. Upon graduation, we connect our coders with tech companies in need of their talent. Our students pay gradually and only once they are employed, which makes our program affordable to a population excluded from quality programs. Our goal is to reach 10,000 young women by 2020, giving them the tools they need to change the face of the Latin American tech sector.

About Mariana

Mariana is the co-founder and CEO at Laboratoria, a social enterprise that gives young women from low-income backgrounds a career in tech. She has worked in development projects throughout Latin America, holds a BSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Columbia University in New York. Most recently she had the honor of sharing a panel with President Obama and Mark Zuckerberg at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Stanford University, and was recognized by the BBC as one of 2016's most influential women.