Five of the country´s women entrepreneurs are awarded prizes in the second edition of the AWE program promoted by the U.S Consulate and Andorra Business

Monday December 4th 2023

The U.S. Consulate General in Barcelona in collaboration with Andorra Business presented prizes to the most innovative projects for the second edition of the free formation program for women entrepreneurs provided by the U.S government “Academy for Women Entrepreneurs” (AWE), also supported by the Women´s Association of Andorra.

In this edition 14 of the country´s entrepreneurs with a startup created in the last four years or one they are about to launch took part. The three winners who received a check for the amount of 1000 Euros are:

• Jessica Rivera Galián from Aumentium, which is centered around high added value technological solutions and services with cybersecurity as a vision and central axis in all of them. It is sustained by two pillars, those being digital transformation and strategic consulting.
• Laura Naranjo from The Pool House, international communications and public relations consulting firm specialized in the sectors of sports, tourism, new technologies and content creation generating value for Andorran companies.
• Maite Calzada from Logocube, which creates specific material for speech therapy interventions, such as physical boxes that contain a variety of materials helping to reach specific objectives and of the utmost importance in speech therapy work with infants.

The jury also awarded two 500 Euro prizes to:

• Josefina Soffia Lagos from Be Forest, specialized in the design and practice of Health and wellness experiences based on forest baths. Her business promotes a balanced lifestyle through establishing a connection with nature.
• Selene Molteno for a high-end men and women´s clothing brand of her own name, fabricated with Merino wool or mohair.

Over the last few months, participants have benefited from a combination of in-person masterclasses with mentors from Andorra, as well as intense DreamBuilder online formation, provided by the Thunderbird business school, from Arizona State University in the United States. Besides the awards, all participants will become a part of the vast global network of AWE entrepreneurs that includes over 16000 women in 80 countries worldwide.

In this sense, the Minister for Presidency, Economy, Labor and Housing, and president of Andorra Business, Conxita Marsol, highlighted that “with these tools, our entrepreneurs have been able to advance in the development of their businesses or projects and have improved their abilities in the field of business. And form these results, their talent and their innovative projects, not only will benefits be reaped by the participants but also the entirety of Andorran society.”

The Consul General of the United States in Spain and Andorra, Katie Stana, stated that “it is fundamental to provide support to women entrepreneurs in order to guarantee a continuously increasing presence of women on the front lines of business networks and positions of leadership. And this is why, alliances such as this between the U.S. government, Andorra Business and the Women´s Association of Andorra are key, allowing the development of a AWE women entrepreneurs network also here in the Principality”.

The event was also attended by the State Secretary for Business, Diversification, Economy and Innovation, Marc Saura, the director of Andorra Business, Judit Hidalgo, the president of the Women´s Association of Andorra, Mònica Codina, and the director of Innovation and AWE Program Job Promotion, Maria Mora, who gave a conference on the potential of women entrepreneurs.