 Good afternoon. I'm Daniel Durasto, a Foreign Service Officer here at the U.S. Department of State. Thank you for joining us. I will be your moderator for today's global innovation through science and technology program, what we know as Just Tech Connect. And we will be having a conversation on diversity for success in business. Remember, you can join our discussion by sending us your questions and comments through the chat space next to the video player or through Twitter at hashtag Just Tech Connect. Very well, I'd like to begin by welcoming our experts. First, at the studio, I have Marcia Chong, an investment analyst for Village Capital. Marcia is in charge of investment advisory on education, financial inclusion, health, and energy. Welcome to the studio, Marcia. We also have connected with us via internet. Agostino Almeida, Chief Operating Officer of RutaN, a business and innovation center in Medellin, Colombia. Thank you, Agostino, for being with us. And lastly, we have Jorge Ramos, the Director General of Extend Consulting and Advisory Services, LLC. And he's also going to answer your questions and about interesting links. Thank you all for being with us today as we wait for viewers to send us their questions. I'd like to kick off the discussion by asking you, Marcia and Agostino, to tell us a little bit more about your background, your experience, promoting diversity in entrepreneurial ventures. Agostino, let's start with you, please. Yes, surely, Daniel. It is a pleasure to greet you all. And thank you very much for the invitation. This is an extremely important topic in today's world to see how successful enterprises can be started up. I'm Portuguese. I now live in Colombia, however, in Medellin. I've been here for six years. My training has been very special, but I have been focusing in recent years on enterprise. And now I am currently in charge of operations at RutaN focused on diversity and ecosystems. What kind of impact it can have on the social and economic development of the region. I have lived also in the United States, in different states, different cities. I was raised there from a very young age. And it's important to point that out because actually it provides us a different vision as to diversity, which is so important for any enterprise. Yes, your personal background also comprises a lot of diversity then. Yes, you're absolutely right. Marsha, what about you? Can you tell us a little bit about your experiences? Well, first, thank you very much for the invitation. My experience has been with investments for social impact and venture capital. And that is why how startups begin. Originally, I was born in Ecuador. I'm very proud of that. And that actually has been very helpful to give me a different viewpoint as to how we conduct our investments. One of the reasons why I hold my position today is that there are big problems with venture capital because most investors are investing in the same places, in entrepreneurs from the different diversities. And that is having an impact on the world of enterprises in Latin America. It is a topic that I believe is very important. Well, thank you very much, Marsha. We have a lot of areas that we need to touch upon. Later on, we'll ask our experts to share with us how diversity in a team from a practical standpoint can impact the success of a project. Let us now dig into one of the questions that we issued through social media to the participants. We asked people, what aspect of diversity in business are you most interested in hearing about? You'll see the results on screen now. The most important answer was strategies to create a business with greatest diversity. That's 56% response, followed by success stories of enterprises with diversity. And then how to close the financial gap, what you were talking about just now, Marsha, how to ensure that investors make investments in companies with more diversity. Marsha and Agostino, what do you think about these answers we've heard from our viewers? Marsha, you first, please. Well, these are replies that I was also interested in when I launched in venture capital. And I believe that there are different strategies starting out with the team as well as suppliers and partners. Because when you're starting out in a venture, you not only have to think about your team, but how can I diversify my business when it comes to suppliers or shareholders for my business? So you need to really think beyond. Yes, that's true. And when we speak about diversity, there are many different aspects. It can be gender diversity, sexual preference, ethnic origin, religious groups, et cetera. All of those different factors come into play. Agostino, would you like to comment about these answers to the questionnaire? Yes, I concur with what Marsha pointed out. It depends on the type of business and enterprise and in what ecosystem it's working. That is going to really have an impact on diversity. It's a factor for success, and it's also interesting. Let me give you one example. We invested in a company when I was also working for a venture capital, and that was developing dyes based on endemic fruits here in Colombia. And the suppliers are very important, as Marsha pointed out, because these were specific ethnic groups from some remote areas in Colombia. So all the development strategies for the supply chain, even the negotiation when talking about access to natural resources in the country, all of this required management by communities and entering into agreements with them when they had no local trading. And that is very important to understand their needs and what is the strategic role needed to develop these businesses. So diversity can also encompass different regions within one same country, different socioeconomic groups that are represented. Yes, of course. Thank you, Agostino. Very well. We shared this question via Twitter earlier, and I'd now like to ask our online viewers, what do you believe is the biggest challenge entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds face? Is it lack of financing or perhaps difficult access to professional networks, limited educational opportunities that some of these groups face, or negative stereotypes or something else? All viewers are invited to respond to this poll that you'll find on the screen, and afterwards we will be reading your programs, your answers during the program. Let us hear some questions from our online viewers. We'll be receiving questions from different parts. First question, do you know of any incentive that enterprises can use to attract greater diversity among their ranks or their teams? Marsha, will you please go first? I think there are different types of incentives. One is if you're a startup or a business and you want to attract that talent, then one thing you could possibly do, if you join us, you can say if you join us, we'll provide mentoring for people who can help you and help you to progress in your career. This is extremely important. If you're creating diversity, sometimes you might feel that you're the only one in a team, that you're very alone. So to be able to provide mentoring is extremely important in those circumstances. Agostino, is there any kind of strategy that you'd like to share with us? I'd like to divide my answer in two parts. First, how a business manager truly understands the strategy to locate the capacity and talent, as Marsha pointed out. Once a strategy has been identified, then see how one can attract it by providing the appropriate conditions. Obviously, there should be different levels, but it depends on the sector and the business because the incentives can change. And in my experience, they range from placing people in or relocating people in the country, that was a benefit or an important incentive, but also access to resources and capabilities that perhaps don't exist in certain regions. It could be education or health. All of that can be a very attractive offer, focusing obviously on the specifics of people from remote areas. That's wonderful. We have another question from the viewers. Do Marsha and Agostino have any recommendation of how to maintain existing diversity within an organization? In other words, having recruited people from different origins, how to ensure that they remain on the team and continue to grow as part of the team or the enterprise Marsha first? Well, at least the startups we have seen, the problem of talent, especially in growing markets such as Mexico, Colombia, Chile, talent is a problem. People might be with a company two, three years and they leave. One of the reasons is because there is scant investment in the professional development of the individual or they are not provided with sufficient opportunities to grow within the enterprise. In other words, give them that mentorship and have somebody to guide them in their career. And to follow up on that, when you say people leave, where do they go? Do they go to other enterprises, to the public sector? Well, for instance, if they're in a startup, they perhaps will go to the private sector where they are paid better. Very well, next question. If the experts could tell us about a new venture that benefited during their first steps from the point of view of having a diverse team. Agostino, let me begin with you. Have you had any experience with this? Yes, there are two that I would like to mention. The first one is EcoFlora Cares, the company I mentioned recently. And it has the ability to manage different teams in different parts of the country, some are very remote and different ethnic groups. And this was a very interesting and successful experience. The development of economic capacity in families, strategies for the development of the regions, all of that was extremely interesting. And at Ruta Inn, specifically, we have managed teams, perhaps not as enterprises, but at the agency level, and we have a very diverse team from a cultural, religious, and ethnic point of view. Wonderful. Another question from our viewers is something that incubators and accelerators can do in order to encourage diversity within ecosystems. This would be from a systemic point of view, not just for a single company, but on more broader terms. Marsha, how would you answer that question? Well, I think accelerators and incubators can do a lot, beginning with the different strategies. One is obviously open their programs for marginalized groups or different types of people, the Latino groups or Afro-Americans, and for talent coming from Latin America. That is growing talent. That is one strategy, but it is not sufficient. We must also create programs to connect investors with entrepreneurs and create a shared language where investors are able to say, we will invest at a certain level of maturity. For that, we need to look at a team with A, B, C, or D. We also need a business model having reached a certain maturity level. It's very important to entertain those conversations between investors and entrepreneurs. And many accelerators only focus on looking at the entrepreneur and looking at them, but they don't work on linking the two. Agostino, have you had any experience in encouraging diversity on a broader, more systemic basis? Yes, of course. The accelerator is a good source, but let me also add, public entities such as local government, those strategies are very important. And one of the things that we've always mentioned is that it's not just the impact and the triple bottom line. It's not by specialty. It's good for business and it does have a systemic impact. And to attract talent becomes very important, Marsha. Spoke about attracting Latin American talent towards the United States or elsewhere in the world. But there are other examples. For instance, here with our companies, we have a number of companies here in Medellin under Ruta Ene, and over 60% are not Colombian. They come from 30 different countries. So in the cafeteria, you can hear 20 different languages being spoken and that encourage interaction, capacities, technologies, and talent can come from anywhere in the world. As a development policy to build up capacity and to increase a pipeline and a spectrum, it becomes very important. The next question we have is, are there geographic regions that could be within Latin America or even outside the region elsewhere in the world that have progressed in encouraging greater diversity in enterprises? Have you had any experience whether in Latin America or elsewhere with this diversity has encouraged at the systemic level? Quite honestly, my answer would have to be no. This is a region where there is a lot of diversity, but I do have some examples of companies with an international presence that have achieved a change. One that we have seen as example is in power financing and they provide loans to foreign students and to students in the United States who are part of the DACA program who have been excluded from the U.S. financial market. In their strategy, starting with the founder, they have indicated we have to have an intentional strategy towards diversity. So they've had foreign students and DACA students and this truly helped them improve their product and grow their user base. In my experience, I have seen different examples, a bit similar to this, but in different markets, and none that I can say, wow, this has gone beyond diversity. Agostino, have you had a different experience? Have you seen any geographic area that was successful in this kind of action? Quite honestly, I agree with Marsha. I have not seen a specific region focused on that, but I do see examples and modus operandi that do work along those lines. Ruta Ene have done it and there are other companies here in Colombia who, as policy, will only hire single mothers head of families to develop their talents in ICTs and to provide home office type service. That's a very specific case of one accelerator. So it would seem, based on your experience, that there has been a lot of success individually by some companies or some types of companies, but regionally, there is still need to work harder on a systemic approach. Very well, for those who have just joined the program, you are watching the GISTEC Connect conversation on diversity for success in business. We are taking live questions from viewers right now. You're invited to submit questions either through the chat space or via Twitter with hashtag just to tech connect. Marsha, what would you say are the top three benefits of having a diverse team, whether it be religious, ethnic, or national origin differences and diversities? I think there are lots of benefits, but if I were to choose three, I would say, first of all, the example I just mentioned in power financing, because they have employees beginning with the founder and through the executive levels and throughout the company, they have diversity from country of origin, races, and this has allowed them to improve their product and to scale up the number of clients. I think that is a benefit for the startup and for the business, but also from the investor standpoint, there are advantages. Some studies have pointed out that if you invest in a company with a more diverse team, you're going to have better outcomes. I would also say that the third benefit is to have a diverse team is like in society, you're going to be able to have better options and create solutions for issues that are truly important. Though that was a very interesting answer. Agostino, would you like to comment about the three top benefits that can arise for companies if they adopt a diversity strategy? Yes, Marsha is absolutely right. The impact as far as collective knowledge is incredible. This capacity to generate new ideas and to consolidate them through innovation and creativity is crucial both for academic experience as well as the origin, the religious background, ethnic background, and that gives you a different understanding of the market and obviously improves the value proposal for the market and this obviously will have an impact on business. Moving now to another aspect that is frequently mentioned, this is what we call the multiplier effect. Studies have shown that women in particular and other marginalized groups tend to invest a large portion of their earnings locally in effect putting back the resources to their communities and businesses. How could emerging enterprises or startups benefit from this? Agostino, this time let me begin with you. Yes, there are some interesting examples even here in Medellin and in Colombia itself. There's a business here called Krebs and Norfels that began selling Krebs and Waffles, selling them from a cart. As they grew, their strategy was always to employ women heads of family and with their income, they were able to provide training, donations, and they have reinvested all of this. That was a very interesting case and a successful business, perhaps not technological, but at least very interesting to see how they developed their approach and it had a major impact. So in this case, investment in diversity was a virtuous circle where the employees themselves also invested in education, thus promoting greater social development. Yes, that's right. Thank you, Agostino. Marsha, have you had any experience with this? Yes, I agree with what Agostino pointed out, to empower families, communities, the city in general. One example I have is a company who's got a presence in Nicaraguan Haiti, that is culinary foods. They create nutritional products based on one ingredient called moringa. Do you know what moringa is? No, I don't. Well, it's healthy, I believe it's equivalent to kale, and kuli-kuli have staff, they have farmers in these different countries. And by these employees, they have compared these farmers with others who don't work for kuli-kuli, and the income of the kuli-kuli farmers is five times that of others, and they are investing back into their families, into creating micro-enterprises in their own communities. So actually, the money remains within the market. So it's like a positive domino effect, where a company empowers a community and they, in turn, can have their own startups, et cetera. Well, thank you very much to both. Let us now turn back to some of the questions from our participants online. Hugo Romero-Sidat Juarez asks, how can the government help gender diversity initiatives in sectors that are traditionally filled by men? Marsha, what can you say about this? This is a wonderful question, thank you. What can be done is for governments to work on this, and I do believe in some countries that's happening, they can create an enterprise office, they can also have partnerships with investors or with accelerators or different capital groups or entrepreneurs, because as a country, they can say we see that enterprises are super important, but nonetheless, there are many problems for some marginalized groups. Their access to the market is difficult. So how can we create partnerships for them and to connect them to capital? I think it's important for the government to be active. We've seen this in Mexico, for instance, and I come from Ecuador. I think my country still needs to make some progress, but the government is truly a major helper, and they can ensure that groups of investors can also be part of the ecosystem. Agostino, in your experience, what are the strategies or what role can the government play to help out to achieve gender equity for some enterprises? Well, they play a crucial role. The government ought to be playing an important role, whether it be both the national or regional government. Unfortunately, in Colombia, we have not seen too many political strategies. There are nonetheless some examples, and they are from bottoms up. There are benefits, incentives from some groups of investors to invest in enterprises with that focus. Unfortunately, it takes time. I believe things are changing slowly. It doesn't depend only on the country, but also the sector and the industry. The local government in Medellin, for instance, assists with training courses, especially in STEM and IT, specifically for women entrepreneurs who are working on a startup. And this opens door for marginalized people. However, it's arduous work, it takes time, and more effort is needed. That's another important topic, and it does take time. These policies, these initiatives cannot be short-term. They need to be followed through over many years, probably. Very good. Our next question is from Mauricio Enonduras, who asks, what assessment have you got as to diversity in Latin America compared to the United States or Canada? Agostino, let me begin with you. You, who have lived in both regions, what kind of comparison do you draw between the regions? Well, let me focus a little bit on the country that I'm more familiar with, Colombia, although I've had some experience in Brazil as well. But here in Colombia, diversity, and I'm thinking more about ethnic diversity, it's accepted and it's part of business in Colombia, especially in certain regions, such as Antioquia, that doesn't appear as an impediment to encourage diversity. It already exists, per se, and especially in some sectors, compared to the United States. I'm not that familiar with Canada, but based on my reading, I think they're at yet another different level. But compared to the United States, Colombia is more open, more accepting of diversity as part of any business. Marsha, based on your experience, either United States or elsewhere, how do you see the difference between the countries and how do you accept diversity? I'd say that in the United States, when we talk about an entrepreneurship and adventure capital, people are thinking more about making sure that their team has, they want to know how many women are there on your team, how many men are on your team? There are, do you have Latin people, people from different cultures? I see that in the United States, but what more recently is taking place is people are paying attention to diversity at the executive level. And at all levels of an organization, it's not enough to just have a woman, but we want to make sure that there is, we want to have women at the high decision-making level. So back to the issue, it's not just a matter of issue of gender, but we want to understand what is the role of this team, how much decision-making is taking place by women. Now, when we compare that to entrepreneurs, for example, in Mexico or Chile or Colombia, what I've seen is that when I speak with them about their teams, one of the things I hear is, we need more women. That the thought is there, but in comparison with the United States, they are still just beginning. We already have women, but in what positions? So there's more that can be done in that. It's interesting that you differentiate, that you point out that difference of simple inclusion of women in a group and looking at this other level where we're considering what level are, what positions are they occupying in this diversity. So we have a question coming from Medellin, Colombia, it's near you, Agustinio. To whom can I turn to find financing for projects related to diversity? So because the question is coming from Colombia, we'll turn to you, Agustinio. Certainly. Here in Colombia, in Medellin, there's a smart access to financing, I think that's appropriate, and it defines very well what the focus of each business is, it analyzes the impact, and they want to know what the diversity strategies are, and then offering different mechanisms. It's important to be aware of what different channels are available, there are different types of funds, there's seed financing for technology, but there are other types of agencies in the smart financing access system that brings other types of investors, angel investors and so forth. But as in any undertaking, in any enterprise, it's important to define what is it that you seek and what is the impact that your strategy has, and based on that, you focus and target on who you should speak with. But yes, there are mechanisms, there are channels that can be pursued. The next question, have you, Marcia and Agustinio, seen an increase in the amount of investment firms that are owned by women in Latin America? In your work, have you seen an increase? Have things stayed the same? Have there been a reduction? I would say that the thinking, people are aware we need more women, they see that we have plenty of men, but more and more we see the thinking of inclusion of women among entrepreneurs, but we have not reached a level where we can say, wow, the majority of our entrepreneurs in this program are women. We haven't reached that level yet. So in other words, you're saying that there is an awareness, but it hasn't materialized in outcomes, in verifiable increases in the number of women who own businesses. There are some examples of that, but it's not the majority yet. And Agustinio, what's been your experience? It's an excellent question, and back to what we were saying a bit earlier on the issue of exchange of diversity, depends on the industry sector. But first of all, the answer is quick. There are not a lot of women involved in venture capital in Latin America. It's growing, but compared with the United States, for example, we have a long way to go. But in Colombia, yes, the majority of analysts and investment managers are men, fund managers and so forth, that when we talk about gender and fund managers, I, as far as Colombia, I know one woman who is a partner, but in terms of venture, I can think of six women. So it depends on what area we're talking about. But it is an issue that needs to continue to be worked and the opportunities to be opened up for everyone. So in other words, there has been progress, but there's yet a lot to be done. So we have another question now. How can startup leaders be involved in a feedback process within their teams to promote diversity when they're in the strategic decision-making process? How can we involve a broader and more diverse group of people in the decision-making process in our companies? Anything to say about that, Marcel? Well, yes, I think it depends on the business model that each enterprise has. In my opinion, depending on the business model, in other words, if you are a lender for students, you should have on your staff, on your team, people who represent the diversity you're working with and that have the experience of one way to include, to be more inclusive, I would say, depending on what type of decisions are being taken, more and more diversity is being included in meetings, included in sales visits. And the employees that have that experience need to be included in the meetings. Rather than having team-wide meetings, you need to be a strategic in the way you meet with people. So in other words, what you're saying, that's another level where we can say it's not enough just to have people on the team, but we need to go further and create some structures that allow those people to actually actively contribute in decision-making. Agostinho, do you have some, another comment on this? Well, I agree completely with what Marcia has said. I have seen some very interesting mechanisms within some startups. One in particular that I saw last year developed entrepreneurs, and they created specific space for product development. And in those spaces for product development, they included the average age of the groups were 30 years old, but they made a great effort to implement gender and ethnic and age diversity to bring in different types of experience, depending on the product and servers that they were working on. And that brought good results. So very interestingly, that's the next question. The question is, is age diversity also a significant factor when building a startup team? Marcia, I think that's a good question. And I've heard some say, no, but in my opinion, yes, it's helpful because depending on where the startup is and what sales they want to achieve, the bringing in those different perspectives is helpful. Bringing in people who are young or you're gonna talk with young people who are using the product in one way, but you have aging people who use the product differently. So I think diversity in all aspects only helps develop more and more perspectives that bolster the strategy that's being implemented. So when we think about diversity, we should consider experience in age two, okay, good. The next question, can diversity promotion in your business, diversity promotion, can it be just as helpful to nonprofits as it is to for-profit companies? Well, in our experience, we work with social entrepreneurs as well and with, we don't work with nonprofit organizations, but we do have experience from other things we've done. And what we've seen is that diversity helps scale up to market, it helps better serve a customer or the end user of the service. So it improves your product in a private market, improves your service in the nonprofit market. So next question, what aspects should women in Latin America develop in order to reach executive level positions? Agustín, what do you have to say about that? Well, actually this question sounds a bit unfair because I believe that the women I work with are very well prepared. They have excellent capacity. So what we need to do is open up more opportunities. It's, I don't believe that the women need, if we speak only of gender and that type of diversity, I don't think women need more training or more capacity. What they need are opportunities at the executive level. There are programs that can change that type of access. So the issue is really creating equality in opportunities. I believe that question is very interesting too, says Marcia. And I agree completely with what Agustín says and I would add that women need allies. They need to have some allies, whether these allies be men or women, who can give them help. And they need support from the private sector, from the public sector, also from society. They need a society that understands that women can do the same things men can. So in other words, diversity not only is an issue for marginalized groups, but for society as a whole, right? Everyone has a contribution to make there, very well. Another participant online has asked, how can we promote diversity within a business and at the same time avoid harassment in the workplace? It's an issue that is deep rooted in Latin America. That's another question with it, has a lot of angles from which it could be responded to. So Agustín, what do you have to say? Well, yes, I think I can tell you again about the process that we use. We have, we treat everyone with the same way, with the same respect. We should do every, harassment should never exist in a workplace and there can be, that's a non-negotiable when we're developing our teams and our businesses, regardless of what type of diversity we're speaking of. When a harassment issue arises, there need to be mechanisms in place that immediately become engaged to eliminate that problem or correct that problem if it needs correction because those bring negative results to any institution, not only for operations as such, but for the relationships that this company will have. There are many dynamic changes that happen when that sort of situation occurs. Marcello, do you have a comment? I would say that's a difficult, a complicated question, something we face in a number of countries in Latin America and Ecuador, we have the problem also. I believe it depends, obviously if it happens to you, to the woman that suffers harassment needs to say something about that, say something if it happens to her colleagues, but it's going to take some time, but what we need to do is change, it's create a mindset of respect and that should become a part of an organization's culture. But this takes time, it takes time to change the mindset. Another question we have arriving online here is are there ways in which startups or enterprises can collaborate with each other and with nonprofits and universities or other incubators that are in the business ecosystem to promote diversity? There was not only among, not only within individual enterprises, but in the interconnected way that different organizations work together in the ecosystem. What have you seen about this in this regard, Marcia? Well, I see this daily, I work on that topic exactly. So what often happens is accelerators and universities have entrepreneurship programs and usually there's someone, for example, I work, if I work for an accelerator, I go visit universities and we interact that way as mentors for universities, but something that would help the ecosystem would be the creation of a benchmark language, a language that we share in common. So understanding that the ecosystem is made up of these universities, these accelerators, and we help work with companies that are of this level of maturity. In other words, we need to map out all of the players within the ecosystem and understand at which points one entity can help another. So I also, there's also a tool called Viral, if you look it up on Google, you can see their website, Viral is a free platform and something we're expanding in the United States to create this dialogue among all of the players and all the resources that make up the ecosystem, the startup ecosystem. Agostino, do you have anything to say about how to promote diversity and how to increase dialogue among the different players in the ecosystem? Yes, I would broaden the response a little bit. I would say, I would think beyond just startups, the ecosystem as a whole needs to promote this. Accelerators, incubators, universities, all of these relationships, existing established companies, government, the private sector, people who are wanting to invest in entrepreneurship. This is a big dynamic and it's an ecosystem, it's an ecosystem that's work and there's a lot of interaction among all those players and all of them should bring together and feed into each other's success. Yes, that's an interesting, this idea of interaction among companies and their customers and users brings this question. Should companies communicate the diversity that they have within their teams to their customers or to the public? Marsha says, definitely yes. I believe that can help you grow your client base and there are different ways that you can do it. You can say, look, we understand the problems because we, that our own employees have been through these situations. So it's a way to increase the loyalty that your clients have with your company. Do you have any experience, Agostinho, this idea of using diversity as part of the branding that you do for your company? Well, yes, I've seen it in some business strategies of large companies, both government owned and private. And I've seen it with startups also. However, again, there's not a particular golden formula for each situation is different and you have to look at each business sector and the business, what each business intends for its own growth. Another question, is there a particular commercial sector which startups or businesses are typically building more diversity within their teams? In your experience, Agostinho, have you seen some trends related to this, for example, in Colombia? It's a very good question, yes. Some time ago, there were many startups in the agricultural area. They were working to foster biodiversity and so forth, but more lately, more recently in the last four or five years, you've seen more work in the area of technology and innovation and diversity is being sought because it brings to the table a wide range of capacities that that startup needs. How about you, Marcia? Have you seen some companies or some sectors that seek diversity more than others? Yes, I think that ed tech, educational technology, I've seen a lot of diversity within the teams in that field, also in agriculture too. Well, very well, thank you to all participants and to our experts here for the dialogue we've had. Now we will share some of the results of the survey that we mentioned earlier in the program. We asked our public, what do you believe is the biggest challenge entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds face? You can see the results on the screen. The top answer was a lack of financing. Second was access and tied second, third, you have the negative stereotypes and access to networks of professional contacts. I think those were the main challenges that were determined through our listening public. What's your response to that? Are these the trends that you have seen, Marcia and Agostino? No, I'm not surprised at all with these results. This is happening because from the perspective of the investor, there are a lot of prejudices. There, we are investing in entrepreneurs that went to, that went to our alma maters or that run in our circles. And there's a lack of education among the investment community too. We need to speak more with them to ask them, how are you making your investment decisions? How can you make those decisions in a way that's more transparent so that entrepreneurs might be able to prepare themselves better and compete more fairly? Agostino, what do you think about the responses to our survey? Well, I expected something like that, honestly. I believe that the challenges startup faces, startups face the same challenges. Other areas, other businesses face, lack of financing, lack of access to professional contacts over there. As Marcia has said a few moments ago, a diverse team brings to the table some certain competitive advantages that can be used to develop products and services in the market. You can help, it can help to develop strategies, adoption strategies that are much more effective. From the perspective of investors, of what we have tried to do and being an investor, investors have their idiosyncrasies too. They want to invest, an investor wants to invest in a sector that he or she understands and knows. It's natural that they would seek out those industries where they already feel a certain amount of comfort. Here at Ruta Eni in Medellin and in Columbia, what we try to do is to show that there are good businesses that come from different, of different types. And so we want to develop one of the things we want to do with investors is to help them see other areas that are worth investing in. Well, good, well, going beyond the diversity of gender and race, we've discussed these somewhat and we've discussed the regional differences within countries, but how can religious minorities, LGBTI identifying individuals or people with disabilities and other marginalized groups have more of a level playing field when it comes to launching a business or contributing their talents to companies who could benefit from them in the private sector. Agostino, what do you think about that question? These other aspects of diversity, how can these be addressed? No, I think it's very important. Unfortunately, I know one case here in Medellin where we have these types of this type of diversity, this type of minority and seeking capital for them is much more difficult, but they found a sweet spot of investors that seeks that type of business and that has led to their success and that's the important thing to point out about that type of effort. From my own personal experience here at Rutaini, as I said from the outset, we need to stimulate this, incentivize this type of diversity. We're so integrated here that we don't even distinguish this on our day-to-day basis. There are just groups of people who have a common objective and we don't look at it beyond that and that leads to success. Marcio, I'd say that it's more difficult for these marginalized groups, that's the truth about it, but what these groups can do is to seek investors who are looking to invest in that type of diversity. But it's important also to think about the story that underlies your business and to tell that story in a way that makes it clear that your business understands the problem better than others perhaps and that this particular problem has an inherent advantage to it in reaching the markets you plan to reach and it brings some potential for greater impact within that market. So these groups that are more marginalized, what you're saying is that they need to differentiate themselves and find out where their advantages lie and then seek investors that focus on those same shared interests and however, pointing out that it's something that can actually benefit an investor very well. Well, I think we have time for just one more question from our public, guest 1539 from Nicaragua says, could the experts say something about some public or private or nonprofit initiative that is focused specifically on promoting diversity in Central America or where could we find those types of resources? Marcia, what is you have experience in Central America? What can you add to that? Well, I have an example of one company that is trying to do this. I've spoken some about them. Cooley Cooley Foods, this seeking farmers from different regions in Nicaragua and they're trying to scale up in that region. But as far as private groups, I believe there's a lack of resources. Village Capital is a player in this, but yes, we have a shortage. There's a shortage, there's a gap there that could represent an opportunity for someone. Well, very well. Unfortunately, our time has just about run out. Before wrapping up, I'd like to ask each of our panelists, Agostino and Marcia, what is the most important takeaway that you would like to share with our viewers? Agostino, you go first. Well, thank you, Daniel. I think that the first takeaway that I would like to underscore is that depending on which type of business or organization you're in, each enterprise has its own strategy. And I believe it's important to define the mechanisms that will stimulate diversity within that enterprise. And second, I would mention, as I said at the outset, diversity just for diversity's sake doesn't make sense. In other words, diversity is part of a good strategy, a good business strategy. And the other thing is just to create these mechanisms that promote diversity within an organization. Those, that's a no-brainer, as they say in the U.S. This is the logic that should predominate always. And those are the takeaways I would mention. And Marcia, what would you say is the most important takeaway for our viewers? From this dialogue? Well, I think my takeaways I was going to mention are similar to the ones Agostino mentioned. What I would say, I'd say that if you're doing business or if you're starting a bar, developing a startup, that startup should reflect the product service that you're building. And diversity should be reflected in the product and in the service. That's the simplest way I could state that. So in other words, diversity exists in the markets, in Latin America or United States or anywhere. And so it's a matter of companies, businesses, reflecting that same diversity within themselves and in the products they produce. Very well. Well, I thank you once again to both of you for having, to all of those of you who accompanied us here today. And a special thank you to all of the participants who have participated in this last hour online with us and groups that have met far and wide in Latin America and throughout the world. I want to encourage you to mobilize your communities, your societies, your entrepreneurs. Thank you for participating with your questions, your comments. We had the pleasure of having audiences at the American Corner University, Diego Parto Universidad Diego Portales in Chile. We had the American Space in San Pedro Sula Honduras. So there's a bi-national center in Guatemala City. You have some photos here of the groups who were meeting in this dialogue. The Fletchac in Ciudad Juárez in Mexico. The U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juárez in Mexico. And from Quito, Ecuador, we have another group, and we have the GIST IHOP in Peru, Utec Ventures in Lima, Peru. So please, we would like to ask you to continue sending in your questions through chat or on Twitter at hashtag GIST Connect. And our panelists will stick around for a few more minutes to answer those questions online. I hope you enjoyed our discussion today. Thanks again for joining us. I wish a great day for all of you.