Giving Compass' Take:

• Katy Ibsen explains how Mujeres del Pacífico is empowering women in Latin America and providing them with the tools and resources they need to start their own businesses.

• How is this program affecting the economy in Latin America, and what can impact investors in the U.S. learn from the support these women are being given by filling gender gaps in financing, training and other areas?

• Here is a list of valuable lessons from world-changing female entrepreneurs.

Living in the northernmost region of Chile, a 68-year-old woman who taught chemistry her entire career was let go just two years before she was set to retire. Undeterred, she decided to start her own business growing aloe vera plants.

She began exporting products made from her aloe, and when that was going well, she imported a special machine to make art crafts from the skin of the plant, providing work to others in her community.

“She has developed so much. It’s not 100 percent impact, but she felt so empowered with what we have done with her, that we share her story with the whole country,” says Fernanda Vicente, co-founder of Mujeres del Pacífico and president of the board of directors.

Mujeres del Pacífico emerged as the organization to develop and promote female entrepreneurship. The founders identified five gaps that exist among the women in Latin America, keeping them from launching and sustaining successful business: knowledge, access to network, invisibility, disconnection with the ecosystem, and little access to financing.

They developed content, training, support and outreach around these gaps to mobilize female entrepreneurs in the region. With its mission to economically empower every woman in Latin America and give them the tools they need to start and grow their businesses, Mujeres has now taken its five educational areas and developed it into an online platform in partnership with IBM’s Watson.

Read the full article about inspiring female entrepreneurs by Katy Ibsen at B the Change.