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La Idea Incubator Program Soft Landings RFP

Introduction



La Idea Incubator Program
Soft Landings Center RFP

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact InBIA staff at laidea@inbia.org.

 

Funded and initiated by the United States Department of State, the La Idea Incubator Program is a powerful initiative focused on strengthening entrepreneurship and job creation across the Western Hemisphere. La Idea especially encourages trade and commerce between Central America and the United States. The program is a collaboration between InBIA, the Small Business Network of the Americas (SBNA), CENPROMYPE, University Texas San Antonio and America’s Small Business Development Center.

 

The La Idea Incubator Program provides a framework that allows entrepreneurs in Central America to directly connect with US-based InBIA Soft Landings designees. These designees provide advanced incubation services to guide their entrepreneurs’ businesses towards revenue generation, investment successes, and capital-efficient operations. InBIA’s Soft Landings designees have been validated through rigorous application and peer-review processes to ultimately serve foreign companies interested in expanding out of their domestic markets. The Soft Landing sites selected for La Idea have been found as ideal matches for those Central American entrepreneur applicants to the program, interested in expanding their business into the United States. 

 

Incubators, SBDCs or other entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs) with brick and mortar facilities are invited to host a cohort of up to 10 Central American entrepreneurs for a five-day training boot camp. ESOs that have earned InBIA’s Soft Landings designation and that can demonstrate domain expertise in one or more of the following focus industries are sought:

  • Manufacturing (planned cohort dates: Starts Monday, November 13, 2017)
    Includes either Central American small businesses that develop manufacturing equipment/processes, or which require heavy manufacturing operations to produce their product
  • Services (planned cohort dates: Start on a Monday in February 2018)
    Includes small businesses that either provide business to business solution services (i.e. financial, marketing, consulting, etc. professional services) or business to consumer solution services (i.e. travel, personal development services, lifestyle consulting, etc.)
  • Food & Farm (planned cohort dates: Start on a Monday in June 2018)
    Includes small businesses that either produce food/beverage products, or that provide agricultural/agriscience products/services

 

APPLICATIONS WILL CLOSE AUGUST 4, 2017 for the MANUFACTURING COHORT ONLY. The selected ESO will be announced August 18, 2017.

Soft Landing interested in any cohort may apply as soon as they wish. The following timeline for applications for the remaining cohorts is as follows:

SERVICES applications will close NOVEMBER 20, 2017, with the selection announcement December 2, 2017. FOOD & FARM applications will close DECEMBER 13, 2017, with selection announcement January 8, 2018. 

 

Please note: Prospective ESOs must have access to a proficient Spanish speaker to apply for this grant.

 

Incentives for Applying to host a La Idea Incubator Soft Landings cohort:

 

Each participating La Idea Incubator Soft Landings recipient will receive $20,000 in funding* to cover costs associated with hosting the Central American entrepreneurs. (* - See the budget section of this proposal for complete details on how to complete your budget form as some portion of the budget is to be spent on pre-selected vendors). 

 

Additionally, La Idea Incubator Soft Landings recipients will have the exclusive opportunity to build relationships with high-potential Soft Landing clients - Founders/CEOs from throughout Latin America seeking to expand their business into the United States. These entrepreneurs, selected from a highly competitive vetting process hosted by key leadership from the Small Business Network of the Americas grant program, will ensure high quality participants are selected to participate in the La Idea Soft Landings cohorts. Selected participant entrepreneurs from Central America will be vetted on the commercial viability of their products/services, demonstrated tangible assets (IP, inventory, equipment, etc.), market opportunities for their products/services in US markets, strength of their management teams, etc.

 

Overall Program Metrics Monitored and to be Gathered

 

The US Department of State has requested the following metrics be gathered across all programmatic aspects of La Idea. Selected Soft Landings will be required to track and report to InBIA the metrics with a plus sign (+) listed below, at the conclusion of the boot camp, and where relevant, up to three months after the boot camp.

 

  • Survey evaluations by cohort participants regarding experience in USA +
  • Attendance participation in US-based cohort activities +
  • Number of virtual mentoring connections/sessions with US-based mentors, business contacts +
  • Number of employees hired by participating small businesses after return from cohort +
  • Total amount of loans issued or capital raised by cohort participants +
  • Revenue growth of participating small businesses for the duration of the project +
  • Number of applications and selected entrepreneurs to participate in each cohort (InBIA lead)
  • Number of in-person mentoring sessions after cohort returns to Central America  (CENPROMYPE lead)

 

Expectations of the La Idea Soft Landings Incubator Program:

 

  • InBIA Soft Landing certified
  • Host cohort for all five days of the La Idea boot camp – provide workspace, training venue, refreshments, transportation, etc.
  • Provide three days of content (at least 6 hours of content per day) in the sector-specific topics listed in the schedule below. This content should be a mix of lecture-style, workshop-style and/or visits to specialized facilities based on the cohort industry theme. (InBIA can assist with finding topic presenters but the strongest RFPs will be considered from organizations who lead the program development and instruction in the specific industry vertical the cohort is focused on. Furthermore, InBIA will provide the first two days of curriculum to include topics focused on conducting business in the US such as corporate laws/regulations, immigration, and import/export legal matters.)
  • Arrange for participants to utilize and facilitate their access/bookings to local resources, hotels, transportation, and other amenities available nearby their facility when not in the boot camp.
  • Provide breakfast and lunch for participants.
  • Create, deploy and collect the evaluations at the conclusion of each workshop/session/tour/etc. offered throughout the boot camp.
  • Monitoring and compliance to US laws on the whereabouts of participants over the course of the boot camp to ensure their safety and security
  • Provide at least one Spanish translator to be available onsite at the selected Soft Landings facilities during all program elements, including transportation and meals  
  • In collaboration with InBIA, CENPROMYPE and ASBDC, develop and deploy a volunteer mentor program to enable participants to tap into the La Idea mentor network (including the use of InBIA’s Exchange and CENPROMYPE’s in-person mentor network throughout Central America) during the boot camp and for the ensuing three months after the boot camp is completed. Each participant can expect a minimum of four hours per month of mentoring (InBIA, CENPROMYPE and ASBDC will support the development of the program and/or help seed the program with pertinent mentors, however, the strongest proposals will showcase appropriate mentors/subject matter experts within each industry theme).
  • Track and report metrics predetermined (please see description above and on website) by the US State Department and La Idea partners while participants are engaged in the La Idea Soft Landing Boot Camp and three months after the conclusion of the boot camp; metrics may be reported in two PDF documents that provide quantitative data as asked above, as well as qualitative anecdotes and short summaries of each participant’s progress, 1.) at the conclusion of the boot camp, and 2.) three months after the boot camp concludes.

 

Cohort-Specific Expertise Details

 

Each selected Soft Landing site should be able to host informational sessions and/or provide coaching to participants in the following general topic areas:

  • US business, manufacturing and/or product deployment laws and regulations
  • US subsidiary formation and taxation
  • How to become a part of the value chain in each industry
  • US import and export requirements
  • Immigration laws for founders and hiring

 

Sample topics of interest to deliver for each sector-specific cohort, but applicants may create their own relevant topics and schedule to deliver the content:

 

Manufacturing

Services

Food & Farm

Advanced Manufacturing Platforms

Marketing for Business to Business Services

US Food and Ag Industry Trends and Growth

Lean and Six Sigma Tools

Service Businesses to Scale

Food Safety Requirements in 2016 and Beyond

Supply Chain Management and Problem Coaching

Services in the Tourism Industry Trends and Growth

US Regulatory Requirements for Food or Ag Technologies

Inclusion of Robotics/Autonomous Systems

Marketing for Consumer Points of Views and Pricing Strategies

Growth Channels in Specialty and Prepared Foods