Universidad Austral de Chile
The Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (Centro de Emprendizaje or CEM in Spanish) at Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh) has been working since 1999 in projects related to the development of employment strategies for youth, and is firmly embedded in the region’s economic and social life through a number of agreements with governmental, private and civil society organizations.
CEM’s connection with the community has resulted in positive local and regional impact. Since a high percentage of the student body at UACh comes from rural areas and the southernmost part of Chile, these youngsters form an important link between the university and their home communities to build local capacity and to form collaborative networks.
CEM is part of the Youth Economic Participation Initiative (YEPI), launched by The Talloires Network worldwide.
We measure our success by the number of projects awarded to CEM from governmental funding programs and the occurrence of new ventures we help to develop. Currently, we are also developing participatory Monitoring & Evaluation methodologies, partnering with the Community Innovators Laboratory (CoLab) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Our team has a vast experience in the area of youth education and training. We focus on productive development, design and implementation of learning methodologies for entrepreneurial action through coaching.
Utilizing a methodological approach called emprendizaje (entrepreneurial-learning: learning + entrepreneurship), CEM combines education and entrepreneurship to empower local youth towards self-employment strategies. Although not exclusively, CEM’s target groups are youth from rural areas of the Region of Los Ríos and the Chilean Northern Patagonia. By using the resources and capacities at UACh, we reach these populations through a variety of strategies, including training of trainers and workshops where methodologies such as Dragon Dreaming, Art of Hosting, World Café, Open Space or U Theory are applied and taught to participants.
CEM works locally with an online platform called Kelluwen (www.kelluwen.cl), designed at UACh and launched in 2010 to build and teach methods among primary and secondary schools. Currently, Kelluwen supports a number of learning communities, provides virtual classrooms for courses and exchange programs.
Ester Fecci
Ester holds a BA in Business Administration, a Masters in Business Administration and
Management, and a Masters in Organizational Behavior and Development. She is a Professor at UACh and Director at CEM.
During her 30 years of work with youth groups both from and outside the university, she has designed and hosted a number of programs and workshops aimed to promote entrepreneurial attitude and empowerment.
Ester has implemented several courses focused on student consultancy work, creating a collaborative network among young entrepreneurs and local SMEs. She is also a member of the Unit for Development and Teaching Quality Assurance (DACIC) at UACh, which is responsible for teacher training at the university.
Carolina Jerez
Carolina studied Marketing Engineering, holds a Diploma in Ontological Coaching
from Newfield Network Consultants, and is a certified facilitator at Ewig Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Program First Step FastTrac.
She has thirteen years of experience working in entrepreneurship programs with vulnerable communities. Carolina has assisted subsistence and micro enterprises through state-funded social programs, mainly involving housewives from various districts of Santiago and Valdivia. As a professional, she integrates learning and practice communities across the fields of health, design and project development, providing support based on her work experience in finances and business. Carolina is Executive Coordinator at CEM, and facilitator of the Dragon Dreaming methodology for successful projects and organizations.
Patricio Belloy
Patricio Belloy holds a BA in Business Administration from UACh and a Masters in Global
Studies from Leipzig University, Germany. He is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Institute of
Economics at UACh and advisor in international affairs at CEM. Since 2005 he is affiliated with a Local Development Research Group led by Manfred Max-Neef, Right Livelihood Award winner for his work in community development.
Patricio was the designer and Deputy Director of the Node for Entrepreneurship at the buffer areas of two national parks in southern Chile. He has also worked in private consultancy, specifically in the field of carbon market development.
Additional to his experience in academia and the private sector, he worked as stagiaire at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Climate Action (DG-CLIMA).
Patricio’s current interests include the theory and application of a methodology for community self-diagnosis and collaborative planning called Human Scale Development; local responses to global processes; solidarity economics; and opportunities to promote social resilience through local initiatives and traditional knowledge.
Ronald Sistek
Ronald has worked for 20 years in participatory strategic planning methodologies, particularly Dragon Dreaming and a number of techniques for youth and adults transformative learning. He is a specialised mentor in Regenerative Projects, facilitating processes in groups and organizations. Ronald mentors change management through Regenerative Circle Support Projects, and through consultancy. These methods all have a strong focus on systems ecology, individual growth and collective transformative results. In addition, he has been trained in deep ecology and nonviolent communication.
Person of Contact
Director: Ester Fecci