Leveraging Digital Technology for Inclusion: Youth Entrepreneurs and Grassroots Social Innovations in the city of Bogota

• In Event: Educación no formal, movimientos sociales e inclusión

Abstract

In a context of a rapidly changing and technology-driven economy, youth entrepreneurs (16-24 years old) from Latin America are encountering opportunities to pursue social oriented projects, either for profit and non-profit. As social entrepreneurs, these youths are developing, and implementing solutions to social, cultural, educational, or environmental challenges that their communities confront. From creating alternative markets for creative content to developing digital literacy programs, social enterprises have a grassroots and bottom-up approach with local impact. Leveraging all resources at hand, particularly digital technologies and networks such as the Internet, mobile phones, and software applications, motivated and passionate youth have been able to start and sustain enterprises that foster inclusion across multiple dimensions. In this paper, I map the ecosystem of youth-driven social innovation in the city of Bogota, Colombia. Besides identifying the different actors, institutions, and assets that enable social innovation, I analyze some of the technical and socioemotional skills that young entrepreneurs are developing in both formal and informal spaces.

Author

• Andres A Lombana Bermudez, Universidad Javeriana