Laura Gayoso & Juan José Moya
CEFistas from Venezuela
¨Understanding that the environment does not define your path, but enriches it¨ is something that we have understood from CEFE Venezuela since the very beginning of 2016. This is when we started operations in our country.We then began understanding and listening carefully to the needs of new entrepreneurs.
Many entrepreneurs, not only in Venezuela but globally, start a project without the solid tools in order to take what once was an idea and turn it into an effective business or social action. In the last three years, CEFE Venezuela developed those tools. During this time, several training programs were open to the general public, focusing on the development of entrepreneurial competencies. Programs like “Prepared Entrepreneurs” consists of 8-16 hours of training that focuses on creativity and innovation, financial skills, persuasion, and creation of support networks.
Besides the classical CEFE training, we were able to implement innovative new training concepts, specifically targeting people who are willing to pay for our services:
“CEFE Camping” for couples that want to do business together.
“CEFE Gourmet” is the first cooking academy based on CEFE Methodology.
“CEFE Doctors” explains how to be an entrepreneur after being a great doctor.
“CEFE Crypto Training” is crypto currency training based on CEFE Methodology.
These are only a few programs that we’ve developed so far, inspired by the opportunities of our current situation.
Developing intra-entrepreneurs, and strengthening their entrepreneurial skills in the organizations, have been a job that we have carried out. We have also searched for the needs of most private organizations, by integrating different aspects of their value chain. So far, we have received highly positive feedback.
While 2018 has come to an end, we made some adjustments and started a new chapter. We are looking forward to getting the scalability and sustainability of training programs, not only in Venezuela, but also in Latin American countries where CEFE methodology has not been implemented yet. Also, we are contributing as a team with our colleagues of Global CEFE Network and have developed FACES (Formación Avanzada de Cefistas Sustentables) – advanced formation of sustainable CEFistas. A 21-day program with monthly meetings consisting of three days and lasted for 7 months, which accumulated to 168 hours of training in total.
FACES has been conceptualized as an accelerator for CEFistas, where they can reinforce their skills managing the Experiential Learning Cycle, knowing psycho-corporeal techniques, learning Instructional Design as a key tool to develop training programs. As in the ToT, the CEFistas learn new exercises by facilitating them and receiving feedback. This, in consequence, will develop their entrepreneurial skills on the training environment. As we are targeting sustainable CEFistas, we execute a training component covering the development of a project plan and presentation to a potential investor.
FACES is an empowering program that works in order to generate a tangible progress as a CEFE Facilitator. After successful participation at FACES, CEFistas will receive the license issued by CEFE International. FACES is a pilot which shall inspire other CEFE countries to implement an accelerator program with their CEFE community.