María Eudrei García’s green eyes sparkle brightly when she is asked about the Association of Urban and Rural Women Innovators in the department of Tolima. “I‘m its legal representative,“ she says proudly. “But to get to that point has taken a great deal of effort, and thank God I can say today that the organization is achieving its goals.” The mother of six children, Maria has accomplished more than she ever imagined possible: 150 women have come together in an association not only to defend their rights but also to provide a platform for these women to become productive entrepreneurs, while also gaining their rightful recognition.
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“We realized that women were hard workers, but that their husbands held the purse strings. We empowered ourselves, we trained ourselves, and now people call us ‘the innovators‘,“ says Maria Eudrei. “I had to teach my husband that women were entitled to work, and I had to insist that he respect my wishes… This is the first challenge that women like me, who work in the fields, have to undertake,“ she says.Such was her effort that she succeeded in encouraging other women to join forces to start productive projects. First the women set up a bakery. Then they discovered coffee production, and then how to make wine with the aroma and taste of coffee, blackberries, oranges and spices. By working together, they are changing the mind-sets of both men and women. And in rural areas they are unleashing a social and economic transformation that goes far beyond the products they make. “We are setting our sights on rural development. We want to develop wine production, but we also plan to set up a production plant for rearing hens and boosting egg production.”
These endeavours have been made possible with the help of the Micro-Enterprise Innovation Campus (Ci+m), supported by UNDP and the Government of Korea, in partnership with the Capital Foundation and 11 universities in the cities of Ibagué and Cartagena. Seventy-one micro-entrepreneurs who belong to the network of entrepreneurs known as Cemprende, supported by UNDP, participate in Ci+m with the goal of expanding market opportunities, optimizing productivity and competitiveness, increasing incomes and creating jobs in their communities.
Further expanding the impact of the initiative, young students have had the opportunity to see first-hand the challenges facing micro-entrepreneurs, to work in partnership, and to help micro-entrepreneurs in their efforts to develop solutions to their problems. In this pilot strategy, a forum for “collaborative creation“ has been created. A micro-entrepreneur has an idea and develops it together with teachers and students with the aim of sharing experiences and enhancing the project. With the participation of 275 students from 11 universities, 81 innovative solutions have already been supported in an effort to resolve micro-entrepreneurial challenges. Sixty-six ideas are being implemented and 47 have received funding designed to make these concepts a reality.
In parallel, teachers and university students have participated in a university training programme focused on entrepreneurship and innovation. The activities inside and outside the classroom aim to help them develop an innovative micro-enterprise. Participants have had the opportunity to gain access to a virtual training programme on social and micro-entrepreneurial innovation incorporating content such as business design and strategy.
One of the micro-entrepreneurs is Romel Hernández and his roasting machine, a business idea he shared with electro-mechanical engineering professors and students from the Antonio Nariño University in Ibagué. With hard work and enthusiasm, Romel successfully blazed a trail with his micro-enterprise “Café La Molienda“. All he needed was a boost, and thanks to Ci+m, he now proudly proclaims “I have fulfilled my dream…In the University, I, an older man, in partnership with students and professors, worked together to develop my roasting machine, which saves me a lot of daily working hours.”
© 2026 United Nations Development Programme
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