Belize's Wonder Women! Nilda Ninette Sosa Riverol

We are proud to announce that for the month of August, Nilda Ninette Sosa Riverol is our Belize Wonder Woman.

Besides being a mother of two boys, ages 8 and 4, 33 year old Nilda Riverol is employed by the Belize Trade and Investment Development Service BELTRAIDE since September 2011. As a person who was humbly brought up in the once village of "Las Flores", now a community that forms part of the City of Belmopan, Nilda is very passionate about the work she does, as she believes that the impact and positive change we want in our economy is not the responsibility of one individual but the collective efforts of an active and supportive ecosystem, and those are the efforts she advocates for. Nilda has held several positions in this institution including: Public Relations and Events Coordinator, where she spearheaded several initiatives in the area of public relations inclusive of the development of Belize's Investment Magazine "Invest Belize". She has also held the positions of Sr. Business Advisor and Assistant Director for BELTRAIDE's Small Business Development Centre Belize (SBDCBelize). In 2013 she was promoted to Director/Manager of this unit. Under her capacity as Manager of SBDCBelize, Nilda works towards fostering an environment that efficiently coordinates the competitiveness and development of Micro Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSMES) and Entrepreneurs. She has the ability to develop and maintain local, regional, and international professional networks, with the objective to provide a comprehensive business support ecosystem.

Nilda has played a key role in the coordination and development of Belize's MSME Policy and Strategy (2012) and Belize's National Entrepreneurship Strategy (2015)-which delivered an implementation work plan for Belize's Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. As the point of contact for most of the MSME initiatives and projects spearheaded within the Central American Integration System (SICA) region, she sits in several local and regional committees in the areas of MSME and Entrepreneurship development. Currently, Nilda, along with the Ministry of Education, sits in the regional working committee for the integration of Entrepreneurship into the Educational system- both at a regional and national level, and has assisted the University of Belize in the design of its first Entrepreneurship Course- Level 1. Nilda is also Belize's representative in the regional working committee who is designing the Regional Accreditation Standards -for the Small Business Development Centers in the SICA region, and will spearhead the participation of SBDCBelize in the accreditation process of the Centre in the upcoming months. Belize will be one of three countries to participate in this process, with the objective of generating an improvement plan of its processes- service delivery to enterprises and entrepreneurs, within a standard that is regionally recognized. Since 2013 Nilda has been involved in the development, implementation and monitoring of several projects and initiatives that cater towards MSME and Entrepreneurship Development, inclusive of Belize's National Entrepreneurship Conference (EntreCon), which is one of the many activities that form part of Belize's National Month of Entrepreneurship, introduced by SBDCBelize in commemoration of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), in November of every year.

In April of this year Nilda participate in the U.S. State Department International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) "Women and Entrepreneurship II" which is a multi- regional project that seeks to provide opportunities to foreign current and emerging leaders, and expose them to entrepreneurial efforts led by government, and non-government grassroots organizations to further aid them in the development of their countries' entrepreneurial initiatives. The main objective of this program is to explore various business models, support mechanisms, and innovations to support MSMEs and foster an entrepreneurial mindset. Nilda is now a member of the U.S. online International Exchange Alumni where she can tap into resources and continue to build her network to contribute and strengthen the work currently being done by SBDCBelize, BELTRAIDE.

U.S. Embassy Belize