Entrepreneurs from Los Angeles take a course to obtain a driver's license

October 25, 2024

• The program will allow 12 women to prepare for driving tests, thereby expanding their opportunities and the reach of their businesses.

At the headquarters of the Victoria La Candelaria Neighborhood Board, 12 entrepreneurial women from communities near the San Matías Wind Farm began their training to obtain a class B driver's license.

The course, which consists of 40 hours of classes, began this week with a session of psychotechnical exercises. In the next stage, participants will receive theoretical classes and later practical ones.

The goal of the program is for the students to be well-prepared to pass the driving tests, thereby expanding their opportunities and achieving greater success in their businesses. By being able to drive, they can offer their products outside the rural area or reach other sectors of the province. Additionally, most of the course attendees are housewives and/or mothers, seeking economic independence and contributing to the household economy with their own businesses.

Ana Bascur, from the Porvenir sector, expressed her gratitude for this opportunity. "It will be very useful for my sheep breeding business because it will allow me to fetch food and carry bales for the winter. Now I can drive my truck myself without bothering other drivers, like my husband or neighbors," Bascur emphasized.

Macarena Badilla, head of Social Investment at Fundación AES Chile, highlighted that "this is the first training course we have developed since the San Matías Wind Farm began operations, which involves tremendous challenges. This is just the beginning; the bonds that start to be woven through these initiatives will result in harmonious work, mutual support, and lasting relationships between the team and neighboring communities."

For her part, Hilda Aravena, a neighbor from Santa Fe who has a family business maintaining chainsaws, stated that "it is a very comprehensive course" and "it will make transportation much easier for me, giving me independence to move around better and go to Los Angeles for errands."

The vehicle driving course is part of the social investment pillar "Local entrepreneurship with a transversal focus on gender equality," which aims to promote women's participation and for them to be promoters of local development in their territories.