From Cambodia to Madrid: Ana de Miguel
Ana de Miguel has not only worked in social development all over the world, but ever since relocating back to her home in Madrid, she continues making an impact as a mentor for early-entrepreneurs at Bridge for Billions, and her work at Inclusion.
After working in the international corporate sector for twelve years, and moving into international development and impact assessment consulting in countries ranging from Panama to Cambodia, Ana returned home to Spain to work for Inclusion [Social Rating].
Inclusion aims to increase the socio-economic performance of socially-minded organizations by providing financial and social performance assessments in the sub-Saharan African region.
It was while working for Inclusion that Ana heard about Bridge for Billions during one of Bridge’s workshops at the Impact Hub, Madrid. Ana was inspired to work with nascent entrepreneurs and use her experience to increase their social impact. Ana’s involvement in the social enterprise sector began when she was working in a completely self-sustaining hotel in Cambodia.
The hotel primarily focused on having an ecologically sustainable carbon-free footprint and utilized members of the community to create a stronger social impact. This experience made her the perfect candidate as a mentor to work with one of Bridge’s entrepreneurs, Altamira Saez, and her organization, Future Tools.
Altamira is developing a center for children that increases engagement and excitement by learning about things that interest them through the intersection of art and technology. Ana became interested in the project as she said she wishes something like this had existed when she was younger.
While they are still working on strengthening and defining Altamira’s business model, Ana says she has found the experience incredibly rewarding as she has not only been a part of an organization with such a strong social conscious, but she has also been able to learn and strengthen her skills and business expertise through the development process.
Together, Altamira and Ana have worked through the nuances of our Value Proposition tool, which Ana found to be the most challenging. “I think if you have a very clear view of what your project is this step shouldn’t be difficult, but when you’re still trying to define exactly what you’re providing, it takes more time and thought, which is what happened to us.”
Ana and Altamira have developed a strong relationship through the Bridge for Billion’s mentoring program. “I definitely think we’ll keep in contact after we’re done with Bridge. I’d like to know how her project develops and continues growing.”
