At 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the rain finally gave way to the drought. Despite the downpour, the women constantly climb the stairs that take them to the ballroom from the Hyatt hotel. In the midst of the tumult, a circle opens in which attention is concentrated, there is the founder of the Sembrando program, Lorena Ponce de León, and the executive director of the program, Andrea Belollio. Together they receive and greet all the guests who approach with a smile. They all arrive with the same illusion learn about the stories of the founder of the Sembrando program and the Identidad Paisajismo company, Lorena Ponce de León, and the Argentine gastronomic entrepreneur Maru Botana.
Before the main course of the night, Andrea Bellolio spent a few minutes presenting Sembrando’s achievements and projects, which are many. The Program is heading this year to tour the entire country once again. The executive director confessed that this was the way they found to be close to all of them and be able to create customized solutions to boost their ventures and take them to the next level, always hand in hand with her 250 mentors.
In addition, Sembrando uses strategic alliances to teach English courses, social networks, business administration, technology and recycling to train businesswomen in the areas in which they tend to have the most difficulties. These courses that were taught in 2022 will be implemented again this year.
International fairs are another of its verticals of work. Dubai, Sao Paulo, Canberra and Buenos Aires are some of the destinations they traveled to offer the products of the Uruguayan businesswomen and make exports. At the local level, these sales are reflected in the approach of Sembrando brand products in large points of sale such as Disco, English Store, Farmashop, Britt Shop in Carrasco Airport and the Santander Puntos website.
Later on, Gabriela Firpo, ambassador of Mujeres al Mundo and a benchmark for HSBC, referred to the program led by the bank, which also aims to take women entrepreneurs to the next level through personalized proposals. “Our goal is to achieve successful projects led by women,” she stressed.
From the yellow pages to the creation of Sembrando
“They are going to be surprised,” said Andrea Belollio before giving way to the founder of Sembrando, Lorena Ponce de León, to tell her story of entrepreneurship. Next, Ponce de León referred to her travels around the country, she said that she was able to talk to many people and learn about her realities first-hand. “I met a lot of people wanting to do things, but not knowing how and that happens to so many of us”he assured and remarked that when it comes to learning “education prepares us very well to ask for a job, but suddenly it does not prepare us to do what we own.”
Photo: Leonardo Carreno.
Lorena Ponce de León told her story in Sembrando
Lorena Ponce de León and her team investigated and discovered that 140 organizations in the country were engaged in entrepreneurship, but 80% were in Montevideo and only 20% reached the interior. “With my husband and the team we have this obsession with decentralization,” she acknowledged, referring to the President of the Republic, Luis Lacalle Pouand stressed that this was the kick for Sembrando to launch itself to offer solutions to entrepreneurs throughout the country.
This path also led Ponce de León to remember her roots as a businesswoman from 20 years ago. Forestry technician, gardening school, lighting technology and a professionalization in landscaping in Argentina are some of the diplomas that the businesswoman holds. “When I offered what I had to give, the clients did not know what landscaping was”, recognized and fully faced the challenge of creating the need for landscaping so that customers would want to consume it. With a tenacity inherited from his mother and shared with his sister, Ponce de León did not give up and toured architecture studios to tell what he did and even offered Landscaping Identity services in the yellow pages. “One time they called me for having seen me in the yellow pages and they asked me if I painted landscapes,” he said with a laugh, realizing the ignorance that existed about his profession.
Later on, the small company that began with its partner arranging gardens had the great challenge of working at the Maroñas Hippodrome, and other increasingly ambitious ones were added to it, such as the largest vertical garden in the country in the Celebra de Zonamerica building. . Loli —as the businesswoman is often nicknamed— exhibited her work with photos of dazzling gardens and areas built by Identidad Paisajismo and concluded her presentation by emphasizing the importance of training and persevering to achieve the objectives. “We want these two years of work that we have left to be a lot of work and, above all, very efficient,” concluded the founder of the program.
A success story and the commitment to continue undertaking
Maru Botana never imagined that her name would be recognized by everyone. I do not dream of being famous or a history of professional recognition. Maru Botana dreamed of having children. She remembers from her childhood rooms full of babies and the cakes that she cooked to sell to her neighbors to have her own money.
Her father, a doctor, encouraged her to study business administration, even though her desire was to be a kindergarten teacher. “You’re going to starve,” her father told her, and she listened. She knew that she would get bored if she worked in a company, but even so, she studied and today she is grateful to have that knowledge. “Especially in terms of costs,” acknowledged the businesswoman.
Cooking was her passion and her dream of having children came true. He had eight “all different” he said with grace in a monologue that kept the entire audience pending for more than 40 minutes and in which he also referred to his darkest moment (the death of his son Facundo) and the need to get ahead facing the obstacles of life.
Botana reviewed his professional career that began with the offer of the prestigious chef Francis Mallmann to join his staff of girls. “I don’t want to be a girl, I want to be a cook,” Maru told her and advised those present just as she does with his children: “He is not insured, you always have to ask.” Mallmann gave in—years later he would find out that it was because he liked Maru and not because of his gastronomic skills. After her, Utilísima would arrive, her television debut that made her reach homes in Argentina and the region. “I love that they greet me on the street, that they ask me for photos,” she confessed.
A fan of exercise and social media, Botana has a recently opened store in Pilar, Buenos Aires and is already planning a new store in Barcelona. That’s not all, his plans also include helping gastronomic entrepreneurs who work in social networks to scale hand in hand. “I love being a godmother and accompanying,” acknowledged the businesswoman who recognizes that her day should last more hours or that there would have to be “several Maru Botana” to be able to cover all the projects she wants with a tireless and contagious entrepreneurial spirit.
