ESCALA Builds Futures
Our mission is to empower disadvantaged entrepreneurs and artisans - the majority of whom are women - living in poverty around the world.
We provide basic business education and give people the tools to build the future they want for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Through ESCALA’s renowned Business School and Capacity Building Program, women and others from low-resource communities are learning how to become profitable and self-sufficient entrepreneurs, helping them earn a dignified living income and better serve their communities.
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More than 3,000 women from Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala and Tanzania have been part of the ESCALA Program in the last six years (2019-2024)!
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ESCALA includes the programs of what was the Sustainable Preservation Initiative, or SPI. While ESCALA’s primary focus is to provide business education and support, many of SPI’s earlier projects were located close to endangered archaeological sites. By supporting local entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses, we also help create stronger communities and preserve archaeological and cultural heritage. ESCALA gives admission preferences to students living near archaeological and heritage sites and works closely with cultural heritage authorities such as INAH in Mexico.
Entrepreneurs in Peru talk about their experience attending ESCALA Business School designed to help marginalized small business owners and artisans grow their enterprises.
During the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, the world's poorest and most vulnerable people wereat greatest risk - including many of the entrepreneurs trained by ESCALA in Peru, Tanzania, Bulgaria, and Guatemala. However, thanks to the tremendous support for ESCALA’s COVID-19 Relief Fund, entrepreneurs and artisans had the resources to step up as local leaders, keeping their families and communities safe. And they continue to thrive today.
Watch the 2016 TEDx talk by our Executive Director, Larry Coben. Learn our history, our programs, why they work, what we have learned, and some of the inspiring stories of hope and change of the many artisans and entrepreneurs we support!
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Ready to take the next step? You can become a contributor to our cause, or participate yourself.
“...an imaginative way to mobilize free markets to save ancient sites, while helping the economies of surrounding communities.”
“A very smart way to save antiquities...”
“SPI links the ideas of preservation and economic development by helping local people near the sites be better entrepreneurs.”
““To see the way the women—who came here some years ago and were so timid—feel about themselves and have become empowered is an important achievement. For them, SPI and the Pachacamac Site Museum truly means improving their quality of life and it also means knowing who they are and where they want to go.””
