Jazmin Fallas-Kerr
Costa Rica
SFL SUCCESS STORY:
Jazmin Fallas-Kerr
SFL Latin America
Fostering entrepreneurship and empowering vulnerable women in Costa Rica
Jazmin Fallas-Kerr, a student leader in Costa Rica, was a recent recipient of the Internet Society’s 25 Under 25 Award due to her founding of the Hyena Store, a Costa Rican microenterprise focused on empowering vulnerable female artisans by providing them the means to sell their souvenirs online. The award is given in recognition of projects and businesses that utilize the internet to create a positive impact on society.
Jazmin with the Costa Rican flag and the 25 Under 25 Award
In addition to acting as a marketplace, the Hyena Store allows women to share their stories and helps to develop their soft skills by providing them with technological, financial, and management tools.
Jazmin says her initiative was founded so that women “could leave circles of poverty and avoid other social risks” and that “the most important thing is that people are motivated to be agents of active change in society. They shouldn’t wait for someone else to solve their problems. On the contrary, they can use their potential to create innovative solutions.”
When asked about Students For Liberty, Jazmin told me, “I like the values and vision that the organization has and I saw the opportunity to keep on developing leadership skills and, fundamentally, I saw the vitality in creating a new space so that young students could spread and learn about the ideas of freedom.” She says that her participation in Students For Liberty has “provided me with tools and new knowledge that I can replicate in different initiatives that I lead.”
Jazmin’s efforts have surely helped make Costa Rica a freer place and have had a meaningful impact on the lives of at-risk women. As Jazmin says, “more than just taking ideas on paper I like to apply them to reality. I love being able to help empower people to be able to achieve their ideals.”
Jazmin’s entrepreneurial spirit has gotten her other awards like: UNESCO’s Young Entrepreneur, Latinomics.org Latinamerican Leader (Vienna, Austria) and Tigo-Cooperservidores’s Digital Change Creator. She has also been named Outstanding Woman by the Desamparados Municipality and got a scholarship for Friedrich Naumann Foundation’s Program of Political Leadership.
We commend Jazmin for her entrepreneurial spirit, her efforts and her compassion. We can’t wait to see what’s next for her!
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