Bi Foundation opens the call for the eighth cohort of the High Growth Companies Program - ScaleUp

a training program designed to help small and medium-sized companies increase their sales in a fast, profitable and sustainable way.
It is the first program of its kind in the region with a methodology developed by professors from Harvard and Babson College, the No. 1 university in entrepreneurship worldwide.

ScaleUp has been successfully implemented in 8 countries: United States, Panama, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, Russia, Denmark and Guatemala.
Since 2019, the program has demonstrated its effectiveness in 80 Guatemalan companies with extraordinary results at the end of the training:

During the ceremony, Dr. Monica de Zelaya, dean of the Faculty of Economics at UFM and co-founder of the ITA program, said:

- 31% average sales growth
- 4,094 new customers
- 406 new jobs
- 395 new or improved products/services
- US$ 4,703,157 in new loans granted
- US$ 9,448,415 in new investments

About the program

The Program brings together the best practices and tools that impact the key aspects of growth: customers, people (work teams) and cash.

ScaleUp lasts 5 months and between 15 and 20 companies per cohort or group participate.

 

ScaleUp differs from other programs in:

- Experienced facilitators and mentors: Senior corporate executives and entrepreneurs who understand first-hand the challenges to growth.
- Focus on implementation: Promotes taking immediate action to accelerate growth from the very first session
- Cross-learning: In addition to best practices and tools, learning comes from sharing experiences with other participants and facilitators, and self-assessments.

The benefits of participating in ScaleUp are:

- Growth in sales, customers, installed capacity and cash flow.
- Training of owners and management team on key growth issues
- Mentoring from highly experienced entrepreneurs
- Connections with other entrepreneurs and key players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Companies wishing to participate in the 8th cohort must meet the following requirements:

  • Companies formally established in Guatemala
  • Be located in the department of Quetzaltenango.
  • Sales greater than US$100,000 in the last year
  • At least 3 years old
  • With consolidated work teams (the owner does not fulfill all the strategic roles: Finance, Operations, Sales, etc.).
  • The investment per company (with partial scholarship) is US$ 3,000.

Some of the testimonials from the entrepreneurs who participated are:

"When we started ScaleUp we were 30 people in 1 office. Today we are a team of 90 people distributed in 5 offices and we have grown more than 200% in sales since ScaleUp. The program not only transformed my company but also my vision as an entrepreneur: it taught me to plan my growth strategically, to organize the house and optimize my processes, to delegate responsibilities and trust my team, and to celebrate achievements no matter how small they were." - Pedro Pablo Martinez, CEO of CNP Network, participant of cohort 1 and ScaleUp Facilitator."

"With ScaleUp I found many areas of opportunity for my company and managed to grow 163% in sales versus the previous year." - Evelyn de Batres, CEO of Casa Leipzig, participant of ScaleUp cohort 5."

"The results we have had with ScaleUp are: 255 new clients, we opened 4 new (job) positions, we made 5 strategic alliances and implemented a new service." - Sandra Carrillo, Administrative-Financial Manager of Distribuidora de Construproductos Génesis, participant of ScaleUp cohort 6.

About the call

The deadline to apply for the Eighth ScaleUp Cohort is Friday, August 15, 2025.

Interested entrepreneurs should complete the following form to start the application process: