Connecting female tech talent from Latin America to the world
See how Cisco is helping Laboratoria empower women to become the leading source of female technology talent from Latin America.
Local and global impact
In the last four years, Laboratoria graduated more than 1000 women and 80% of them have been placed in over 400 companies across Peru, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil.
2000+
graduates
83%
hired
800+
hiring companies
Transforming the lives of Latin American women
In Latin America:
- Nearly 23 million women cannot afford quality education or are not employed in formal jobs
- Among women who are trained, less than 20% transition to formal jobs
- Only half of formal companies are able to find skilled employees
- In 2019, there were 450K unfilled technology jobs
Laboratoria believes that when women are empowered with professional and technical training, as well as a formal transition into employment, their futures—and those of the companies that employ them—are transformed.
Through Laboratoria’s 6-month immersive boot camp, coaching, and job placement support, students gain the skills needed to work as developers or UX designers, locally or for global industry leaders.
“Before Laboratoria, I was working as a hairdresser, feeling the job was too small for me. Now I work in Thoughtworks, creating software with people from all over the world. I have been in Chile, India, and the U.S. This is the kind of job for me!”
Susana Opazo, graduate, Laboratoria
Scaling the model for maximum impact
Cisco provided early-stage support to develop a learning management system to:
- Improve the student selection process
- Introduce new curriculum and career tracks
- Provide direct connections between students and employers
- Gather and evaluate data for better business intelligence, insights, and decision making
With continued support from Cisco, Laboratoria has replicated its model to additional cities and countries while developing a diverse source of earned revenue. This allows the ability to scale the program to reach more women while maintaining financial sustainability. The “Talent App,” created for companies to quickly identify the best talent, has reduced time to find and hire quality candidates from weeks to days.
3x increase in average income
80% of Laboratoria graduates find technology-based jobs, on average tripling their income and ensuring a bright future.
Talent that transforms
Laboratoria continues to scale and develop new communities of tenacious women who are transforming their lives and changing the world.
Meet our community partners
Cisco and the Cisco Foundation partner with innovative nonprofits to deliver transformative, tech-driven solutions for education, economic empowerment, crisis response, and climate impact.