Three Uruguayan entrepreneurs attended the Pathways to Prosperity conference in Washington: Lucía Pardo, Rosario Fossati and Pepi Goncalvez.

Washington — Forty Latin American women entrepreneurs of exceptional merit came together in Washington October 7–9 for a conference aimed at giving them the tools to expand on and deepen their success.

Beth Brooke, the global vice chairwoman of public policy, sustainability and stakeholder engagement for consulting firm Ernst & Young, told America.gov that “this conference was about tangible results, not just ‘for the moment’ experiences” and that the women who attended are living examples of “to whom much is given, much is expected.”

The conference was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State under the auspices of the Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas initiative, a principal goal of which is to ensure that the benefits of trade are shared evenly across the societies of the 11 nations of Latin America that have trade agreements with the United States.

Brooke and Nell Merlino, founder, president and chief executive officer of Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, a leading national nonprofit provider of resources for women, were chosen as Pathways Envoys by the State Department. The Pathways Envoys — two from the U.S. and two from Latin America — met with aspiring entrepreneurs and their chosen mentors during the conference. Mentors are more experienced business women in the Americas who will follow the entrepreneurs for the next year to support growth and economic success. Also during the coming year, Brooke and Merlino will visit Pathways countries to encourage and advise women entrepreneurs and to promote women’s entrepreneurship through media interviews and U. S. Embassy-sponsored programs.

Meeting attendees at the conference, Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton applauded their efforts and ingenuity in their business endeavors. “Part of what we are trying to do here in the State Department with all of you is to make the case that empowering women is a key to progress and prosperity and peace. I’ve heard about some of the work that you are doing in your own lives, and I am very touched by the courage and commitment that so many of you have already shown,” the secretary said.

Envoy Brooke brought to the conference wide experience in the economics of the developing world. Named by Forbes magazine as one of its 100 Most Powerful Women in the World, she has worked in developing countries to support women entrepreneurs as engines for poverty alleviation and economic growth.

Said Brooke of her message to conference participants: “We want to blaze a pathway in the countries where these women are from. … It’s all about the power of how a community can move forward. The willingness of the entrepreneurs to convene in a cooperative setting, sharing technical expertise and knowledge, is very big.”

As a Pathways Envoy, she looks forward to “encouraging those in the margins as well as those with leverage, and bringing both sides together is the hope of the envoys who attended the meetings at the conference.”

Envoy Merlino has vast experience in encouraging women to grow their small businesses into million-dollar enterprises. She encourages women to further the growth of their small businesses into successful enterprises.

“The energy and information that flowed was inspirational,” Merlino told America.gov. The message of the conference was “information, the opportunity to work with each other, to share information about how trade works. Your business does not operate in isolation.”

Merlino says women entrepreneurs need to dream big and achieve even more. She said the women at this conference learned “how to grow your business, how to help your family and country, and how to give to other people. How to do it all.”

Both the spirit of the conference and the actual message were the same, Merlino said: “Growing your own business means helping others too.”

She also emphasized to conference attendees the concept of the “missing middle.” Beyond the high-end capital and the small businesses, it is the middle of the business spectrum — businesses employing 200 or more people and filling containers for shipments — that empowers other women. “It’s important to focus on these businesses and the women who are the missing middle,” Merlino said. “Be really part of the Pathways to Prosperity initiative, helping to grow trade and business. Focus on women who are further along, the women who are employing others.”

During the closing ceremonies, in which Clinton greeted all the attendees, the secretary said: “I really believe that we need women’s voices to become more prominent in all of the debates throughout the world. We are not all the same with all the same dreams and experiences, but I do believe that we have a shared vision of what our world should be. And I am very committed to working through our hemisphere to create better understanding and closer cooperation.”