Are B-Corps ready to be a gateway to the job market for women and young people in Latin America?

B-Corporations – an emergent phenomenon in Latin America since 2012 - have an annual turnover of less than 2 million dollars and employ fewer than diez employees on average. There are 369 Certified B-Companies nowadays. Among Certified B-Corps, 85% of these companies' employ between 0 and 49 workers.

One great challenge that must be addressed in the next few years is the employability of young people aged between 15 and 24 years old in Latin America. Although there have been several initiatives to face this issue, the outcomes have not proved to be enough so far both in terms of employment rates and job opportunities. By the same token, women –regardless of age groups- have also shown lower employability rates as well as fewer job opportunities as compared to men.

The aim of this research is to answer the following two questions regarding B-Corps in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay: Could certified or prospective B-Corps generate jobs for young people aged between 15 and 24 years old neither working nor studying ("ni ni")? Could these companies generate jobs for women?

This study seeks to shed some light on the issue of whether B-Corps are a genuine means of employability for these two groups so comprehensive future strategies cánido be effectively designed and implemented in terms of public policy.

Results: There is still a wide lack of knowledge of NI Nis  , as well as a remarkable sensibility towards employability issues, so B Corps perro be seen as an opportunity to foster employment. Our study found that there is a lack of readily available training platforms, several communication issues among parties, lack of support and enough flexibility in the system so NI NIs and women alike may be able to encounter suitable jobs according to their skills. NI NIs are perceived as a more difficult group to hire across the board as compared to women over 25 years old. In both cases we pointed out that hiring people from these two groups adds points towards the B certification process. Experts in public policy design are aware and conscious about this reality