32 Women Graduate from the 7th Edition of Mexicana Emprende

The Consulate General of Mexico in Montreal held the closing ceremony of the seventh edition of the Consular Entrepreneurship Program for Mexican Women Abroad (PCEME), “Mexicana Emprende Montreal 2026,” on August 20. The program aims to provide Mexican women living in Montreal with the tools and skills needed to strengthen their entrepreneurial capabilities and advance their economic independence.

For this edition, 32 women—approximately 50 percent of registered participants—developed and presented business plans covering areas such as finance, sales, marketing and networking, among others. Notably, this was the edition with the highest number of graduates since the program was launched. The initiative supports women who have chosen to start their own businesses in fields including services, food and beverages, creative industries, retail, fashion and accessories, among others.

During the ceremony, Consul General Víctor Manuel Treviño recognized the participants’ hard work and determination in completing the program, while encouraging them to support one another.

“Recommend one another, support each other, share contacts, buy products and services from fellow entrepreneurs, celebrate their achievements and, whenever you can, help another Mexican woman find an opportunity; because when one Mexican woman paves the way, she can also make that path a little easier for the woman who follows.”

He also reminded the graduates that completing the program represents only the beginning of a journey—one that starts “with meeting the first customer, making a difficult decision, encountering an unexpected opportunity, making a mistake and learning from it, and also experiencing that wonderful moment when someone trusts, for the first time, in what you have created.”

At Espacio México, the event also featured an exhibition of products and promotion of services, creating a networking opportunity for participants to exchange experiences and contacts and explore potential collaborations.

The 2026 edition was held in collaboration with ACOMM. Special guests included Alfonso Rodríguez, Entrepreneurship Advisor at Entreprendre Ici, an organization connected to Quebec’s entrepreneurship ecosystem; Luis Cisneros of HEC Montréal; and Luis Ríos, who gave a presentation related to the Empy Awards and Hola Montreal.

The event also included the presentation of the Sello M, a distinction awarded by the Mexican Academy of Gastronomy (AMG) and Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) to establishments outside Mexico that meet specific criteria for preserving, representing and promoting authentic Mexican cuisine abroad, while reflecting the country’s cultural and culinary diversity.

For the first time in Montreal, the distinction was awarded to a Mexican entrepreneur who is also a graduate of the Mexicana Emprende program: Eréndira Pérez, founder of Cacao Révolution.

In an interview with Spotlight Montreal, Pérez said:

“When I arrived in Canada, I encountered the challenges faced by many migrant women, such as adapting to a new environment, rebuilding professional networks and finding my way in an unfamiliar business ecosystem. However, those challenges also became opportunities to innovate and bring a different perspective to the market. That is how Cacao Révolution was born, a company dedicated to the artisanal transformation of Mexican cacao in Montreal.”

The closing ceremony of the seventh edition was therefore a celebration of the hard work, discipline, determination and talent of Mexican women committed to building their own businesses, supported by the Consular Entrepreneurship Program for Mexican Women Abroad (PCEME), “Mexicana Emprende.”

The program has graduated 115 women, providing them with tools to strengthen their projects, expand their professional networks and explore entrepreneurship as a pathway toward greater economic independence and integration into their communities.