The metachangemakers: how the LALA initiative is developing young leaders in Latin America

Above: Participants at a LALA Leadership Bootcamp in Mexico in 2019.
 

A Latin American non-profit aimed at nurturing a new generation of young leaders is using a mix of student ambassadors, strategic partnerships and social media campaigns to get the word out about the trail they hope to blaze.

“We identify high-potential, purpose-driven youth, many of them from historically marginalized communities, and give them access to transformative leadership programs,” explains Diego Ontaneda Benavides, co-founder of LALA (Latin American Leadership Academy). 

Each year, roughly 500 selected young leaders from 20 Latin American countries participate in  LALA. The initiative holds around 20 Leadership Bootcamps, in-person and virtual, that help to build skills in entrepreneurship, social innovation, social-emotional learning, critical thinking, and more. The sessions are delivered in three languages.

The non-profit has helped to empower more than 2,400 young leaders so far, across 20 Latin American countries. Of those participants, 70% are from underrepresented backgrounds, including low-income households, LGBTQIA+ individuals and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. A 2023 survey to gauge impact among LALA participants showed that 93% say their ability to access future opportunities has improved and 93% said they gained access to a useful network.

Now, with funding from ScotiaRISE, Scotiabank’s 10-year, $500-million commitment and social impact strategy to promote economic resilience among disadvantaged groups, the program is set for expansion.

Launching LALA: from Lima to a global vision

Ontaneda was born and raised in Lima, Peru, but it was in South Africa where he encountered a revolutionary approach at the African Leadership Academy. 

Through a scholarship in the United States, studying Political Economy and Development Economics at Williams College in Massachusetts, he was able to work with the academy and saw the strategy of “metachangemaking” in action. Metachangemaking refers to the  broader concept of developing changemakers, which involves finding, developing and connecting the leaders of tomorrow, he added.

Ontaneda had been beginning to feel hopeless about many failed or limited strategies to promote development in the region. 

“Our countries face too many problems, and these are intertwined in complex ways. You could dedicate your whole life to fighting one problem, and it wouldn't be enough,” said Ontaneda.

“Instead of focusing on one particular issue, they focused on the people who could become the leaders who will solve problems.” 

The idea is if you do this by the hundreds, eventually there are thousands of potential changemakers who can collectively transform entire systems. 

Ontaneda identified income inequality, poor education, economic instability, climate change, and rural poverty among the many issues in Latin America that badly need addressing.

While pursuing his MBA at Stanford, Ontaneda and co-founder David Baptista incubated this idea and adapted the metachangemaking concept to Latin America. They piloted the concept in 2017 and a year later, LALA was officially born.

“The vision always goes back to this idea of developing a new generation of leaders who may solve the biggest problems in Latin America…to find, develop and connect them to the right mentors, bringing them into positions of influence,” he said.

Unleashing potential: selecting “LALíderes” 

The organization finds participants for their camps from across the continent, regardless of financial circumstances, using non-traditional search and selection strategies. Beyond social media and ambassador programs, the organization looks to schools, NGOs, foundations, and community-based organizations that have a presence on the ground and that work directly with teenagers to bring forth potential candidates. 

The focus of the participants (or “LALíderes,” as they’re affectionately called) is on leadership potential, a sense of purpose, acts of service, and values alignment. Ontaneda stresses this is about an individual’s drive for change rather than the conventional metrics of grades, a resumé, or test scores.

“A dramatic example of this is when we met Giullia Jaques Caldeira from Rio de Janeiro, who participated in a bootcamp in Peru,” he said. 

She didn’t stand out academically, but instead demonstrated an extraordinary passion for entrepreneurship and social justice. 

“She was selling chocolates in the streets and during her school breaks when she was just 14,” he said. 

“I remember when we asked her why she did that, her answer was, ‘so that my younger sister will never have to’. And there was not a dry eye in the interview room.”

Caldeira was selected as a participant and through LALA gained the inspiration and skills to launch an initiative to help incarcerated women, who often lack access to some basic necessities. She went on to launch Absorvidas, a social enterprise that empowers incarcerated women by teaching them to produce reusable menstrual pads. She also perfected her Spanish and English skills and was admitted with a full scholarship to Babson College in the U.S. In a testimonial on LALA’s website, Caldeira described LALA as “feeling powerful.”

Yasmin Campos Fernandez, another LALA participant, heard about the program from her friends in college.

“My first big break with LALA was at age 18,” she said.

Her evolving role with the organization — she would eventually take on a part-time role as Alumni Coordinator for Operations — soon provided exposure to partner meetings and eventually sitting in a room full of CEOs of American non-profits. 

“I thought, what am I doing here with these people that are super smart, they have a lot of experience… but I was contributing my opinions and ideas and was made to feel like an equal,” she said. 

Campos recalls an exceptionally notable opportunity that LALA provided her.  

“I took part in the mentorship program that LALA offers to its alumni community where I met my mentor, who was studying at Harvard Graduate School of Education and invited me to be a panelist at Harvard's Latin American Education Forum,” she explained. 

There, she spoke about founding and leading LACOMunidad, a youth-led organization has helped youth from at least eight Latin American countries.  

Campos was also noticed while giving a speech at LALA’s annual call for donors where she talked about her experience as a young leader. One of the observers of her speech invited Campos to work with her, and is now the CEO of Campos’ current workplace, non-profit Propel. 

“At LALA, they give you the space to be yourself and to see the world from a different perspective where you can be the leader of your own life in whichever path you choose to follow,” she said. 

Twenty-year-old Santiago Cruz from Mexico echoes that sentiment. 

“I am studying actuarial science and interning at MetLife, but the main thing I learned through LALA is that only I can manage my life, no one else,” he said. 

Cruz has attended the bootcamps, aids in the admission process of new participants, and is currently an ambassador for LALA.

 “LALA helps me be able to have my mind clear, I’m not really scared of what’s next. I don’t want to fail, but I know I can do anything,” he said.

Impactful partnerships: ScotiaRISE and LALA

Since its inception in 2017, LALA has operated under a continental model, serving multiple countries from a central office and holding most camps virtually. But this year, it launched its first in-person country hub in Brazil, with Peru and Mexico to follow.

“Peru's likely to be the second one over the next two years. Maybe Mexico might be the third one… the idea is to someday have, I don't know, 10, 20, 30, 50 LALAs in multiple countries. The concept could be exported globally,” said Ontaneda.

He said this plan for impact and expansion would not be possible without the support of organizational partners, such as Scotiabank. 

“It's not often that we find the kind of strategic partners that want to make these big investments in youth, in longer term models,” said Ontaneda. “ScotiaRISE is a standout example of good, smart and empathetic corporate social responsibility.” 

Stanford insights: redefining leadership

Ontaneda said he was surprised at all the soft skills he learned while pursuing his MBA. “I kept encountering these soft and fluffy hippie California things… mindfulness, compassion and authenticity,” he said. “There was this recurring narrative of being authentic and trying to do good for others and good for the world.”

He said he wondered where the negotiation class was, where you would learn how to crush your opponent. He was there to win and was surprised that this much softer approach was backed by leading research.

“I learned this is actually the best way to be a leader. It's better for the world, better for people. It will actually make you more effective and you will be happier and healthier when you consider these things,” he said.

Ontaneda said in Latin America, this is nowhere near being a dominant framework. “You still get a lot of people that are like, it's me and my company first, if I can overlook the impact on the environment and get away with it, then I'll do it. If I can pay less, if I can undercut my employees, I'll do it,” he said. This is what he wants to change, through the young leaders of tomorrow.

“Why did I have to be inside the privileged walls of Stanford Graduate School of Business to learn this? Why did I only encounter these things when I was 30 and in California? Why are these things not more accessible?”

He said he applies his learnings to the design of the LALA programs, and he makes this mindset accessible for all. 

“I can see how learning this way, these young leaders might pursue entirely different career paths, relationships, ways of working, studying, relating to others,” he said.