The U.S.-Mexico AI Education Initiative

The hype around AI often makes it challenging to discern what’s truly important. At Actionworks, we cut through the noise to focus on how AI can tackle real-world challenges that entrepreneurs face daily—customer acquisition, product development, fundraising, and automation. 

This practical application is at the heart of our U.S.-Mexico AI Education Initiative, an Actionworks-led collaboration between The U.S. Department of State, The YLAI program (led by IREX), Reto Zapopan, JE Camara de Comercio, Inbest, and BBVA Guadalajara.

Partners

Funders
The State Department and IREX wanted veteran implementers to design and deliver a large-scale public-facing international project showcasing how AI can help entrepreneurs. They selected Actionworks because we embraced AI early—we ran our first AI-focused program with GPT-2 back in 2019. This head start, combined with our facilitation expertise, gives us a continued advantage in designing effective AI learning experiences

Local Entrepreneurship Support Organizations
Reto Zapopan, the state of Jalisco’s major entrepreneurship initiative, and JE Cámara de Comercio Guadalajara, the largest Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, wanted their community to gain AI skills and learn American-style approaches to customer acquisition. INBest (represented by CRO Rodrigo Hernandez), wanted to support its local community and reinforce its stature as a leader in the Guadalajara entrepreneurship ecosystem

Implementers
Actionworks designed and implemented this project to meet the above stakeholders’ goals while achieving our own: giving founders more opportunities through hands-on AI education.

Program Overview

To achieve these objectives, we balanced extensive reach with personalized engagement. We began by creating high-quality marketing materials, including custom promotional videos, to spread the word throughout Guadalajara ahead of our arrival.

Over 10 days in Guadalajara, the initiative included two workshops and a week of one-on-one and group coaching sessions. Reto Zapopan hosted 80 attendees for our first workshop, “How to Get New Business with AI,” while JE Cámara de Comercio hosted 40 attendees for the second workshop, “Principles > Prompts,” at BBVA Guadalajara.

The workshops prioritized expert facilitation of customer-centric applications of AI tools, including:

  • OpenAI’s GPT: For generating sales outreach talking points
  • Anthropic’s Claude: For crafting landing page copywriting
  • Midjourney: For creating marketing image assets
  • Zapier and Gumloop: For workflow automation

This approach allowed participants to experiment firsthand with how language models and related tools could enhance their business workflows, growth, and outcomes. Our goal was to make the learning process as engaging and applicable as possible, ensuring that it was not just informative but also transformative.

After each workshop, we gave participants access to a scheduling app to book coaching sessions. The high demand for these sessions, with all available spots quickly filled, underscored the program’s value and the urgent demand for AI education in the region.

Feedback

“I’ve attended sessions on AI from McKinsey and Gartner…[it was] too much theory; I left with nothing of value. This program was superior because it was hands-on and gave me concrete strategies for using AI in my business.”
—Patrick Patron, Clase Azul Tequila

“Our entrepreneurs are in a better place now thanks to Cam and Actionworks”
—Natalia Cuellar, Reto Zapopan

In addition, we conducted a roundtable with Guadalajara entrepreneurs and strategy sessions with Reto Zapopan’s Natalia Cuellar and JE Cámara de Comercio’s Nany Morales. 

Challenges and Solutions

Throughout the program, we navigated several challenges, adjusting our strategies to maximize learning and engagement:

  • Balancing Breadth and Depth: Given the limited hours of the program, balancing the wide-reaching workshops with in-depth personal coaching was challenging. We achieved this by carefully scheduling and integrating different types of learning interactions to cater to both general and specific learning objectives.
  • Evolving AI Tools: The rapid pace of AI development means that tools and functionalities are constantly changing. We addressed this by grounding our teachings in the fundamental principles of AI use in business, which remain relevant regardless of the tools available.
  • Language and Accessibility: To ensure inclusivity, the program was delivered 60% in Spanish and 40% in English. This bilingual approach helped bridge communication gaps and made the content accessible to a diverse group of participants.
  • Diverse Industries: The diversity of industries represented by our participants posed a challenge in addressing everyone’s specific needs. Our extensive experience across various sectors enabled me to provide relevant insights and customize the advice for different business models and industry challenges.

Impact

This program was a joy to run. We are proud of the impact, excited about the ecosystem connections we made, and eager to continue the collaboration when the project repeats next year. We look forward to building on these relationships and extending our reach to help more organizations harness the power of AI.

UPDATE: We are honored to share that Actionworks has received national recognition at the Tech Agave Awards for the impact of our U.S.-Mexico AI Education Initiative. This award celebrates the incredible collaboration with our partners and the transformational power of AI in entrepreneurship. Thank you for being part of this journey!

Are you wanting to help your community harness the power of AI? Let us tailor a training program that equips your people with AI skills to grow the business and achieve your goals.

by

Cam Houser