In short
Act 81-2018 establishes the Business Toolkit for Women Programme, attached to the Department of Economic Development and Commerce, with the objective of instituting a concrete plan that incentivises and stimulates women’s business self-management in the areas of technology, innovation and service exports. The Department shall provide women with an integrated concept with the tools needed to guide them through the process of forming their business, starting from the business idea to its insertion among the micro, small and medium enterprises of Puerto Rico, with a view to service exports, as well as the support required in the opening process. Through the programme a woman may receive, in a single place, all the orientation, technical assistance and support needed to turn that idea into a competitive business, accessing existing incentives; to that end the Department shall develop a cyber platform providing training, information and individualised advice. The programme is focused on supporting those women who wish to develop in the business world in the areas of technology and innovation. The Act orders the Department to draft the regulations securing the programme’s processes, operation and operational and financial structure, to identify sufficient budget items, to orient women and the public about the programme and about the incentives in force, and empowers it to accept donations and to enter alliances and collaborative agreements with agencies, municipalities, academia and community and non-profit organisations. The Act granted the Secretary one hundred and twenty days to promulgate those regulations and set up the administrative and operational structure.
What is it?
It is a support programme, not financial aid, and that is worth being clear about before reading on. What Act 81-2018 promises is a single window at the Department of Economic Development and Commerce where a woman with a business idea receives, in one place, orientation, technical assistance and support to open her business and to access the incentives that already exist in other acts. It also carries a mandate for a cyber platform with training and individualised advice. What it does not carry: a cheque. The Act appropriates no money and creates no aid to apply for. And it carries a narrow focus that must be read: the programme is focused on women who wish to develop in the areas of technology and innovation.
Who can do it?
Here one must be exact, because the Act publishes no eligibility criteria. It speaks of “women” who wish to form a business, and Article 4 adds that the programme “shall be focused on supporting those women who wish to develop in the business world in the areas of technology and innovation,” with a view to service exports. It sets no age, income, residence, company size, business stage or requirement to be incorporated. Nor does it say what happens if your business idea is not in technology. All of that was delegated to the Article 5 regulation, which we did not read and therefore do not report.
Requirements
Information pending verification.
Documents you need
Information pending verification.
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: What exactly the toolkit is
Article 3 establishes the Business Toolkit for Women Programme, attached to the Department of Economic Development and Commerce, “with the objective of instituting a concrete plan that incentivises and stimulates women’s business self-management in the areas of technology, innovation and service exports.” The word toolkit is a metaphor: the Act describes neither an object nor a list of documents, but a set of services gathered under one roof.
Step 2: What the programme must give you
Article 4 is the concrete promise. The Department “shall provide women with an integrated concept with the tools needed to guide her through the process of forming her business, starting from her business idea to her insertion among the micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of Puerto Rico, with a view to service exports, as well as the support required in the process of opening her business.” And it continues: through the programme the woman may receive, in a single place, all the orientation, technical assistance and support needed to turn that idea into a competitive business, allowing her to access existing incentives. The key phrase is “in a single place”: the Act is attacking the trek from agency to agency.
Step 3: The cyber platform
That same Article 4 orders that, to achieve this, the Department “shall develop a cyber platform providing women entrepreneurs with access to the training, information and individualised advice needed, respecting their time and avoiding the disinterest caused by long and confusing government processes.” It is an obligation on the agency, not a requirement on you. The Act does not publish that platform’s address and we do not guess government web addresses: if you are looking for it, ask the Department.
Step 4: The focus on technology and innovation
This is the limit most worth knowing up front. Article 4 says “this programme shall be focused on supporting those women who wish to develop in the business world in the areas of technology and innovation,” and service exports appear as the programme’s horizon from the public policy in Article 2. The Act does not say other sectors are excluded, but neither does it name them. If your business does not fall in technology, innovation or service exports, this source does not let you assert that the programme covers you.
Step 5: The orientation the Act requires the agency to give
Article 8 is useful if you call and are told they do not know the programme. It orders the Department, alone or together with other public agencies or private entities, to orient women and the general public about the Business Toolkit, about the services it provides and about the incentives granted by acts and regulations in force for economic development, microenterprise creation, service exports and job creation. That is, orientation about existing incentives is part of the duty, not an extra.
Step 6: Who leads, and why that matters to you
Article 6 invokes Reorganisation Plan No. 4 of 1994 and orders the whole economic development component to arrange and collaborate on every business initiative with the Department, which shall coordinate and lead this programme. It adds that any component or agency under its supervision carrying out initiatives tied to women’s business development, as well as every promotion and dissemination effort, shall do so through the resource the Secretary designates and with his approval. In practice this means that if another office of the economic component attends you, this Act sends it to channel the matter through the same place.
Step 7: What this Act does not give you
It is worth saying without hedging so nobody wastes a trip. There is no money: Article 7 orders the Department to identify sufficient budget items, but the Act appropriates no amount and creates no grant, loan or new incentive. There is no application: the text creates no form, requirements, evaluation term or approval criteria. There is no appeal or complaint. What the Act does allow is for the Department to accept donations in money or in kind, used exclusively for the Act’s purposes (Article 9), and to enter alliances and collaborative agreements with agencies, municipalities, academia, public and private instrumentalities and community and non-profit organisations (Article 10).
Where to do it
The programme is attached to the Department of Economic Development and Commerce, which under Article 6 coordinates and leads it, and every related promotion or initiative from the economic component is channelled through the resource the Secretary designates. The Act further orders a cyber platform, but does not publish its address and we do not guess it. The Act names no regional offices and no specific physical window.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
What we did not read and therefore do not publish: the regulations Article 5 orders the Department to draft and promulgate to secure the programme’s processes, operation and operational and financial structure, nor the circular letters or administrative determinations that same article authorises. That is where the eligibility criteria, the application and the terms would live, and that is why this guide does not assert them. Nor did we read Reorganisation Plan No. 4 of 1994 that Article 6 invokes, so we do not describe its content. A detail of the compilation we prefer to flag: Article 11 is cited as 23 L.P.R.A. § 113341, a six-digit number that breaks the 11331 to 11340 sequence of the preceding articles; we report it as what it appears to be, a typo in the compilation, and do not rely on that citation. On terms: Article 13 granted the Secretary one hundred and twenty days from approval, in August 2018, to promulgate the regulations and set up the administrative and operational structure, as well as to secure the necessary alliances. That period ran years ago and we cannot confirm from this source whether it was met. Four gaps in the text. First, it publishes no eligibility criteria or application. Second, it appropriates no money: Article 7 orders budget items identified, it does not create them. Third, it sets no response term or review remedy. Fourth, it does not define what tools the toolkit contains. Cost and time are unverified for that same reason. A note on Article 11: it provides that this Act’s provisions incompatible with those of another act or regulation shall prevail over the latter; we report it because the text says so, without drawing from it any practical consequence the Act does not state.
Common mistakes
- Expecting money: the Act appropriates no funds and creates no grant, loan or new incentive; it orders budget items identified.
- Looking for an application in the Act: it creates no form, requirements or approval criteria; that was left to the Article 5 regulation.
- Ignoring the focus: Article 4 says the programme is focused on technology and innovation, with a view to service exports.
- Believing the toolkit is a document: the Act describes a set of services in a single place, not an object or a list.
- Assuming the cyber platform has an address published in the Act: it carries none, and it is not to be guessed.
- Thinking the programme grants the incentives: what it offers is access to and orientation about the incentives that already exist in other acts.
- Taking it for granted the programme is up and running: the Article 13 term of one hundred and twenty days ran and we did not read the regulations.
- Going to another office of the economic component expecting a different procedure: Article 6 orders it channelled through the resource the Secretary designates.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Business Toolkit give money?
Not under this Act. Article 7 orders the Department to identify sufficient budget items to carry out the Act’s purposes, but the text appropriates no amount and creates no financial aid to apply for.
What does it give me then?
Article 4 promises orientation, technical assistance and support in a single place to take your idea through to opening the business, access to the incentives that already exist, and a cyber platform with training, information and individualised advice.
Is it useful if my business is not in technology?
The Act does not say. Article 4 declares the programme shall be focused on women who wish to develop in the areas of technology and innovation, without expressly excluding other sectors or naming them. This source does not allow us to assert that it covers you.
Which agency administers it?
The Department of Economic Development and Commerce. Article 3 attaches the programme to it and Article 6 gives it coordination and leadership, including the economic component’s promotion and dissemination.
What are the requirements to take part?
The Act publishes none. The programme’s processes and structure were delegated to the regulations Article 5 orders the Department to draft, which we did not read.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Departamento de Desarrollo Económico y Comercio (DDEC)
DDEC
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
Last verified
August 30, 2026
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