Under the Women's Business Growth initiative, INCAE Business School in Honduras is promoting the development program Empresarias Progresando (EMPRO), which seeks to benefit 40 small and medium-sized enterprises led by Honduran women.
The EMPRO program, which has the financial support and accompaniment of the PriceSmart Foundation and Cargill, is designed to enable participants to transform and scale their businesses through a series of training programs, and to increase their access to new financing.
"Latin America has seen a significant increase in female participation in the labor market and in the number of women-owned businesses in the last couple of decades. However, women entrepreneurs and businesswomen in the region continue to face enormous challenges and biases," said Octavio Martínez, director of INCAE.
Martínez emphasized that INCAE, through its Impact Centers, has the mission to contribute to overcoming these obstacles in order to generate greater equity and prosperity for Latin American women.
For her part, Angie Venza, director of International Strategic Initiatives at PriceSmart Foundation, emphasized that the EMPRO program responds to a very important need within the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Honduras: the gender gap in terms of access to markets and capital.
"At PriceSmart Foundation we are very proud to collaborate with INCAE and Cargill to promote the growth and prosperity of Honduran women entrepreneurs," said Venza.
Xavier Vargas, president of Cargill Protein Latin America, said: "At Cargill, we are convinced that when women have the opportunity to earn income, their families and their environments prosper, because they are at the heart of their communities and are a vital link between families and the country's economic and social development.
EMPRO is a project divided into three phases: a) Recruitment and Enrollment, b) Training (tutoring and mentoring) and c) Business Roundtable. The Recruitment and Enrollment phase will take place from July 19 to August 31 of this year. The Training phase includes access to a platform with information and tools designed to strengthen and empower women leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises and two additional training modules: To the Market and To the Bank. The first module is aimed at strengthening the competencies and skills that contribute to scaling up the businesses of women entrepreneurs, creating networks and accessing new markets. The second module is designed to help participants understand how financial institutions operate, become familiar with them and meet the requirements they request in order to access financing for their businesses.
In the third phase of training-the Business Roundtable-participants put their acquired knowledge into practice by presenting their businesses and products to potential distributors, retailers, and financial institutions.
An evaluation committee will be responsible for selecting the finalists who meet certain requirements, including being Honduran and residing in the country, being the main partner of their company, and demonstrating annual sales equal to or greater than US$20,000.
The selected participants will receive guided training and personalized support from INCAE faculty members, as well as representatives of the project's international and national partner companies and executives from local financial institutions. Each educational scholarship is valued at approximately US$10,000.
In addition, the selected entrepreneurs will have access to pre-selected courses of the LEADS Mujer online acceleration program and the respective Innovation and Finance Bootcamps. The LEADS Women Accelerator platform was designed with the sponsorship of Mastercard, a company with which INCAE has joined forces to foster talent and accelerate the growth of women entrepreneurs.
For more information on the program visit:
https://incae.smallprojectsbureau.dev/es/wbgi-honduras.html
Mauren Esquivel
mauren.esquivel@incae.edu
Gracia Barahona
gracia.barahona@clacds.incae.edu
About CLACDS/INCAE
The Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development is the think tank and applied research center of INCAE Business School. Its mission is to promote sustainable development in the region through research, capacity building and dialogue.
About Cargill
Cargill is present in 70 countries and has more than 155,000 employees worldwide, who work tirelessly to achieve its purpose of feeding the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. Every day, it connects farmers with markets, customers with ingredients, and people and animals with the food they need to thrive. Its collaborative work focuses on building a stronger, more sustainable future for agriculture. In Central America, Cargill markets its products through the Cargill Protein Latin America business unit and manufactures balanced feed for large and small species through Cargill Animal Nutrition and Health. In Costa Rica, it has a shared services office, Cargill Business Services (CBS), which provides global support in the areas of human resources, finance, logistics and transportation, among others. For more information, visit Cargill.com and its News Center.
About PriceSmart Foundation
PriceSmart Foundation invests to create an environment of opportunity and access for communities in the countries where PriceSmart operates its business. The Foundation focuses on improving economic opportunities for underserved populations, promoting youth development, and increasing community resilience through the donation of philanthropic funds to local organizations that align with our goals. We also work collaboratively with PriceSmart, Inc. to leverage the presence and local knowledge of the company and its employees in the countries where we operate.
