In the Trifinio region, 600 women have strengthened their business models thanks to the Enlaces initiative of UN Women's MELYT Programme.
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Women have reported an increase of 71% average growth in sales between 2019 and 2020.
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The businesses report a generation of approximately two thousand jobs in Guatemala and El Salvador.
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The programme has decreased the digital gap for women by using an online methodology.
Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, January 2022. Promoted by UN Women, Enlaces is the initiative of the MELYT (Women, Local Economy and Territory) programme that seeks companies in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras with the potential to integrate value chains and connect with local entrepreneurs in the Trifinio region, transforming their products, expanding their distribution networks or accelerating their presence in markets that will put them on the radar of opportunities.
Lack of access to markets is one of the gaps local women entrepreneurs face. Enlaces has therefore devised a three-phase program of comprehensive support. In the first phase, more than 600 women from El Salvador and Guatemala strengthened their businesses to enter the market sustainably. Due to the economic crisis resulting from the pandemic, this process was adapted to provide them with the necessary tools to keep their businesses afloat and even generate profits.
In the second phase of strengthening, a group of 400 women entrepreneurs was selected to deepen their knowledge of their business model to increase the potential for generating commercial connections in the medium term. This phase was carried out through partnerships with local MSME service centers that accompanied them and reinforced their soft negotiation and relationship skills. Thanks to these acquired skills, the program's beneficiaries have increased their chances of making market connections with companies willing to link them to markets.
In the face of new economic challenges, collaboration and partnerships are essential for companies in all contexts to continue to grow while generating benefits in their communities. Therefore, the third phase consisted of an approach between entrepreneurs and companies where 177 business opportunities were established between 101 women and 19 impact companies to link them to markets, which were also strengthened in finance, marketing, and social and environmental impact, maximizing the possibilities of connection. The women entrepreneurs and the impact enterprises had representatives from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
It is worth noting that women-led businesses generate approximately 2,000 jobs in their communities. In addition, in addition to business skills, the participants in the initiative have shown qualitative improvements in their networking experience. Finally, the initiative has also reduced the digital divide for the women participants by using an online methodology throughout the support, despite accessibility challenges for many of them.
To learn more about the Enlaces initiative, the MELYT Programme and the stories of the women entrepreneurs, please visit the Facebook pages of UN Women Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. See the document Strengthening women's entrepreneurship for their positioning in the Central American economy.
Acerca de las organizaciones promotoras:
UN Women is the United Nations organization dedicated to promoting gender equality and women's empowerment. As a global advocate for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress towards improving women's lives and responding to the needs they face around the world.
Alterna is a social innovation platform that promotes the development of conscious entrepreneurship and enterprise as a route to a sustainable region. Over the course of a decade, it has cultivated more than 2,000 businesses and ventures that today represent more than $90 million in cumulative sales and have positively impacted the lives of more than 5 million people. Through its Cultivation methodology, businesses reflect average business growth rates of 77%.