Empowering Entrepreneurs: by Brent Boekestein

Location: La Herradura, El Salvador
Date: 2005
Contact: bboekest@yahoo.com


In late 2005, a close friend and I received a unique invitation and opportunity to help establish a marketplace and provide start-up counsel to 15 women-owned businesses near La Herradura, El Salvador. We worked with and through an organization called CIDECO – which is committed to a model of holistic development that is based on affordable, but not free, housing, education, healthcare and enterprise throughout Central America. In partnership with CIDECO employees and volunteers, my friend and I assisted a traditionally disempowered segment of the population, mothers with young children, in starting businesses that sold everything from fruit and vegetables to meat to consumer goods.



This job was both challenging and rich. It was challenging in that many, if not all, of the emerging enterprises, were resource strapped and therefore had to be highly creative in finding basic items like tables for goods and refrigeration for produce. The experience was rich in that many of the people we spent time with were truly entrepreneurial and found solutions, through friends, family and other informal networks, to get their businesses off the ground. One of those businesses was "Tienda Lacteos", which simply means Dairy Store. But behind the simple business name were two things absolutely necessary to a successful business: a great idea and a hard-working entrepreneur. That entrepreneur was Juan Meija Angel, a CIDECO resident with 14 years experience in selling dairy products. But Mr. Angel faced a challenge in that the start-up costs to his business were substantial – almost 1/3 the average yearly wage in El Salvador. Though through some "boot-strapping" and a bit of help from his friends and family, Mr. Angel started his business and even had plans to develop a local delivery route. An entrepreneurial success, indeed.



An important point to note is that it wasn't just men starting businesses - there were also women entrepreneurs. In fact, upon a return visit to the marketplace in 2007, we clearly saw the derivative benefits that are often the product of woman-owned businesses, such as increased income, gender empowerment and greater social standing. For me, this moved the experience from one of tough numbers (lack of income, lack of education) to something much more personal – a family with more savings for school, a successful dairy business, a mother with a voice in the community and a daughter with a pathway to economic freedom. If anyone is interested to learn more about the current status of the marketplace or successful micro enterprise models, please feel free to email me at bboekest at yahoo dot com.