This post was written by REN Nicaragua.
Watch a women’s entrepreneurship Google Hangout featuring REN founder Lucy Valenti.
UNDP research shows that in Nicaragua, young people face an unemployment rate twice as high as the adult population. Young women also face much higher rates of unemployment (46% unemployed female vs 16.8% unemployed male). Moreover, the leading cause for unemployment in the country is a lack of work experience.
Recognizing these difficult challenges faced by women in Nicaragua, the Red de Empresarias de Nicaragua (REN) works to overcome them. With a vision of increasing women’s economic and social development, REN is a professional network representing over 200 women-owned businesses which focuses on developing women’s entrepreneurial capacity and skills.
In July 2014, REN launched the CIPE supported, nine-month program “Strengthening Entrepreneurial Skills among Women in Nicaragua.” Following a successful five-month pilot phase, this is the second program of its kind led by REN.
The program’s main objective is to encourage entrepreneurship among young women and strengthen the capacity of women micro-entrepreneurs through mentorships. The two groups of beneficiaries for this initiative are female university students and emerging women micro-entrepreneurs, and they are all paired with successful businesswomen. REN matched ten teams (each mentorship team consists of a micro-entrepreneur, mentor, and an intern) for this project.
The students intern at their mentor’s company to learn basics of what it takes to run a firm, and they also work with their mentors to support the micro-entrepreneurs with technical assistance to improve their businesses. Simultaneously, the university students and the micro-entrepreneurs are provided with networking and professional development opportunities to expand their skills and knowledge.
Benefits for the participants
When REN was pairing up the matches, they took into consideration opportunities for self-growth and leadership development for the students, as well as potential business alliances for the micro-entrepreneurs.
One good example of a strategic pairing is the partnership of Carmen Davila, the owner of Carmelitas Coffee (she roasts coffee and commercializes her own brand). Davila mentors Flora Ortiz, the owner of Rosquillas Delicias del Bosque, which produces typical Nicaraguan cookies that are usually eaten with coffee. Davila is currently working with Ortiz on commercializing the Rosquillas Delicias del Bosque’s products with a package of her coffee, since they found an opportunity to sell their goods together. The intern working with Davila is creating a marketing strategy to increase the sales of Davila’s products.
Similarly, Blanka Callejas, who co-owns a company that produces and commercializes jam and other ingredients that are used by bakeries, is mentoring Lua’s Martinez, who runs a local bakery that produces tres leches. The two were matched because they both specialize in baked goods, and there are possible business linkages. In fact, their intern is working to create a business strategy for a partnership between Callejas and Martinez’s businesses.
For the university students, this mentorship program is an opportunity to think about their future goals. As Eloisa Washington, intern for the company Rosquillas Delicias del Norte shared with REN before the commencement of the program: “I am excited to expand my knowledge on the functioning of micro-enterprise companies and expand my horizons as a future entrepreneur.” Similarly, Ruth Cuadra, university intern with Lua’s Bakery, shared that she “looks forward to acquiring new professional skills, and gaining professional experience, that will be meaningful on my resume. I’m honored to work with empowered entrepreneurial women who are role models for many women business-owners.”
This initiative aligns with REN’s mission to promote gender equality by empowering women entrepreneurs to reach their professional goals, strengthen their professional networks, and affect overall positive change in the lives of entrepreneurial women in Nicaragua. REN is excited to see what will come out of result of this project.
