Peruvian entrepreneur Élida Flores Cruz is a clear example that, as she says, ‘women can do it’. She spent her childhood in a rural area without access to basic services, with the shortages that this entails: walking 20 minutes to get water or almost an hour to get to the nearest shop, or having difficulty buying medicines.

After the death of her father in 2010, who was the family breadwinner, Élida took the decision that would allow her to break the cycle of poverty in which she lived. She decided to study accounting and set up a cocoa and banana farming business with her husband. Being her own boss was the only way to cover the family's expenses.

‘Since I had studied finance, I already had an idea of what I wanted to do. I was convinced that a business of my own was best, so with a lot of fear but with confidence, we decided to start our own business. People always start from the bottom and every sacrifice has its reward,’ she says.

Her main motivation is her two children, to whom she wants to provide a quality education and better living conditions: ‘I don't want my children to go through the difficulties I went through, so I strive every day to be better and to make my business grow’, she explains.

They currently cultivate six hectares of land on their own property, manage to save money and employ four people during the sowing and harvesting seasons. They do not use fertilisers, but island guano, an organic fertiliser produced from the droppings of various birds, which improves the quality of the cocoa.

Her dream is to expand her business and buy a house near the city to give her children more educational opportunities. ‘To my daughter, when she grows up, I would say that if she sets her mind to it, she can go very far, be the person she wants to be, not depend on someone. You can't depend only on a man, you can get ahead if you set your mind to it. Women can do it and we have shown it in many ways,’ she says emphatically.

Entrepreneurship, a second opportunity

Astrid Rodríguez never thought her future would be selling hardware products. She was a school teacher in Bogotá, but she lost her job and had to reinvent herself. That word ‘reinvention’ is well known to millions of entrepreneurs around the world who used to work for others and, for a variety of reasons, have decided to change and become their own bosses.

When Astrid left teaching, she worked as a salesperson in a cooperative in the drugstore sector and in a hardware company.

She was a saleswoman, but the shop owners did not trust her initially when they saw a woman talking about taps or clamps. With perseverance, she managed to gain their respect.

Seeing this progress, Astrid was encouraged to become an entrepreneur. Using the savings she had with her husband, she bought machinery and has founded Seniplast, her own factory producing hardware products to market them herself.

Colombian entrepreneur Astrid Rodríguez, at her hardware store. 

A second chance in another country

Originally from Venezuela, Zusetch Mendoza has been living in Panama since 2018 when she applied for asylum with the support of the Red Cross. In her native country, she worked in public administration, but she has also had to reinvent herself to get ahead. She has set up her own natural cosmetics business thanks to a loan from Microserfin. She also sells scented candles made from recycled oil and natural ice cream.

All these women have a lot in common, even though they come from different countries and have worked in very different sectors. They give voice to the more than 1.7 million women entrepreneurs who are managing to rise out of poverty, bettering themselves every day, thanks to their efforts and the comprehensive support of BBVAMF.