The BBVA Microfinance Foundation held its annual event to highlight the contribution of entrepreneurs in Latin America to the region's economic and social development.

‘We focus on accompanying them on that path with our commitment to training and digitalisation to boost their businesses, improve their competitiveness and strengthen their capacity to adapt and resist the effects of climate change,’ said Javier M. Flores, CEO of the BBVAMF. ‘It is a seed for economic and social change because when small businesses thrive, so do their environments and with them, society as a whole,’ he added.

In her speech, H.M. the Queen underlined the importance of this support for ‘3 million people in vulnerable situations, who are making progress and who manage to get training and for their sons and daughters to have the opportunity to study thanks to the microcredits of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation. Let us not forget that, according to the United Nations, micro and SME's generate 70% of global employment’, concluded Doña Letizia.

This year's event was based on cocoa, a fruit with a rich history and a present full of opportunities for thousands of entrepreneurs. In the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Panama alone, it employs more than 200,000 people.

Dominican entrepreneur Ana Rodríguez was one of the protagonists of this event. Ana lives in the municipality of Yamasá, an area where an important part of the economy depends on cocoa production. From a family with a cocoa tradition, she is a producer of organic cocoa and leads a women's cooperative created at a time of adversity, following Hurricane George in 1998, which devastated the cocoa plantations.

Empowerment through cocoa

‘The women of the village got together to help their husbands because the money did not reach the house and the economy of the area depended on these plantations, which were destroyed’, explained Ana in her speech at the event.

There are currently 12 permanent members of the cooperative, but they subcontract up to 24 women from their community when they take part in fairs or have large orders. They make jams, liqueurs and other cocoa-derived products using traditional methods.

‘Together we have been trained, we have obtained resources to buy machinery, we have our own premises and we give guided tours of the factory so that tourists can see the whole process, from planting to making the products,’ says Ana.

The financial support and training in financial education, social media management and online sales that she is receiving from Banco Adopem, an entity of the BBVAMF, has been crucial for the growth and sustainability of the cooperative. His message to other entrepreneurs is clear: ‘Work with passion and never underestimate the power of unity; together we are stronger and we can go far’.