WIEP Business Development
Alexandra Fournier
October 28, 2011

As the Business Development intern in Honduras, I thought I’d tell you a little bit about the kinds of business activities we run with the women in Iriona and Esparta.

The first is teaching the Business Development classes. These interactive classes, which are taught by Paty in the Iriona region and Elvis in Esparta, cover a wide range of business related topics such as market entries, product quality and pricing, establishing clientele, and most importantly... managing your finances efficiently. This part of the course teaches women how to calculate the costs, sales and profits of their products, information that is very important in running any kind of business.

In order to apply for a micro-credit loan, the women must complete the Business Development course and therefore have the skills required to efficiently manage their business’ finances. The next step is to form a solidarity group. For many women, it can be challenging to pay back part of a loan every week. Many of the women in Iriona work in the yucca field and sell cassava, which is a very time consuming and slow process. This type of work can also be seriously delayed by weather conditions as these coastal regions experience heavy rain during hurricane season which often prevent them from working. Women form a solidarity group of 4 to 5 women, each with a president and treasurer who guide the group and record repayments. The objective of the solidarity group is for the women to support one another in their businesses and loan repayments. If for whatever reason one of the group members can’t repay their portion of the loan that week (for example due to illness or bad weather), the group will work together to support their team member in repaying the loan and helping her with her business.

As part of the loan process, each woman needs to fill out a loan application form that details the costs, sale prices and profits of their business. These forms can sometimes be challenging to fill out, but it is a very rewarding experience when we help these women complete them. One of the women I worked with to complete her form is Dora from Cusuna, Iriona. She owns a store and sells different foods like sugar, coffee, soda, flour, butter, etc. The majority of her costs and sale prices were correct, just written in the wrong columns. I helped her fill out the form correctly and calculate the cost and sale price of each individual product, then the total costs and sales, finishing with the profit she will earn. I was so impressed by her math skills. She calculated everything by hand on a piece of paper, which I verified by calculator. I could tell she was getting a bit frustrated towards the end since she had to calculate the costs of almost 10 different products she would purchase with her loan, plus transportation costs, but once completed I could tell she was so proud of herself and thanked me for my help.

After helping a few other women complete their forms, the women were interviewed by Paty, who reviewed their applications and had them sign a group contract. The loans were then distributed, to be repaid every week over a period of 6 months. If the loans are repaid successfully, the women are eligible to receive larger loans when they are renewed.

So far the microlending program has done very well in Honduras. Women have been very punctual at repaying their loans each week and all solidarity groups have received loan renewals this year. This demonstrates that these women are applying their financial management skills learned in class to real life situations and are confident in investing in their businesses.