Central American businesswomen receive funds to implement sustainability projects

Article originally published on INCAE's website on 25/11/2024. LACIF contributes to the Mipymes Verdes Initiative through an investment grant and technical assistance.

As part of the capacity building program for sustainable projects in the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector, promoted by the Green MSMEs II Initiative of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), the Government of Germany, through KfW and the European Union, in partnership with the INCAE Business School, 50 Central American businesswomen were trained to develop sustainable projects focused on small-scale renewable energy, cleaner production and energy efficiency.

Of these, 25 (5 from Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua; 4 from Honduras and Costa Rica; and 2 from Panama) were selected to participate in a one-week on-site workshop in Costa Rica where they competed in a contest to present their initiatives before a panel of judges who selected 6 winning projects that received a US$1,000 award each.

The winning companies were: Nutre light of Costa Rica, with its project on progressive change toward more environmentally friendly packaging. Grupo Imperion of El Salvador, with its initiative to improve and transform the processing of textile waste. Finca Flores de Miriam of Guatemala, with its pyramids of opportunity project. Dex Chemical of Honduras, for its idea to install a water treatment plant to reuse water resources in its production process. Manos Nicas of Nicaragua, which seeks to achieve environmental certification for handicraft products made by some of the country's local producers. And finally, Acento Incentives of Panama, an event organization company that proposed a project to measure the impact associated with the activities of suppliers through a carbon calculator.

María Fernanda Rivera, owner of the company Finca Flores de Miriam, S.A. and winner from Guatemala mentioned that: "The impact of the Green MSMEs program gave me the tools to design a project, apply for funds and alliances to implement it. My commitment to sustainability is to continue finding solutions hand in hand with the communities and with the knowledge acquired in the program, which has given me a lot of support to have a better sustainable project result".

One of the main achievements of the program has been the strengthening of women's leadership in the area of sustainability. As mentioned by the winner from Nicaragua, Ingrid Sosa: "The program has been an incredible stimulus, as we realize the skills we have. My commitment is to continue implementing resources and tools for reuse and recycling into more environmentally friendly products. Likewise, to strengthen my value chain through training and empowerment processes on environmental issues".

The Green MSMEs II Initiative supports this type of initiative, which is fundamental for promoting gender equality in the business world, while at the same time representing an investment in the region's green future, generating sustainable jobs and fostering the creation of environmentally friendly companies in Central America. It has also joined this capacity-building project for MSMEs with green projects, as it seeks to protect the climate and the environment by creating and offering appropriate, efficient, and sustainable products for the sector with investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and cleaner production.