Women-Led Groups Seed a New Generation of Latin American Entrepreneurs

There’s little doubt that women are the backbone of Latin American society. Women run households, raise children and are sometimes the sole breadwinners of the family. And if that weren’t enough, through a powerful movement of business cooperatives, Latin American women aren't just sustaining their communities, they're lifting them out of poverty, too.

Take Mexico's Mitz cooperative, for example. Located in the community of Palo Solo, the Mitz brings together craftswomen with unique palm-weaving talents to raise money in support of their community. About 50 women gather at the cooperative every day to turn recycled material into handbags, coin purses and other well-crafted articles that sell in the U.S., as well as many countries in Europe.

The money earned not only empowers women, it also partially finances the local school, the Children's House of Palo Solo — a model school that teaches with the Montessori method. So far, income from the Mitz (one million U.S. dollars over the last four years) has sent 2,500 local boys and girls to school.

Across Latin America, similar cooperatives in some of the region's poorest neighborhoods are on the rise. They each have different models: in Paraguay, for example, the Mujeres Unidas (United Women) cooperative buys food in bulk to curb the effects of inflation. The 56 women began the coop in 2006 when market food prices shot up. By buying in large quantities as a group, they each pay less for basic food necessities like rice, sugar, eggs and beans.

Beside being a shot in the arm to the local economy, these cooperatives give women self-sufficiency and independence.

In Nicaragua, the Cooperativa Multisectoral Mujeres del Norte helps create financial freedom for women working in the traditionally male-dominated coffee bean fields. Now, women in the cooperative own their own land and strike independent deals with U.S. fair trade coffee distributors.

These coops are eloquent proof that to empower communities, handouts are not the solution — jobs are. Judith Achar, a Mitz coordinator, says she believes that charity fosters bad habits. As she eloquently concludes: "Productivity, by contrast, restores people's dignity."

(To read more about these poverty-fighting initiatives, click here,here and here.)

Photo Credit: EduardoZ