Washington — An October 7–9 U.S. Department of State-sponsored conference in Washington to help entrepreneurs from the Western Hemisphere improve their business opportunities was unique: All the entrepreneurs were women.

Entrepreneur Catalina Sanchez Jimenez of Mexico told America.gov: “Now I know there are no boundaries, that we can accomplish anything we set our minds to. I want to continue helping my townspeople so they don’t have to migrate.”

The conference was part of the Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas initiative. Launched in September 2008, Pathways to Prosperity is designed to help partner governments extend the benefits of free trade throughout their societies. To achieve this, Pathways tailors its programs.

At the multilateral level, they are designed to provide a forum for partner governments to share best practices. At the grass-roots level, Pathways programs enable business owners to take full advantage of the economic benefits of free trade by learning about trade opportunities, labor and environmental group concerns, trade agreement rules and ways to compete for governmental projects and contracts.

In El Salvador in May, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged the expansion of Pathway’s objectives to include the promotion of women’s businesses. “I hope we can supply women entrepreneurs with mentors, training and other tools for success,” Clinton said. The Washington conference, in supporting Clinton’s goal, paired rising entrepreneurs from the Western Hemisphere with experienced business women, who serve as their mentors.

Some of the women selected by Pathways to Prosperity to attend the conference have faced poverty, illiteracy and discrimination. All have overcome economic and gender-based challenges, and, through their businesses, have contributed to their communities.

Catalina Sanchez Jimenez converted a home-based business, making preserves from the nopal cactus, into a full-fledged enterprise. MENA (Mujeres Envasadoras de Nopal de Ayoquezco) grows, processes and produces preserved organic nopal in a variety of forms. With financial assistance from the Mexican federal government and technical assistance from the nonprofit Fundación para la Productividad en el Campo A.C. (FUPROCA), Sanchez Jimenez and some of the women in her town organized and built a plant that now processes and produces U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified organic nopal preserves from their own harvest for distribution in Mexico and the United States. The processing plant also produces tortillas and organic chocolate.

“I never thought that the project I was starting, the dream I once had, was going to become true, and so fast,” she told America.gov.

Noelia de Leon, from Costa Rica, started baking bread with two friends in a previously broken oven she repaired. De Leon taught herself about nutrition. Today, she owns the brand Koenig, a line of specialty breads. “In Costa Rica, 25 years ago when I started, no one knew about adding the healing power of grains and plants to foods like bread. We changed the nutritional culture in Costa Rica with our products,” de Leon told America.gov.

Selling their products outside their local markets is a constant challenge. During the conference the women shared their experiences in marketing and managing a business, and talked about their successes and failures. The more experienced entrepreneurs — businesswomen chosen from North and South America who have had success in U.S. and Latin American markets — provided information and tools to those now entering the worldwide market.

ON FIFTH AVENUE

Jessica Rodriguez from Peru employs 700 indigenous women artisans who craft rich textiles out of organic cotton, soy fiber, alpaca and wool that they formerly sold only in local markets. For her brand of textiles, Art Atlas, Rodriguez convinced these women to undertake new designs and create useful garments for women everywhere. “I told them that if we create this new line, our products could be sold on Fifth Avenue in New York City, and when the American brand Eileen Fisher adopted our line and I saw it displayed in the store windows on Fifth Avenue, I could not believe it! I took photos and went back to these women and told them, ‘See? We did it! We are on Fifth Avenue!’”

Environmental protection and preservation of cultural traditions are also important for these entrepreneurs in promoting their countries’ plants, natural fibers and animal byproducts, as well as preserving traditional crafts and native craftsmanship. These ideas are at the core of some of these successful businesses in Latin America.

Matilde Carrillo de Palomo from El Salvador uses organic herbs in a line of aromatherapy and toiletry products. Her brand, Shuchil, includes soaps, oils, and lotions that are sold in El Salvador and are U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified for sale in the United States.

“We care about job creation; we care about the integrity of our flora and fauna. … I am committed to continuing to work hard and sharing all that I have learned here with other women in my country, so they can implement this concept as well,” she said.

The end of the conference in Washington is not the end of the initiative. The conference provided ideas for marketing and financing and established a broad network to link entrepreneurs with other businesswomen for mentoring in the coming year. Two Pathways-sponsored special envoys from the United States addressed the conference and will travel to the region during the year to encourage women’s economic growth.

Pathways envoy Beth Brooke, vice chairwoman of public policy, sustainability and stakeholder engagement at Ernst & Young, a global business services company, told America.gov that during the conference “no one was in the hallways! There was connected learning from the mentors to their mentees … and the bonding that took place between the women gave opportunities for incredible learning.”

Envoy Nell Merlino, founder and president of Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, a nonprofit business resources and community support organization for women entrepreneurs, told America.gov that “the energy and information that flowed from these women entrepreneurs was inspirational. Women talked about being leaders in the community, not in isolation. … You are not alone. You can’t do it by yourself. You need help.”

During the coming year, mentors will travel in Latin America to visit the new entrepreneurs and work with them to implement ideas they shared during their stay in the United States.

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