Since 2019, the Caemba Foundation has trained 37 women from the Nueva Esperanza neighborhood to start their own businesses. They have expansion plans.
By: Maria Jose Zabala
Journalism students
San Francisco de Quito University (USFQ)
At Nueva Esperanza neighborhood, in Atacames (Esmeraldas), extreme poverty, precarious housing and social exclusion abound. For this reason, to help its inhabitants, the Women’s Entrepreneurship House, a space where they are taught courses and from which they have already graduated in sewing and aesthetics 37 women in the industry since 2019.
Improving their quality of life is the goal currently shared by 13 women in the group of cut and confection and another 12 in the group of aesthetics and beauty. These are the two areas of training that were born from the project of the caemba foundationwhich offers sustainable livelihoods. Caemba helped with the infrastructure of the center and this has resulted in the graduation of women.
Nelly Ortiz belongs to the group of cut and confection and now he has his own entrepreneurship. “I have learned to do things that my mind never thought of, like making clothes. Me entrepreneurship It is cut and confection”, he comments optimistically. A group of Montubias, mestizas, Afro-Ecuadorians, indigenous people, who two years ago had no opportunity to start a business, are now an example that it is possible to get ahead despite any adverse circumstance.
The coordinators of the multifunctional center have very pleasant experiences: “The most beautiful thing is to see them graduate,” says Maritza Orellana, one of the field coordinators of the caemba foundation. She says that the graduates are between 25 and 45 years old and most of them are mothers.
From the Entrepreneurship HouseConstructed of bamboo, Orellana lights candles and prays that these women complete the training process and embark on their journey independently. “It’s not a college graduation, but it’s an individual achievement.” The taboos begin to disappear when they show that mothers and young people not only stay at home, but also work.
This program was born in a neighborhood previously known as ‘La 13’. A marginalized place, where machismo blocks and takes over certain women who want to join this project. It is considered one of the most dangerous places in attack me. Its inhabitants are easily labeled as “criminals” and even “people without opportunities”.
The April 2016 earthquake marked the lives of millions of people and from there solidarity was born and the caemba foundation to support vulnerable and low-income families in the provinces of Esmeraldas and Manabí.
“Before the birth of House of Entrepreneurship for Womenwe had a donation of 21 sewing machines and I, without knowing, accepted them”, says Cristina Latorre, director of Caemba. She knew that a possibility would be born there so that single, abandoned and young mothers could obtain their economic freedom.
The awareness process is not easy for the coordinators, but they fight to change the attitudes and customs of the area; to keep your projects on track. “Coexistence is sometimes not easy because of the schedules; They go in groups, but they still stay there”, explains Maritza Orellana. “The work becomes heavy when convincing families of the womensince in some cases it is difficult for them even to leave the house.”
The training in the center it is a process that lasts two years. It is inevitable that there are phases in which enmities arise between the group, jealousy of work and difficulties in terms of mobilization. But there are already several women who have completed their first goal.
“You see faces of happiness and satisfaction knowing that they did make it,” says Orellana, recalling the graduation of the students.
A neighborhood and a country for entrepreneurs
According to a study carried out in 50 countries by the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, Latin America has the highest percentage of women who dare to undertake. the neighborhood group New Hope undertook for their freedom, to stop depending on their family, “which makes them submissive or submissive women,” says the director of Caemba.
The motivation of a entrepreneurship As an alternative to work, she became a reality in a business designing t-shirts and selling bags for herself. Foundation. And the 12 women who remain in cut and confection They already have their own ventures.
Their stories are just beginning, just like those of other women of the area. They are currently seeking funds to build another development house of venturesbut this time in the 18 de Febrero neighborhood, also located in attack me. The place will be made of bamboo and the same tools will be used as the house of New Hope.
The example of this group women has resonated in other parts of Ecuador. There is more enthusiasm and participation on the part of the families in the new neighborhood because they also want to undertake and obtain professional vocational certificates. Both Latorre and Orellana are excited to get this new project off the ground. This has become a multifunctional center and the entire neighborhood dresses in peace and gratitude before the enterprising women of Nueva Esperanza.
