These are touching and inspiring stories. These are our Peruvian women: with effort and creativity they overcome obstacles and achieved their dreams. Twenty four stories we proudly share with you.
Not only can a chemical engineer work in a drug store or open one, but she can also do thousands of different things. When the laboratory where Mariela used to work closed down, she decided to take all her experience as a pharmacist working on medicinal plants to start her own medicinal plants processing and transformation micro-business engaged in the manufacture of plant-based infusions and skin ointments. In the beginning, she only had a few products to offer, but because of her high-quality products and their affordable price, their demand increased. Mariela started to diversify her production according to the needs of her customers and, now, she also offers air fresheners, tinctures, relaxing bath products, aroma teddies and essential oils. Thanks to some contacts, Mariela also has been able to fill a few orders from Lima. She proudly states that her micro-business helps to create new jobs, because she is in close working relationship with the seed producers from Cusco, from whom she buys all their production she uses as raw material, creating an important supply chain. Her dream is to take her scents to the world. That is why she would like to become partners with other medicinal plants manufacturers to form a solid micro entrepreneurs association and to become exporters.
Is there any specialized center for child psychomotor development and reading, writing & math learning located in the heart of the jungle? Yes, there is. Thanks to Edelita’s efforts. When she stopped working in the education sector, she did not want to do the housework all day long; on the contrary, she put all her heart and professional experience to create a specialized early stimulation center. Edelita started offering private in-home tutoring for children but, after a while, the demand for her services in her town increased sharply that she had to rent a house to prepare her classes and also hire other teachers to continue creating innovative materials for children. Edelita is proud of the quality of service offered by her institution as well as the creation of job opportunities for other good teachers in her region. Edelita believes quality education is essential for the development of the country and it is the force that drives her daily to update her knowledge and renew her efforts.
Have you ever thought about how many ingredients you need to make a delicious Peruvian-style tamal? Take note: ground corn, banana leaves, seasonings and oil. Although the recipe does not take many ingredients, someone has to get them. That is Lucila’s job. She inherited the business from her mother-in-law, a street vendor who sold banana leaves for wrapping tamales. One day, Lucila persuaded her husband to quit his job as a mechanic to restart her mother-in-law’s family business. After a long time, Lucila and her husband can enjoy now the results of their efforts. Just selling the supplies for making tamales, Lucila has been able to buy a house and ensure her children’s education. However, there is something else that makes her even prouder: her hard work to get the supplies for tamales promotes a supply chain in favor of a number of suppliers from Trujillo who work honestly.
Rocio always dreamed about running a family business where she could work along her husband and children. That is why, when she arrived in Madre de Dios, because of her husband’s job, Rocio found the great natural wealth of the jungle, as well as the different opportunities for starting a business. Therefore, she decided to take advantage of the great variety of fruits that grow in Madre de Dios to establish a micro-business for bottling spring water, sweetened fruit drinks, jams, yoghurt and chilly pickles. Rocio started producing banana ice-creams and milk. The profits started to grow little by little to the extent she needed to build a modern plant for bottling her products and preserving the quality of her juices, fruit sweetened fruit drinks, yoghurts and ice-creams. It was a huge effort, but Rocio could achieve her dream along with her family. Today, her business is recognized locally, to the extent that the Amazonian University of Madre de Dios wants to sign an agreement for the students from its agro industrial program to make their internship in her successful micro-business.
For Nelva, the dream of owning a business runs in the family: her parents had a small business for several years. This always motivated her to look for an opportunity to start a micro-business. First, it was a grocery store but it did not succeed. Then, she decided to establish an industrial wool micro-business, achieving good results which, until now, continue to satisfy her. For a woman from a small town in Pasco, to be able to send her children to university and to build her house is a dream come true. However, not even all the success in the world makes Nelva forget where she comes from because every time she meets the needy in her town; she strives to provide them with food and clothes. Nelva’s dreams do not end in Pasco: she wants to become a successful micro entrepreneur nationwide.
Establishing a preschool/elementary school in Sullana and achieving recognition from local people for its high-quality teaching is not easy. It takes a lot of dedication and respect for its students. That is how Amelia understands it. A few years ago, she founded “Crayolitas”, a teaching institution which has gradually gained the respect of parents in the community. Thanks to Amelia’s vision, “Crayolitas” has become a very dynamic institution since it promotes the environmental health in the community and develops cultural activities which the local people are grateful for. The first promoters of Amelia’s work are the parents who every day demand and support building a larger and more solid institution. Therefore, Amelia’s daily challenge is to continue to offer quality education to her little students which will have a positive influence in the quality of life of her community.
Gladys never imagined that trying to keep her paper & cardboard recycling business going would cost her a lot of sacrifice and suffering. She had to confront powerful companies which wanted to put her out of business or to afford expensive assessments to obtain the corresponding work licenses. The days she had to struggle to see her business taking off are over, because Gladys has now DIGESA (General Direction of Environmental Health) authorization. Nowadays, she takes advantage of the good conditions she has to offer her recycled paper and cardboard supply. She works directly with a Chilean company to whom she sells these supplies. Gladys knows recycling is not fully understood and valued. For that reason, she always tries to encourage her employees and remind them that they have a worthy work which helps to protect the environment.
Can working with bees be a good business? Dora accepted the challenge of becoming an apiarist and she has done quite well. Besides bottling and selling the honey from her beehives, she also transforms it to create different health products. That is how “Apibroncol”, a product which regulates respiratory functions, and “Apivital”, a nutritional supplement, were born. Dora has always studied the nutritious benefits of honey. For that reason, she always trusted her products to have a wide acceptance. There has been such a demand for her nutritional supplements, that to be able to fill the orders from her customers, she had to enter into an alliance with the Adacp (Association of Apiarists of the Center of Peru) in order to be provided with a larger amount of honey. With her outstanding work, Dora has promoted the production of honey in her region and now Adacp members are able to sell their products directly to consumers, thanks to their participation in regional exhibitions and fairs. Today, Dora is the chairman of Adacp and, as she runs her micro-business successfully; she wants to promote the progress of all the regional honey producers.
Juliana started her business of ladies and girls clothing renting a 1m2 stand in the seventh floor of a not very popular shopping center. She only had 3 models of garments to sell. The time has passed and her clothing business has thrived considerably. Nowadays, Juliana has a 16 m2 store on the first floor of a very popular shopping center. Also, she has more than 50 kinds of ladies and girls garments, which are the favorite among young girls and mothers in Aguas Verdes, Tumbes. As she was born in Lima, she had to leave everything behind, even her family, and move to the frontier between Peru and Ecuador to make her dream of having her own business come true. She is used to accepting big challenges, so now she wants to export her dresses and outfits to the USA, through the Free Trade Agreement. Juliana expects to achieve it in two years and she is already saving money to accomplish this new challenge. |
