Some time ago, Ana Maria set a goal for herself: to make known the good taste and quality of a new product: alpaca-meat sausages. She ventured to open a new market niche for consumer goods using alpaca-meat. It is not only delicious but it has low levels of cholesterol which makes it a healthy product. At first, it did not go well, alpaca-meat sausages were not accepted by the public; however, Ana Maria was not discouraged, she understood that consumers would eventually accept alpaca-meat. For this reason, she decided to come to Lima to specialize in food transformation to continue her training. Now, her business has made a 360-degree turn: alpaca-meat is accepted as a substitute of chicken or meat; therefore alpaca-meat sausages demand has grown sharply. Chefs of the most exclusive restaurants and hotels in Puno and Cusco now use alpaca-meat considerably. Ana Maria is happy. She knows that she has done her bit making this Peruvian meat known through her sausages..

Aquilina is a public health nurse and has worked in several national and international social support organizations in her city. Through this experience she learnt first-hand the nutrition-related reality of low-income people. Aquilina did not understand why local authorities and companies did not do anything to alleviate the enormous nutrition deficiency faced by the poorest inhabitants in San Martín. For that reason, she did some research and, based on her knowledge of medicine, she created “FORTICAO”, a cocoa- and heminic iron-based anti-anemic product which serves as a vitamin substitute to fight against vitamin deficiency in human beings. Because of the quality of its production and its nutritious benefits, “FORTICAO” has managed to position itself as a medicament. Doctors and health professionals always recommend it; therefore, it is now sold in pharmacies, drug stores, natural products stores and supermarkets. Not only is Aquilina concerned about offering a different and healthy product, but she also gives training and educative workshops to mothers’ associations and rural communities on how to prevent anemia and develop good eating habits.

To be able to say “it is very cold”, you have to live in Huancavelica where the temperatures are low all year round. Sonia started her micro-business this way, hand-knitting sweaters using alpaca wool for protecting her husband and children from the low temperatures. Since she needed a higher income to improve her family finances, Sonia had to go door-to-door around her neighborhood, asking her neighbors if they needed warm clothing so she could sell them her hand-knitted clothes. The demand for her soft alpaca-wool sweaters increased sharply and, after a while, she noticed she could not deliver all her orders. For that reason, she decided to work together with other women artisans from her community and knit different alpaca-wool clothing, under her supervision. Sonia feels satisfied of her important product offering which includes sweaters, gloves, scarves, socks, knitted and crochet clothing, etc. Sonia is aware that a good part of her success is due to the women artisans from Huancavelica that work along with her.  Therefore, she is not only interested in helping them generate income for their families, she also seeks to offer them self-esteem and leadership workshops and facilitate their participation in fairs to improve their quality of life.

Yasmin created a Clínica de la Mujer “Los Jazmines” engaged in the health care and illness prevention of women in Ayacucho. There, many low-income women can not afford consultations in private establishments and receive bad service in the public health centers. This motivated Yasmin to created her own clinic and put into practice her knowledge on health. At the beginning, the clinic was a home-based business. Now, she owns three consultation offices, one pharmacy, one laboratory for specialized clinical tests, and one center for uterine cancer detection. She also gives talks on sexual and reproductive health in mothers’ associations, education centers and other institutions. In order to succeed with her clinic, Yasmin had to overcome not only the lack of capital but also the professional jealousy of doctors and health institutions. However, her patients promoted her clinic among their families and friends, because of the quality of service, affordable prices and speed in the delivery of test results. 

3rd place
Patricia Oyola
TUMBES

Patricia is a teacher. A few years ago, Patricia could accomplish her dream of opening a nursery school for children from 3 to 5 years old. She succeeded from the beginning and now she has established the instruction of elementary and secondary levels in her educational center. “I always wanted to have my own business. So, when I graduated as a teacher, the first thing I wanted to do was to open an educational institution where I could develop as a teacher and entrepreneur, giving job opportunities to innovative and creative teachers committed to education. Our Educational Center benefits the community because parents can afford it and allows their children to have a quality education. We also provide credit facilities to low-income students through scholarships, and implement community outreach programs”.

2nd place
Irma Quispe de Alejo
CUSCO

“My goal was always to have a business engaged in the sale of wool because it gave me the possibility of warming poor people at low prices. I saved money and went to Lima with my savings. I contacted a wool distributor and started to sell wool on the streets. Thanks to my desire to better myself and hard work, I soon succeed in starting my own business with a significant movement of money. Today, I own the house where I live with my family, and my business “Comercial Perlita” employs young people who intend to succeed as I did”.

1st place
Rosa Zuñiga Paro
CUSCO

For a long time, Rosa Zuñiga bought and picked broad beans to offer them locally and nationwide. Until one day her vision of enterprising woman made her realize that if she also peeled the broad beans, she would be creating an innovative service, with no competitors in the market and with greater economic profit. That is how her business and the success of her work were born. The most interested ones in purchasing her products were important broad bean-related business that saw the added value of her products, and chose her to be their main supplier of export broad beans. At first, Rosa thought that the fastest way for peeling the broad beans was by using specialized machinery. However, the experience was not so good and Rosa lost money and time because most part of the broad beans spoiled when processed by the machinery acquired. Then, Rosa realized that the best way for providing a good service, meeting her clients’ needs and, also, employing the women of her community was to continue peeling the broad beans but manually. So, she contacted unemployed housewives and employed more than 320 women. Rosa is very happy with helping them by its successful business and accomplishing the dream of exporting her products. By her main buyers, her broad beans from Cusco have already entered into markets of countries such as the United States, Canada and Mexico.    

“It all started in 1993 when I began working as an aquatic operator in Puerto del Chaco in Paracas Bay. I noted then that excursions to Ballestas Islands were made using obsolete small wooden vessels. I decided then to invest my savings and bought a vessel made of glass fiber that completed the excursion in shorter time. I became the first entrepreneurial woman in Puerto del Chaco. Unfortunately, disloyal competitors ordered to attempt on my first two vessels. I did not get discouraged and bought a third vessel, but, unfortunately, I was done. Broke and with no vessels, I returned to Lima where I had to face hard moments. Even though, I decided to start over. I went to Banco del Trabajo to open a savings account and could pay a large part of my debts. Today, we work as Tourist Operators in Lima, Ica, Cusco, Huaraz and Central Jungle. We have provided transportation to more than 2000 passengers by leisure, business and class trips: my main activity. We are considered one of the best professionals in the sector”.