Central America

Cocoa Farmers Connect with Gourmet Chocolate Maker

The package of Askinosie Chocolate’s dark chocolate bar from Cortés, Honduras shows a smiling farmer, backed by cocoa trees. This is Fermin Arriaga, the lead farmer at Finca Patricia, which supplies premium cocoa beans to Askinosie. TechnoServe is showing farmers that they can get a higher price for their…

A New Boost for Entrepreneurs in Central America and Africa

In 2010, university student Julio Baltodano surveyed the local apparel industry in Managua, Nicaragua, and devised a clever business idea. Together with his friend Verónica Bucardo, Julio envisioned IKO Imagen as a leather and textile manufacturer that would specialize in handbags and brand merchandising, or placing company logos on t-shirts…

Two people working on laptop

Impulsa Tu Empresa

Impulsa Tu Empresa aims to help small and growing businesses boost their growth through mentoring and business training. Since its launch in 2012, the program has increased the sales of over 1,500 businesses and helped create 1,600 new jobs in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Burkina Faso.

Entrepreneurship
Argidius Foundation, Citi Foundation, Inter-American Development Bank, Multilateral Investment Fund, PIMCO Foundation, Visa, Walmart Foundation

Farmer Cooperative Promotes Education, Nutrition and Prosperity

On a farm in the northern Nicaraguan town of Chagüite Grande, Melvin Estrada tends to his cabbage crop. He and his hired workers pick the plants, inspect them for quality and load them into a truck bound for a local collection center – and eventually a major supermarket. Melvin used…