In Puerto Rico, Supporting Coffee Communities After Natural Disasters
TechnoServe staff are going beyond their usual program work to support coffee communities in southern Puerto Rico after a recent series of earthquakes.
TechnoServe staff are going beyond their usual program work to support coffee communities in southern Puerto Rico after a recent series of earthquakes.
Idalia Medina grew up with the heart of an entrepreneur. As an adult, she merged her love for farming with business and started processing and exporting cheese. But, with no formal business training, Idalia was overwhelmed. Using the skills she gained from TechnoServe’s training, she transformed her enterprise and grew sales by nearly 20%, also allowing her to invest in the long-term success of her employees.
By supporting innovation and the transfer of technology between regions, TechnoServe is helping women farmers improve their production and their lives.
A few years ago, Reyna Oristela García was struggling to make a living from growing coffee. Today, her coffee farm is flourishing and her family is reaping the benefits.
In 2019, TechnoServe partnered with Danone, Grupo Altex, Fundación Walmart, and others to launch Madre Tierra, an initiative that aims at implementing an innovative and sustainable model to empower Mexican smallholder strawberry farmers through a transformative set of training, technologies, access to capital, and connection to markets.
In 2017, TechnoServe engaged ImpactMatters, an impact audit firm founded with support from Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), to review several projects within our portfolio. This impact audit reviews the Impulsa Tu Empresa program implemented in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua from 2013 to 2017.
Honduran coffee farmers like Rito Girón Hernández are improving their farm productivity and increasing their incomes through the PROLEMPA program.
In Honduras, TechnoServe is supporting entrepreneurs like Gustavo Zelaya through Impulsa tu Empresa — a program that provides small and growing businesses with essential mentorship and business training.
Through the ResCA program, cattle ranchers in Nicaragua are learning techniques to improve resilience to climate threats.
In the next part of our consumer spotlight series, we are highlighting the unique profile of Guatemalan coffee.