A Honduran Businesswoman’s Candy Conversion

NUEVA SUYAPA, HONDURAS Meet Reina Ortiz, the owner of Dulcería Abba (Abba Candy Production) and maker of classic Honduran candy. For many years, Reina was part of the informal or secondary economy. This changed with the assistance of a business loan from the Partners Worldwide Honduran affiliate Stewardship of Christian Ministries, which has had a long-term mentoring relationship with businesspeople from Pella, Iowa. Today, the candy company has overcome many obstacles to expansion and is now registered with the Honduran government and has been approved by the Health Department.

The change from an informal to a formal economy was not an overnight transformation. To register her business, Ortiz had to meet health inspector regulations, design packaging labels and negotiate contracts with new clients like supermarket chains La Colonia and Wal-Mart Centroamérica. For a North American, these steps might seem natural and necessary, but to Hondurans shifting from an informal economy to a formal one, it’s a difficult and often lonely process.

Ortiz, like most Hondurans, does not have the opportunities that a North American entrepreneur enjoys. Nueva Suyapa is on the outskirts of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, population: 890,000. Here there are five micro-finance lending institutions and only three mentoring and training options. A look at Grand Rapids, Michigan, population: 197,000, would show a stark contrast. For example, The Small Business Resource Guide published by the City of Grand Rapids lists thirty-five local institutions that offer free or low-cost consulting, legal advice, financing and market research.

Partners Worldwide is improving the options for Honduran entrepreneurs. In Ortiz’s community of Nueva Suyapa, high poverty levels and social stigma have previously hindered evening business training classes. The Partners Worldwide affiliate Stewardship of Christian Ministries (www.mcmhn.org) has facilitated small business workshops within Nueva Suyapa in cooperation with Honduran business owners and the governmental organization National Institution for Professional Formation (INFOP). The Honduran affiliate is also in the process of planning the launch of a community business school to further expand the business services available to entrepreneurs.

Ortiz’s goals are to increase production, hire employees to monitor product display in supermarkets and sell to immigrants in North America through international distributors of “nostalgic food.” Although she is still anticipating the launch of her newly packaged product in the supermarkets, she is confident that her goals can be reached. A key to the success of Dulercía Abba will be access to consulting, financing and market data. The Honduras Pella Affiliate and Stewardship of Christian Ministries are encouraged by the growth of Reina Ortiz’s business and will continue to help more entrepreneurs change economies.

To get involved with businesses like Reina Ortiz’s in Latin America, please contact Lora Kleinsasser at lorak@partnersworldwide.org