Young female entrepreneurs win award for the best business plan presented in 2014

Three entrepreneurs from El Cúa top 300 groups at the Latin American level

The inhabitants of the Frank Tijerino community in the municipality of El Cúa, department of Jinotega, are proud to have three prize-winning entrepreneurs among their inhabitants. These three young women were recently awarded a prize for presenting the best business plan to Teach a Man to Fish as part of the School Enterprise Challenge competition promoted by that organization in Latin American.

The group consists of 16-year-old Jessica Rivera, 16-year-old Jovania Reyes and 19-year-old Tania Chavarria, all of whom are students in the agroecology technical course promoted by the organization La Cuculmeca in rural communities of Jinotega, with funding from Save the Children through the Children Lead the Way project.

Something that started out as an academic exercise turned into a business project and a life plan for each of the three young women involved when they decided to participate in this competition. For over six months, they worked hard at producing a business plan on rearing egg-laying hens in order to market the eggs produced in the community, providing them with an economic income.

“In the last six months we worked hard to present a good idea that was innovative and would interest the organization Teach a Man to Fish,” explains Jessica. “At first we had a lot of problems with the forms and the way in which we had to organize ourselves, but once we obtained the guide on how to do it, we really got cracking."

Having received the award, the group is planning to implement its business plan to create an innovative business aimed at benefiting both the community and the environment. But most important of all, these young women are planning to cooperate with and transmit their knowledge and experiences to the other students from the same course in their community who are already preparing to participate in the 2015 School Enterprise Challenge.

Jessica’s father, Mario Rivera, says that he always had faith in the efforts his daughter was making and therefore gave the group the shed where he reared pigs so that they could turn it into a chicken coop and start putting their project into operation.

The prize of US$ 500, raised thanks to the collaboration of the FAMA Foundation, was presented to the group by Christine Moser, Teach a Man to Fish’s coordinator for Nicaragua and Central America.

“To win this prize, these young women had to compete at the global level with over 300 groups from Latin America who presented their own business plans,” stressed Moser. “In Nicaragua alone, we received business plan proposals from 17 groups in different areas of business.”

The prize was presented at Jessica’s house in a ceremony attended by the families of the winning group, the facilitators and management team of La Cuculmeca, and representatives from Save the Children.

 “This educational program banks on increasing self-esteem so that the young people involved trust in their own capacities and discover an enterprising spirit within themselves that allows them to have a life plan, turning them into people committed to a vision of their future,” commented Ericka Zeas López, head of La Cuculmeca’s Working Child Project.

The next steps for this group of young women are to buy the farm inputs, the chicks and the vaccines and start implementing the work chronogram stipulated in their plan. In the coming months, they will once again have the opportunity to present a proposal for an innovative project and hope to continue receiving technical support to help them successfully run their business.