By Monika Goforth | Executive Director
Our social business workshops are special, and we'll say it loud and clear.
In Guatemala, it's become pretty common knowledge that there simply aren't enough jobs to keep people properly housed and fed. The national government, public schools and non profits agree that entreprenuership is the most realistic solution for youth and women to generate an income in this lifetime. And we agree!
But most "entreprenuership programs" are, in fact, teaching production skills like baking, sewing, candle-making, etc. They barely address the most important parts of business success: sales skills, personal motivation, financial tracking and how to save-and-reinvest in your business.
Mayan Power and Light makes basic business skills accessible to everyone, and we take it a step further too. Microentreprenuers are the ambitious leaders in a community, we help them make a plan to serve their community's social and environmental needs.
The women entreprenuers of ASODI are ready to design their business plans to make a living that serves their families while caring for their community's social and environmental needs. They represented a range of common businesses from selling tamales on the street, selling weavings in the market, to starting up the community bakery and Fair Trade shop.
In the first workshop we discussed ways that their businesses could do even more good for Nahuala. They suggested using biodegradable packaging like tamale leaves to avoid plastic bags. Creating a Fair Trade location by the bakery for women to sell their work at fair prices. A percentage of sales from this Fair Trade store will get cycled back to the nonprofit to create opportunities for a new group of women.
In this week's workshop, we covered the 4 keys to business start-up and conveyed some basic sales strategies to keep customers returning to your tamale stand, your weavings, your bakery.
A very positive side-effect of teaching social business concepts is that these new entreprenuers establish a unique brand as they enter into the market. They attract attention for their ethical business practices and role model good stewardship to others.
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