(July 25, 2017) Italian Cooperation confirms its commitment to gender equality. El Salvador finances and supports the Mujer Fund, a production credit plan with a guarantee fund seeking women entrepreneurs and business owners who wish to expand and improve their businesses at a preferential interest rate (10% per annum). The results obtained with the first year of the Fund were presented in recent days by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), the Secretariat for Social Inclusion (SIS)-Cjudad Mujer, the United Nations Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Mujeres) and the Bank for Development of El Salvador (BANDESAL). The presentation was chaired by the Director of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), Marco Falcone, the Secretary for Social Inclusion, Vanda Pignato, together with the representative of UN Mujeres, Ana Elena Badilla and the chairman of BANDESAL, Mélida Mancía. The AICS Director noted that through the Mujer Fund and other projects involving the gender issue, Italian Cooperation aims to strengthen national services in favor of economic autonomy and the elimination of violence against women. The Guarantee Fund – founded in July 2016 to provide entrepreneurs with loans for the development and improvement of their productive initiatives – provides access to a loan to those who have no support and who normally encounter obstacles (age, lack of a Guarantor and the area they live in) to get funding in the traditional banking sector. The interested women went to the Banks BANDESAL at the offices of Ciudad Mujer in Morazan and Usulutan, the two locations where the Mujer Fund was developed. In addition to credit access to Ciudad Mujer, entrepreneurs could benefit from technical assistance to develop the business plan or profile, financial education and business leadership, and technical assistance in innovation and market integration. In this way they not only had the financial resources but also the knowledge to make their business profitable and sustainable, thus contributing to the revival of the economy of their territories. Announcing the main results of the Fund, Mélida Mancía, Chairman of BANDESAL: 81 credits for $ 127,875.00 granted to women entrepreneurs working in the food, textiles, jewelry, leather goods and footwear sectors. (PO / Red)
El Salvador, credit and support to women entrepreneurs with the Mujer Fund
