Mexico – Women’s Small Business

Project: Women Small Businesses Initiative Marketing Organic Cotton In Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico
Partner: Fundacion Santa Maria


Fundacion Santa Maria administers a small business project which provides women with the skills, knowledge and support to develop their own small businesses. By giving marketing support for the Organic Cotton products that the women produce, women are able to generate income and have a positive impact on their households and communities. This project empowers women, while promoting the ecological cultivation of a highly marketable product. Fundacion Santa Maria also runs a shelter to assist the women in the project by caring for their children.

A success story….

In Tlaquepaque in the outskirts of Guadalajara, a group of mothers whose children were being cared for in the Santa Maria del Tepeyac Shelter used a small donation (of about $5,000) made through CFCA to purchase four sewing workstations. They organized a co-operative to produce attractive, casual wear out of organic cotton and linen. These women now work close to home, instead of having to use 3 or 4 buses to reach the poverty wage employment they previously held. As a result, they have more money and time to care for children and have reduced their need for the Santa Maria shelter.

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