Ficohsa’s Mujeres Adelante – or “Women Forward” – program continues to go from strength to strength, providing more and more women with the financial products and services, and financial training and education that they and their businesses need to succeed. Mujeres Adelante has experienced 33% annual growth in Honduras in checking account balances over the last year; 17% growth in mortgage loan balances; and even greater growth in credit lines, loans, and pensions.
Mujeres Adelante recently launched in Guatemala, enabling more professional women, entrepreneurs and heads of households there to take advantage of the same benefits as Ficohsa’s female customers in Honduras.
The CEO of Banco Ficohsa Guatemala, Juan Miró commented “We know that one of the most effective ways to contribute to the growth of the economy and the generation of opportunities is to offer access to training, financing, advice and secure markets to entrepreneurs, including female entrepreneurs.”
Earlier this year, Ficohsa reaffirmed its commitment to gender equality at a public signing of the Women’s Empowerment Principles. Over half of Ficohsa’s 1.8 million clients are women, many of whom own and operate SMEs. Ficohsa is striving to double its SME loan portfolio to US$910M within three years, prioritizing the growth of women-led businesses through preferential loans, insurance, and financial education.