Categoría: News Página 6 de 12

The Ficohsa Foundation for Early Childhood Education has benefitted 145,000 pre-school children since its inception in 2000.  Our school feeding program has been an important part of the Foundation’s mission over the last 23 years.

The Foundation recently made its first food delivery of 2023, providing over 419,000 meals to 6,800 children at 142 preschools.  Each child also received an individual backpack of school supplies, together with additional supplies for teachers, at a cost of nearly 18 million Lempiras (or USD 725,000).  The Foundation also provided basic health and safety supplies to preschools, including facemasks, liquid soap, and sanitizer.  Since 2001, the Ficohsa Foundation has invested over 64 million Lempiras (or USD 2.6 million) in delivering 22 million meals to over 150,000 kids.

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.

Francis Cruz owns a shop, Comercial Francis, that sells backpacks and general merchandise in Pasaje San Miguel in Comayaguela, a city just outside of the capital Tegucigalpa.  Francis is a participant in Ficohsa’s Mujeres Adelante – or “Women Forward” – program that offers a range of financial products and services geared specifically to women, including  savings accounts, loans, insurance and pensions, as well as financial education and store discounts.

Hi Francis.  Please can you tell us about your shop, Comercial Francis, and how it started?

I own a business that sells backpacks and general merchandise.  I started out by selling from home and, little by little, I saved enough money to make a trip to Panama to purchase new items to sell.  Originally, my customers were mainly my colleagues where I worked.  Over time, I discovered a taste and passion for selling.  I rented my first shop in 1997 and, from then on, I have worked hard every day to get ahead and provide for my family.

How does the Mujeres Adelante program help you?

I use a wide range of Ficohsa’s Mujeres Adelante products to support my business.  I have both a Lempiras account and a US Dollar account.  I use a line of credit as well as loans to maintain cashflow.  I use the online banking facilities a great deal, and I also require international transfers for overseas business transactions.

With the loans and lines of credit that Ficohsa has granted me, I have invested in the purchase of merchandise and, year after year, I have been increasing my capital.  I have also acquired mortgage loans and, thanks to these, I have my own store and house.

As well as financing, how else does the Mujeres Adelante program help?

I have received personalized advice from Ficohsa employees in financial situations when I have really needed it.

What, if anything, is different about Ficohsa’s Mujeres Adelante program compared to those operated by other banks and lending institutions?

Thanks to the trust that Ficohsa has placed in me, and the financial products and services they have provided me, I have been able to achieve many goals, both in business and personally.  I am grateful to have been considered for these types of financial products, and for the financial training provided by Ficohsa.