Fifty women will soon be undergoing training which will enable them to become self-sustaining and successful entrepreneurs. The Empowered Women Resilience training will last for two months and targets in particular single women from Southside areas who are in need of a means of income generation. Today, the executive director of Peacework - an NGO that has partnered with the Taiwan Embassy - Dr Carol Babb told us more about what the women will be learning.
Dr Carol Babb, Executive Director, Peacework Belize
"Today we launched the ERW - Empowered Women Resilient training. It's an 8 week training, we will be training 50 women, we will empower them with skills so that they become resilient, they become successful entrepreneurs and also financially literate entrepreneurs as well."
"To empower women is very very important, when women win, entire society wins, the country wins. Women can, women will, and if we empower them then we're empowering not one person but many persons. The core subjects are financial literacy, we want all of the women to learn how to manage their money, how to save regularly, how to borrow wisely, and invest and when they borrow pay back promptly. They will also be exposed to entrepreneurial skills like knowing how to make your business plan, how to promote your business and other knowledge and skills to make them successful. Another core subject area is social emotional learning. Helping them to identify their emotions, helping them to address those emotions, helping them to become emotionally intelligent individuals so that they can empower themselves and have empathy for others."
Courtney Menzies:
"And how did the collaboration with Taiwan come about?"
Dr Carol Babb, Executive Director, Peacework Belize
"Miss Daisy and I are friends and I have told her that I really want to participate in helping my Belizean women become successful, to become financially stable, to become independent so that they can help themselves and their families and she listened to me and she encouraged me to submit a proposal to Taiwan Embassy, I did, and they found it to be very meaningful and something that would be far reaching for the women of Belize."
And speaking to the trainees today were two women entrepreneurs who have successfully launched their own small businesses. Ronelli Requena is a fashion designer who specializes in wedding dresses and men's suits, while Amira Correa Pelayo started making and bottling her own Sangria during the pandemic. Today they spoke about the importance of these types of programs.
Ronelli Requena, Owner, Zayvha Sarai Limited
"I think the difficulties goes on both genders, not just for women. I'm a science major so the business part of the entrepreneurial journey was all new to me so there were a lot of things that I had to learn but what helped me a lot was networking with other women that have been in my same position and that way if I had the big questions, I was never ashamed of asking."
Courtney Menzies:
"When you hear about programs like these, how important do you think they are?"
Ronelli Requena, Owner, Zayvha Sarai Limited
"I think it is wonderful. I like to say I'm a Beltraide baby. They are organizations that helped me to push my business to where it is today to get the proper education on financial literacy, on how to do a business canvas, I actually did FEP with them through which a grant which really propelled the business to where it is today through knowledge and proper techniques in sewing nd professional equipment so programs like these and future program, I am all for it and I am here to assist in whatever I can."
Courtney Menzies:
"How difficult was it for you to launch your own business?"
Amira Correa Pelayo, Owner, Sangria Mia
"It was extremely difficult, actually at the time I was out of a job, I did have some savings and I was using the savings that I had to fund my education but then I was realizing that the funding was finishing and I would not have been able to finish pay off my degree so what I ended up doing was using the remainder of those funds to invest in my business and that's how I launched Sangria Mia."
Courtney Menzies:
"And how important do you think it is for women to be entrepreneurs, to be self sustaining?"
Amira Correa Pelayo, Owner, Sangria Mia
"It is absolutely important. Unfortunately women have so many adversities, there are so many adversities that women face as an example, pregnancy, unfortunately there are a lot of places of employment that do not foster an environment that really helps women whenever they are going through these challenging times."
"I would say to the women out there, I know it's scary, it's challenging and I would tell them to face your challenges, these are opportunities that are here to help you for you to become a better version of yourself. And just reach out and to break through the fear that you have."
