Women entrepreneurs make strides in Central Cuba

 VILLA CLARA, Cuba, Mar 5 (ACN) With the provision of credits worth more than 10 million pesos to promote women's businesses, Villa Clara is one of the four Cuban provinces where the project Mi Emprendimiento, sponsored by the United Nations Development Program, boosts women’s socio-economic empowerment.

Akaena Collantes Pérez de Alejo, a local woman engaged in agricultural production and animal farming, said that investing her personal resources to become self-employed has not only benefited her household economy but also her neighborhood.

With a relatively large network of women entrepreneurs already in place throughout the province, the Government of Villa Clara joins the national efforts to ensure citizen equity in terms of rights and opportunities and provides education and training on topics such as economic analysis, contemporary legislation, and financial management especially tailored to active businesswomen and women-led start-ups.

Among the main programs that made these achievements possible are motivational fairs of good practices and campaigns to disseminate the results of those businesses, in line with the National Program for the Advancement of Women, designed to protect women’s rights and eliminate inequalities in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic.