After a successful first year of collaboration focused on supporting women entrepreneurs in Mexico and Guatemala, The UPS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of global logistics leader UPS, and Pro Mujer, a social enterprise with more than 33 years of experience advancing gender equality in Latin America, are once again joining forces to support the equality and economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs in the region. During this new phase of collaboration, the initiative will expand to Northern Argentina while continuing to support women entrepreneurs in Central Mexico through the hybrid Emprende Pro Mujer program.
To date, the partnership between the two organizations has focused on improving the livelihoods of women entrepreneurs. Using an intersectional methodology that incorporates solutions that address the particular realities faced by women with lower levels of digital literacy, the hybrid Emprende Pro Mujer program has strengthened the entrepreneurial skills of more than 560 women in Central Mexico and Guatemala.
As part of the ongoing collaboration, both organizations developed content focused on logistics to support women entrepreneurs at different stages of growth. As of November 2023, the initiative had impacted women from Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras.
One of the key elements of the initiative focuses on providing personalized guidance and mentoring to help the participating women entrepreneurs develop effective business strategies. Thanks to the commitment and expertise of the UPS team, these mentorships have benefited women enrolled in the program and reached women in Southeast Mexico and other Latin American countries.
The initiative has had a significant impact on underserved women. Despite being the largest economy in Central America in terms of population, Guatemala is among the countries with the highest rates of poverty and inequality in the region (World Bank). Although women are more than half of the working-age population (54.0%) in Guatemala, they represent only 35.3% of the economically active population (ICEFI).
In 2022, 36.9% of women in Mexico were living in poverty (CONEVAL). As of the third quarter of 2023, more than 740,000 women had joined the informal sector, exposing them to unfavorable working conditions, including low wages, lack of social security, and violations of their labor rights.
As part of its understanding that investing in women is investing in prosperous communities, The UPS Foundation has also worked to promote gender lens investing through its involvement in and support of the 2023 GLI Forum LatAm, which was organized and hosted by Pro Mujer in Medellín, Colombia in October 2023. As a strategic partner, the Foundation sponsored the event and provided its unique perspective as part of the panel “Elevating Value Chains: Impact with a Gender Lens.”
The renewed collaboration with The UPS Foundation is vital for Pro Mujer’s mission to promote women’s economic empowerment and gender lens investing in Latin America. The initiative will continue to support the entrepreneurial capacity of Mexican women and will expand to Chaco, Argentina, one of the most disadvantaged provinces in the country.
About Pro Mujer
For more than 33 years, Pro Mujer has provided services and tools to women in Latin America to help them reach their full potential and become agents of change in their communities.
The organization’s comprehensive, holistic model is focused on facilitating women’s financial inclusion in Latin America, expanding access to health services, and providing skilling and training opportunities.
Based on its extensive knowledge of the most pressing needs of women in Latin America, Pro Mujer designs innovative programs that seek to respond to issues such as gender-based violence and the digital gender gap. The organization is a pioneer in gender lens investing in Latin America and works to raise awareness of how it can be used to close existing gender gaps and boost productivity. Pro Mujer is a pioneer in gender lens investing in Latin America and works to raise awareness of how it can close existing gender gaps and increase productivity in local businesses.
Pro Mujer’s work is closely aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and contributes tangible results to the following SDGs: 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, and 16.
For more information, visit www.promujer.org.
