Becoming a more skilled artisan and businesswoman

María Luisa is mother of three children and runs a small ceramic workshop with her husband in San Huan de Oriente, which is 40 km away from Managua, Nicaragua’s capital. She is one of 2000 women, who participated in the empowerment programme WorldWideWomen between 2009-2011. In this programme they received commercial training and participated in life skills workshops, which supported them in expanding their business and to earn a stable income. María Luisa says about WorldWideWomen: ,,I have changed my attitude thanks to WorldWideWomen. I became more self confident and optimistic. By means of the programme I learnt a lot of new things, which I can immediately put into practice. That way I did not only become a more skilled artisan and business woman, but also a better wife and mother“. Because of the WorldWideWomen programme, María Luisa has been able to quadruple her monthly income – from 1.000 Córdobas (app. 32 Euro) to 4.000 Córdobas (app. 130 Euro). Now she is planning to expand her workshop, in order to hire employees and open up her own sales location in the village.