Family Enterprise Programme

The project

The context

The departments of Estelí, Nueva Segovia and Madriz form a region known as Las Segovias. The 27 municipalities of Las Segovias concentrate 12% of the population of Nicaragua and most of them are considered to be in a situation of severe poverty and high poverty. It is a region affected by long periods of drought.

93% of the predominant companies in this region are micro-enterprises; the other 7 % are small and medium-sized companies.

Since there is limited access to credit for micro-enterprises, only 38% of these companies have access to credit services. These companies also lack access to training and education opportunities, only 11% of companies have access to these services.

87.5% of microenterprises are in the informal sector of the economy.  

Project activities

Emprendimientos Familiares works with owners of micro and small businesses located in 15 municipalities of Estelí, Nueva Segovia and Madriz.

The financing of small businesses through credit, with a gender emphasis, accompanied by capacity building in marketing, value addition and business management, makes for smart investments in assets, machinery, equipment and working capital, it also increases their income and generates more employment. With this, they improve their standing in the market, their living conditions and boost the local economy.  

Swisscontact is in charge of the strategic coordination of the program as well as the implementation of training and technical assistance services.

The FUNDENUSE microfinance institution, with the support of the PRODEL Foundation, implements the credit program intended for the microenterprises that are part of the target group of the Emprendimientos Familiares program.  

MEFCCA is designated by the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua as a counterpart institution for the Program. MEFCCA and Swisscontact coordinate with other relevant actors in the territory and promote actions to support micro-enterprises such as fairs and business roundtables.  

Among our most important activities, we facilitate funding, capacity building in marketing, value addition and business management, as well as technical assistance for the improvement of production processes and value addition in economic activities.

Objectives

1. Facilitate financing to favor the growth and income of SMEs through productive investments in raw materials, supplies and working capital.
2. Develop and reinforce business competitiveness through business capacity building and access to other markets.
3. Contribute to increasing the productivity of SMEs through training to improve the production processes and the generation of added value.  

Project partners

• Ministry of Private and Public Economy, Cooperatives and Associations (MEFCCA)
• Foundation for the Development of Nueva Segovia (FUNDENUSE)
• Programme for Local Development (PRODEL)