CABEI promotes initiatives to support gender equality and the autonomy of Central American women

Tegucigalpa, August 5, 2015. - The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) recognizes the importance of supporting and promoting the talent and spirit of entrepreneurial women.

During the Leadership Forum, "Women: the Best Investment," organized by Voces Vitales Honduras, CABEI Executive Vice President Attorney Alejandro Rodríguez Zamora discussed the Bank’s progress since the implementation of its Gender Equality Policy in 2010. CABEI is the first regional institution to make progress in this area.

The CABEI Executive Vice President highlighted a clear example of the Bank’s progress: the number of women sub-borrowers benefiting from Financial Intermediation programs targeted at Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), a cumulative figure of 388,000 women, which represents 64% of all beneficiary companies. With regard to employment, 609 thousand sub-borrowers have benefited from CABEI’s Financial Intermediation programs, leading to the creation of 626,000 jobs, of which 63% are held by women. Currently, CABEI is developing the Regional Financing Program for Women Entrepreneurs, which will promote the economic autonomy of women and their capacity to be agents of change contributing to the region’s economic and social development. Mr. Rodríguez Zamora stated that the Bank promotes the active inclusion of women in society by creating differentiated programs, projects and instruments that focus on gender equality in order to meet the changing needs of women with a special emphasis on the most disadvantaged, including campesino women, ethnic women, young women and women microentrepreneurs.

Attorney Alejandro Rodríguez Zamora emphasized that, “CABEI is aware of women’s importance and potential impact on the region’s economic and social development and of their enormous contribution to society, especially because many of them are household heads and share the problems that affect society in general.”