Medicus Mundi and Fórum Mulher finance 20 Women Entrepreneurs Survivors of Violence
Medicus Mundi and Fórum Mulher delivered, on the morning of June 16, 2022, funding for 20 women to start and strengthen their own businesses
Medicus Mundi and Fórum Mulher delivered, on the morning of June 16, 2022, funding for 20 women to start and strengthen their own businesses, with a view to supporting and encouraging the entrepreneurship of women victims and survivors of sexist violence in Maputo City and Province.
The initiative comes at a time when women's entrepreneurship has grown in the world and, in particular, in Mozambique, which has boosted the country's economy, as it encourages the generation of new jobs and helps to increase family income. Of the approximately 30 million current inhabitants in the country, 52% are women and 48% men (INE, 2017 Census); however, according to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, already in 2016, about 60% of small and medium-sized Mozambican companies are managed by women, as this gives us the certainty that investing in this sector of the economy brings a great benefit to the whole of the economy society, in addition to women entrepreneurs.
The funding delivered is preceded by a training process consisting of 4 stages. In the first stage, some of the women, accompanied by the leaders of their organizations, participated in training on economic empowerment; in the second phase, a large group of 50 women benefited from technical-professional courses, according to their interest, in plumbing, computing, cooking, industrial electricity, metalwork, human resources management, cutting and sewing; in the third phase, a selected group of 20 participating women received a 5-day training in business management, drawing up the business plan for their enterprise; thus, the participants learned how they will manage the value received in the fourth and final stage in the scope of the implementation of their businesses, once the seed capital fund has been received for the acquisition of materials and machinery they need to create the business.
For Karina Dulobo, Gender Coordinator at Medicus Mundi, this action opens space for other organizations and companies to do the same, supporting the economic empowerment of survivors of Gender-Based Violence.
On the occasion, Júlia Phumu, Coordinator of Institutional Strengthening at Fórum Mulher, appealed to the maturity of each of the beneficiary women in managing the fund that will help them to establish economic independence and took the opportunity to encourage them, mentioning that “even if they encounter difficulties on the way they have to know how to manage their enterprise, doing a business that is to generate profit and self-employment. This will be an exercise that will not be easy because we will encounter many challenges, other family needs and difficulties, perhaps even misunderstandings; but we, as women, are happy to know that there is a complementarity of actions and efforts to help women to assert themselves and to have a position at a social and labor level”, she said.
In the same vein, Justo Calvo, Director of Medicus Mundi in Mozambique, reaffirmed the importance of women victims and survivors of gender-based violence, who benefited from a fund of 15,000 meticais for each of them, as seed or initial capital, to commit to if with the cause of getting out of the circle of violence and, equally, being responsible for the good use of the investment, as the fund will allow them to achieve their dreams and grow in social empowerment and economic autonomy.
Shelcia Rui Macamo, one of the fund's beneficiaries, reiterated everyone's gratitude for the initiative that will enable the creation of successful businesses. Shelcia also added the commitment of all to the cause, and said: “We are going to seize this opportunity very strongly. We will do everything we can and we will not disappoint you so that tomorrow we will be the ones to help and support you with the sale of our services”.
It should be noted that this is an initiative within the scope of the development program “Contributing to the defense, guarantee and exercise of a life free from violence for women in Maputo, Phase II”, implemented by Medicus Mundi and Fórum Mulher, with the aim of financial support from the Ajuntament de Barcelona.