More Funding for NIME to Support Female Entrepreneurs in Belize

The International Network of Women in Business, NIME, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Development Finance Corporation to empower women entrepreneurs and drive economic growth in Belize. The partnership will bolster NIME’s support for women-led businesses by providing financial resources and business development support its members. Katia Montenegro-Hoare told how this partnership will assist over two hundred women across the country.

 

Katia Montenegro-Hoare, President, NIME

“So today marks a significant milestone for NIME Belize as we sign the first memorandum of understanding with the Development Finance Corporation. This collaboration is a powerful one for us. NIME Belize has been collaborating with the Development Finance Corporation since the beginning of our journey in 2022. NIME Belize offers a space, a platform, a community for women in business. to grow and succeed in business. We offer mentorship, advocacy, and opportunities to provide the tools for women to succeed in business. Through this collaboration, we hope to enhance the different incentives and programs that we offer for our membership. And, of course, today marks the beginning of, long term relationship in terms of access to financing and different programs that can provide women different opportunities to access finances. As we know, this is one of the main challenges for women owned businesses. So this collaboration is very important for both organizations.”

 

Britney Gordon

“As we know, Belize is heavily dependent on the income that comes from women that are employed for their households, taking care of their children. So what about the impact that organizations like NIME and the initiatives that you guys run have on women in Belize?”

 

Katia Montenegro-Hoare

“So one of our main objectives is to provide a different tools, information and opportunities for women in business. We create that by providing women a safe space where they can share experiences, ask questions, collaborate with each other, and even create partnerships. So through collaborations like this, we are able to address the specific needs of women owned businesses and work together to create different products, financial products and services that can, that women can have access to.”

 

Britney Gordon

“Finally, you said this collaboration will give you guys more access to funding, so how can we see the initiatives that you guys do expand now that this collaboration will take into effect?”

 

Katia Montenegro-Hoare

“So we are at the beginning of the collaboration, of course. There is a process that we need to go through, and of course one of our objectives as well is to create mentorship programs and different boot camps in specifically for financial literacy and inclusion. So once we have our members be part of that, then we can provide the different requirements and, the different structure that they need in order to be able to access financing.”