Breaking Barriers: How a Honduran Mother Built a Future at Home
Every parent deserves the chance to provide for their children with dignity and hope, without having to choose between family responsibilities and economic survival. Women can create sustainable livelihoods while fulfilling their vital caregiving roles when they gain access to flexible entrepreneurship opportunities.
In Honduras, women face unemployment rates twice as high as men at 12.9 percent, with mothers of young children experiencing even more significant barriers to economic independence. Without viable alternatives, many feel forced to attempt dangerous undocumented migration, separating families and risking lives in desperate search of opportunity.
After two failed attempts to cross the U.S. border with a human trafficker, 24-year-old Nahomy stood at a breaking point—torn between the desperate need to support her four children and the impossibility of finding traditional employment that would allow her to care for them. The coyote was offering a third attempt, but Nahomy dreamed of a different path.
"I couldn't work anywhere because I couldn't find someone to leave my four children with... I didn't receive help from anyone," explains Nahomy, capturing the impossible situation faced by many Honduran mothers. The rigid full-time work requirements of most companies effectively lock out primary caregivers from the formal economy. She wanted to launch a small nail salon from her home rather than risk migration again, but she lacked the essential equipment, supplies, and business knowledge to make her dream viable.
USAID's Creando Mi Futuro Aquí ("Creating My Future Here") project offered Nahomy a lifeline through their Micro-Entrepreneurship and Business Planning Course. The program equips at-risk youth with crucial business skills—from developing business ideas and conducting market analyses to managing finances and implementing effective sales and marketing techniques.
Participants refine their business plans with expert guidance and present them to a committee to compete for micro-entrepreneurship kits. In late 2023, Nahomy completed the course and earned a kit containing essential supplies for her salon, including a fast-drying lamp and various polishes.
"I learned a lot in the administrative part," Nahomy reflects. "Before, I used to make my calculations at random, but now I can properly calculate [earnings] and reinvest" money into the business. This combination of practical skills and essential equipment gave Nahomy the confidence and resources to launch her home-based enterprise.
Working from home has transformed Nahomy's life, allowing her to care for her children while generating sufficient income to cover her family's expenses. The change in her outlook is profound: "I feel calmer, and I have hope of getting ahead." Most importantly, she has abandoned any plans to attempt undocumented migration again.
Investing in women's entrepreneurship through targeted training and start-up support can create pathways to economic independence that honor family responsibilities rather than forcing impossible choices. Programs like Creando Mi Futuro Aquí demonstrate how relatively small investments in women's businesses can break cycles of poverty and migration, creating ripple effects of stability and hope throughout entire communities.
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