Siembra

Registered as a Mexican non-profit civil association in 1999, SIEMBRA takes a hands-on approach to promoting and developing women’s micro enterprises in Mexico. Our overarching goal is to help women achieve autonomy. Siembra believes that the first step in achieving this goal is for women to obtain personal economic independence.

Therefore, Siembra provides low-income women the necessary capital for entrepreneurial activities, while also teaching the leadership and business skills necessary to build these enterprises into successful and lasting businesses. Believing that providing credit alone is not sufficient to helping women obtain economic independence, Siembra treats training as an integral and vital component of its micro finance activities. Intrinsic to the program is the gender related training which Siembra carries out through regular workshops.

SIEMBRA’s services include a micro credit and savings program through GEMs (Group of entrepreneurs in micro credit and savings) as well as educational courses. Initially, SIEMBRA’s training methodology initiates and develops rural, indigenous women’s entrepreneurial skills through education, giving the women the tools to sustain a successful business. Manuals created by SIEMBRA serve as a guideline for the women’s business education. SIEMBRA has currently published five manuals that delineate the most important aspects of creating and sustaining a profitable micro enterprise. For instance, the manuals detail leadership promotion and advocacy skills, how to create a business plan, marketing and selling techniques, how to govern micro enterprises, and women’s reproductive and health rights. Additionally, SIEMBRA published an institutional development book for credit promoters in order to internally promote the continuous learning of our team.

SIEMBRA has received recognition awards from ASHOKA International (2003), Swiss Bank (2004) and SeLider from CEMEX in Mexico (2005).