After the successful first phase carried out in 2022 in Ambat and Latacunga, the Red Victoria Tiendas program, an initiative of a private company in collaboration with the public sector, which aims to reactivate thousands of shops that drastically reduced their sales during the pandemic, has officially launched its second phase which has been held in Guayaquil since last April.

According to figures from the Chamber of Industry of Guayaquil (CIG), the union that also promotes the initiative, during 2020 and 2021, as a result of the pandemic, more than 15,530 shops in the neighborhood were closed and 7,700 restaurants were affected, leaving more than 48,600 people unemployed.

International companies and brands are looking for business partners to enter the Ecuadorian market

Meanwhile, José Luis González, CEO of Cervecería Nacional, the company that launched the initiative, recalled that Red Victoria Tiendas focuses mainly on those shops run by women located in the most disadvantaged areas.

“It is an idea that we in the company have had for a long time and which we are already implementing… the idea is growing at a time when we see an opportunity not only to be the National Brewery, but to translate it into the entire private sector, and for that we talked to many allies, companies from Guayaquil,” recalled González, who pointed out that Angelo Caputi, chief executive officer of Banco Guayaquil, had the initiative to gather all allies at an event to share the idea and add companies to the project.

Currently, the companies Cervecería Nacional, Banco Guayaquil, La Fabril, Nestlé, Unilever and Tesalia CBC are part of the program.

González also pointed out that Ecuador is one of the countries in the region where more ventures are born, but also expressed regret that 89% of these ventures fail in an average of three to six months. What is this for? The CEO of Cervecería Nacional cited the reasons: poor business infrastructure, poor access to credit, poor financial knowledge and lack of direct access to large supplier companies.

The executive explained that based on these four shortcomings, a program was designed that uses the methodology developed by the UNDP (United Nations Development Program), which provides direct and personalized technical assistance to those who manage each store in the neighborhood, with the aim of achieving their productive strengthening, access technological platforms and prepare participants to be subjects of microcredit plans offered by public banks.

On the other hand, Francisco Jarrín, president of the CIG, presented the results of the first phase of the program, which began in November 2022. He assured that on February 23, 307 beneficiaries from Ambat and 213 from Latacunga graduated from the program that trained them in the management of personal and business finance, communication, customer service, inventory management and control, use of digital tools, business formalization and creation of an investment plan for the improvement of trade.

Soft drinks and snacks are positioned as top sellers in neighborhood stores, according to the study

Jarrín also pointed out that 59% of the user’s stores (307 establishments) had an employed person, which implies direct support for job creation, 27% of people, i.e. 145 traders, did not finish high school, “which implies that the population with the lowest level of population.”

He added that out of 520 users, 114 people (22%) are between the ages of 18 and 30, which means support for young entrepreneurship.

As for the second phase, the head of the CIG assured that they are already training and helping 516 neighborhood shops in the most vulnerable areas of Guayaquil, which are mainly run by women, three of them have presented their progress in almost two months of the program.

“We were able to integrate allies who felt committed to the project and we hope that more allies will join us,” said Jarrín, who announced that the program plans to include more training topics.