Latin Americans decided to undertake in the pandemic in the face of economic crisis

More than half of the 1,500 Latin Americans who participated in a survey began to work independently during the COVID-19 pandemic to contribute financially to their families, those responsible for the survey reported Monday.

the survey “empowered women”published by the American cosmetics and perfume company Avon and the Avon Foundation for Women, brought together “1,500 entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial women between 25 and 55 years old who reside in 11 Latin American countries to know their voice”said the general manager of Avon Andean Cluster, Maria Adelaida Saldarriaga.

The objective of the analysis -which was carried out in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay– was to produce information at the regional level and by country to show what are the obstacles that women have when starting a business.

Among the findings, it stands out that 62% of all respondents have their own business or work independently.

As well, it was evidenced that one out of every three entrepreneurs combines her independent work with a dependency job and that, likewise, one out of every three is the main breadwinner in the household.

Of the total consulted, six out of ten have their own business, mostly one-person or small enterprises that do not exceed five employees.

70% of women believe that they have not yet achieved their professional development goals, and seven out of ten point out that the success of independent work is achieved by achieving a balance between work and personal life.

“The pandemic pushed many women to undertake either because they lost their jobs, to take advantage of their free time, because they realized that it is time to do something productive or because they spent that time with an abuser and want to get out of that situation. circle of abusehe explained for his part Carolina Henaodirector of the Avon Foundation for Women for Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

When analyzing the results, it was established that money was the main obstacle to entrepreneurship.

Then, Henao delved, “We find that time is another impediment because women continue to leave it for later since the priority is to attend to the family”.

Also, nine out of ten entrepreneurs consider mistakes as a source of learning; four out of ten believe that being too emotional is the main problem that affects their work relationships, and one in three thinks that she must face the prejudice of having achieved work success in exchange for sexual favors.

Understanding the above, Henao considered that “More important than having women selling beauty products is giving them the financial independence that they demand so much because it will allow them to fight against the violence to which they have been subjected and take another step towards empowerment and equality”.