Emprema, an Emerging Recipe for Successful Women’s Entrepreneurship in Mozambique - Building Markets

Emprema, an Emerging Recipe for Successful Women’s Entrepreneurship in Mozambique

by Stan Chikakuda
March 29, 2016

Emprema is a diversified association of female entrepreneurs in Matola. It represents 68 women who operate businesses ranging from sewing and catering to agriculture and aviculture. Emprema offers strong support to its members, especially those far from urban centers. For instance, some of the female entrepreneurs are based in southern Matola, which is 40 km away from Maputo City. Given that it takes at least an hour for those women to travel by public transportation into Maputo City in order to attend Building Markets training sessions, the Association decided to send a few members to each session and to have those representatives transfer knowledge gained back to the rest of the group.

Emprema’s president, Dna Joana, says the association values Building Markets’ training sessions because they offer practical but essential skills, such as drafting business plans.

Emprema members at Building Markets' event, The SME Reality and the Participation of Women in August 2015
Emprema members at Building Markets’ event, The SME Reality and the Participation of Women in August 2015

Emprema is a very active association, always focusing on the long term and trying to identify new, innovative ideas that fill gaps in the local market while leveraging the skills and potential of their entrepreneurs. One such gap was in the catering market in Matola. Currently, Mozambique relies on poultry imports from Brazil and South Africa for most of its consumption needs, which represents an important market opportunity. The Association has plans to address this demand by installing a feed production plant, which will encourage poultry production for the local catering industry.

Building Markets is helping the Association map the entire poultry value chain and identify gaps that it can fill. This will help Emprema mobilize support from key technical service providers in this sector. Building Markets also assisted the Association with applying for a loan to fund its proposed plant, including the facilitation of a credit guarantee.

Although Emprema has been legally registered since 2010, some of its members still belong to the informal sector. Building Markets is working hard to reverse this trend. In the case of Emprema, more of these businesswomen have access to the assistance needed to hone their skills as entrepreneurs and formalize their businesses. Since their engagement with Building Markets, twenty-five women have legally registered their companies.

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