Honduras: Small Business Facilitators

Opportunities

Working in cooperation with TRANSCRISUR, an association of pastors, leaders, and missionaries in southern Honduras, small business facilitators will work in the community and with vocational school students to set up home projects and help small businesses get off the ground. Facilitators would teach personal and small business financial planning and supervise vocational students in home projects.

Requirements

The facilitator must also be an innovative person who has a passion for seeing people develop their own businesses. Applicants must have a business degree or equivalent practical experience. A basic level of conversational Spanish is necessary.

Length of Service

• Mid-term: four weeks to one year

• Long-term: two or more years

Ministry Description

In 1998, Honduras was devastated by Hurricane Mitch, which killed nearly 5,600 people and caused almost $1 billion in damage. This devastation opened ministry doors for WGM throughout Honduras, including the southern city of Choluteca. Through compassionate ministries and community development projects, missionaries were able to spread the love of Jesus Christ to a hurting country. A vocational school was founded, and to date, missionaries in Choluteca have helped set up a bakery, a one-room grocery store, a meat and egg distributor, a truck service for hauling cattle, a beauty salon, a cybercafé, and a barbershop. Future plans include starting a snack shop and helping a church member record a music CD.

Quick Facts

• Choluteca is a city of 120,000 people located in the southern tip of Honduras, one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America, with nearly two thirds of Hondurans living in poverty.

• Choluteca was originally founded in colonial Honduras in 1522 and is considered one of the hottest cities in Honduras.

• Although historically dependent on exports of coffee and bananas, the  economy has diversified over the past 20 years with the development of tourism and of nontraditional exports such as cultivated shrimp and melons.