At the Adelante Foundation, we see every day what happens when women gain access to financial tools and support: they build businesses, strengthen their families, and create new possibilities for the next generation. This year, one woman’s story from Honduras reminds us exactly why this work matters.

When Silvia Yamileth Benitez Gomez was a teenager, she wanted a job at a small breakfast shop. The problem? They needed someone who could make flour tortillas and Silvia only knew how to make corn ones. She said yes anyway and every day she woke up at 2 am and headed to work, learning on the job. Those long shifts taught her something lasting: how much she wanted to one day build something of her own.

Years later, at 39 years old, Silvia made a bold decision. She left her 12-hour shift job and started a tortilla business from her home in Tela, Atlántida, so she could earn her own income while caring for her two daughters. Silvia launched her tortilla business last year. Like many entrepreneurs, she began with limited resources but a clear goal: build something stable for her family.

With her first Adelante loan of 15,000 lempira ($550 USD equivalent) Silvia invested in expanding her business. She purchased a new stove and ingredients to produce both corn and flour tortillas, increasing her capacity to serve customers.

Each month, after covering expenses Silvia earns the equivalent of $100–$120 in profit. She proudly reinvests much of that income into her daughters’ education and growing the business. Silvia’s tortilla business is just the beginning. Her dream is to expand and sell traditional Honduran foods like baleadas, pastelitos, and burritas, turning her small home operation into a thriving local food business. She knows growth takes time, but she is determined.