Yeniz’s Second Chance

46-year-old Yeniz is soft-spoken, quick to deflect compliments with a humble smile. But underneath her modest exterior lies fierce resilience.  Fifteen years ago, Yeniz was struck by lightning; she fell into a coma, was hospitalized for six months, and was expected not to live. Thanks to her inner strength, however, she not only survived but used her second chance at life to become a triumphant businesswoman.

In 2008, Yeniz took out a loan of $105, which she invested in a fledgling business making aluminum pots and pans with handmade earthen molds and other simple equipment. Today, Yeniz, her husband, and three sons employ seven workers, and their products are sold in Triunfo, Choluteca, Tegucigalpa, Olancho, Colón, and even in Guatemala. Yeniz plays roles ranging from salesperson, accountant, trainer, and manager to quality control inspector. Women throughout the region look up to her for her leadership.

Yeniz’s triumphs extend beyond her own entrepreneurship. While many of her neighbors’ children have fled to cities or “disappeared” to other countries, her three sons dutifully contribute to the family business and even have businesses of their own. Yeniz sent each of them to secondary school, an outstanding accomplishment for a rural family, but it’s clear where their most valuable lessons come from. She says, “If your children don’t know how to run a business, you have to teach them — how to make a payroll, how to do accounting, how to manage expenses, how to invest. They’ve learned how to do all of that, and they know very well now how to run a business.” She adds, “It’s a source of pride that my children all have their own work, that they’re not somewhere far from our home or out of the country.” While she hates to take credit, she admits, “I’ve taught them how to be hardworking entrepreneurs.”

Over the past 10 years, Yeniz has continually invested in the steady growth of her family business, and with the profits she has been able to pay for her sons’ post-primary school studies and buy a plot of land on which they now grown corn, another source of income. Confidently, she reflects, “My future is to keep working hard and continue improving our business.”