How Karina Broke Stereotypes and Launched a Business

Starting from a young age, Karina had a dream: raising and selling her own cattle. She developed a love for cattle raising thanks to the teachings of her father, who is dedicated to the same business.

“For a job, an enterprise, to turn out well, I believe that we have to love what we do. I always wanted to do something related to cattle raising, since I love taking care of God’s creation and, since I was little, I have loved cows,” Karina said.

But at the age of 17 and living in a small town in El Salvador this dream of business ownership seemed distant to Karina; buying cattle required a large investment of money, and her family was always struggling to make ends meet. In addition to this lack of funding, Karina also faced a slew of other cultural and economic obstacles.

Cultural barriers

In the small town of Pañanalapa, it would be frowned upon for a woman to raise cattle for a living; the villagers consider it to be a business only for men.

“The first time I heard a bad comment, I felt bad, but I told myself the most important thing is that I’m working hard to earn my money, I am not stealing it. From then on, God has strengthened me. Although the bad comments came, I no longer cared about them,” Karina said.

On top of that, due to the COVID-19 crisis, the family did not have any money to invest in buying more cattle; her father Jose worked in the fields raising cows and growing corn and beans—all of which were impacted by the pandemic.

“When the pandemic came, it was very difficult for us as a family, since what I do was not in great demand,” Jose said. “Karina had that dream from a very young age, but it was something that as a family we couldn’t afford.”

An ally to overcome challenges

The Nuevo Día [New Day] Compassion center provided critical support on the most difficult days, always ready to provide emotional and spiritual care, education, food supplies, and more—whatever Karina’s family needed.

Most of all, the center staff encouraged Karina to never give up on her dream.

Even amidst the ups and downs of the pandemic, Karina kept her eyes firmly fixed on her goal of having her own herd and grazing them in the green fields of Pañanalapa—and that’s when, unexpectedly, she felt God encouraging her to keep dreaming.

Compassion’s program for entrepreneurs

“Our mission expresses it well—our primary objective with any intervention is to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name; that is how the Ideas que Prosperan [Ideas that Prosper] program was born,” said Guadalupe, Compassion El Salvador Entrepreneurship Advisor.

“It is a program that was created to support small-scale entrepreneurs, opening doors for more than 1200 young people nationwide.”

The center staff immediately saw that the business training—both theoretical and practical—would be a great fit for Karina. But they knew that she would need support and encouragement since her chosen field was culturally seen as “a man’s work.” With that in mind, they followed Karina’s case very closely to encourage her.

There were times when Karina felt like leaving the program due to the negative comments that she received about women and cattle ranching. Norma was one of the people who was closest to Karina and intervened, reminding her not to give up. “We encouraged her that God would help her to achieve her goal as well as assuring her to have faith in her dreams.”

When Karina successfully completed the course, Guadalupe helped her to start the process of financing her business through AMC. As a financial entity, AMC could provide a micro-credit so that young participants could start their businesses.

The most awaited day

After eight months of training, the day that Karina had been longing for finally arrived.

“We were very expectant for the call that had taken a long time to arrive. We were together with my family when the call finally came. That was a very nice day because at my young age, I was going to start living my dream. It was something I was really praying to God about,” Karina said happily.

The phone call confirmed that Karina was one of the lucky young women to receive a $3,000 micro-credit, thanks to the partnership between Compassion El Salvador and the AMC financial institution.

With her credit, she was able to buy three head of cattle, completely changing her present and her future. From that modest foundation, she has begun buying and selling livestock as a cattle trader.

Economically, Karina´s life changed positively. On the sale of a single head of cattle, she can earn from $100 to $200. Thanks to the good tutoring received from Compassion through the Ideas que Prosperan program, she’s become empowered to overcome poverty.

“No matter how small the amount of money is, if you know how to manage it, you can take advantage of it; from $1, you can get even more,” said Karina. “I feel that as a family our life has really changed financially compared to how it was before, thanks to the Compassion entrepreneurship program.”

With her new knowledge and skills, Karina insists that this is only the beginning. There are many more things that she wants to do to grow her business.

Dreams for the future

“I feel totally blessed, because I am totally sure that without Compassion and the program, my dreams would still be unattainable,” Karina gratefully said.

Karina now imagines becoming a great agronomist and veterinarian; this would allow her to professionalize her business by giving a better-quality product to her clients. In addition, she would also like to have her own corral for cattle and start systematizing the sale of meat in the future.

Whatever her future may hold, Karina says her parents have taught her the importance of trusting in God. “The important thing is, as my parents tell me, you hold onto the hand of God and always ask Him for help—because with His help all things can be achieved.”

We agree wholeheartedly—with God, what was impossible becomes possible for women like Karina all over the world. To read more about the many other ways Compassion is supporting the dreams of women, visit the link below.