Cuban women to join entrepreneur conference in Mexico

Global Business

Cuban women join entrepreneur conference in Mexico

Now that Cuba has resumed relations with the United States, a Cuban delegation of women entrepreneurs will join the first-ever Women’s Forum Mexico.

CCTV’s Martin Markovits reports.

For Nidialys Acosta Becerra, coming to the Women’s Forum Mexico has been a dream come true. With her husband, she founded NostalgiCar, a company that restores and maintains classic cars from the 1950s and provides taxi services.

It has become a booming business. The company has a fleet of 20 cars it rents to tourists. After the thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations, Becerra expects even more customers.

Becerra will be part of panel discussing gender equality. She admits that being a woman in charge of a company in Cuba has its challenges.

“You have to have it in your blood. The car business is a male-driven industry. There are very few women in this field,” Becarra said.

The Paris-based Women’s Conference was organized to provide guidance and opportunities for women all over the world.

This year’s forum in Mexico will focus attention on Latin America – a region where men and machismo culture still dominate.

More than 500 women – and men – are here from North and Latin America, Europe and the Caribbean.

The Cuban Delegation will participate in high-level discussions on women’s economic empowerment and the necessity to involve everyone in the process of creating new collaborative social and economic opportunities.

This year’s conference will showcase how Cuban women have embraced entrepreneurship.

Joining Becerra at the conference is Sandra Suarez, who started a handmade soap company called D’Brujas.

Suarez learned her secret artisanal soap ingredients from her grandmother, who tried to create a business, but it never took off. Her company, however, is prospering.

When the conference is over, Suarez and Becerra will head back to Cuba, where they plan to rent cars, make soap and build dreams.