Payoneer in El Salvador: Empowering Local Entrepreneurs in eCommerce

Earlier last month, Payoneer had the exciting opportunity to join over 200 female entrepreneurs from Latin America in El Salvador and help them gain more knowledge in the eCommerce industry.

Partnering with eBay, and PayPal, Payoneer took representatives to teach and share multiple eCommerce techniques, website building strategies, and SEO do-it-yourself tools, as well as to mix and mingle with female entrepreneurs who own small and medium-sized businesses all over Central America.

In addition, Payoneer focused on online marketplaces and payment solutions that can work in smaller markets, allowing these talented business owners and craftswomen to gain skills that will grow their businesses. The participating females work largely in the hand-crafted field, with businesses selling items such as handbags, home goods, and shoes and more. They rely on international trade to build their customer base and employ more local craftspeople, bringing their Central American cities strengthened economies and more trade overall.

What We Accomplished

Participants joined the event from 6 countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Nicaragua. The goal was to help these women develop tools not only in eCommerce website optimization, but also in logistics, shipping, payment processing, and more. Payoneer shared tools that will help these businesses scale up, and reach further, while also assisting the fledgling companies in early-stage bumps and basics.

Payoneer representatives came away with a sense of doing right–upholding company values of international trade, bringing new resources and opportunities, as well as learning and hearing from participants themselves. 

Gil Ortega, Sales Manager at Payoneer, stated, “This was also a great opportunity to give a voice to our current users in San Salvador. It was inspiring to personally hear about their experiences as they grew, and exciting to hear the advice they shared with those who are just starting out.”

Payments can be a problem for small and medium entrepreneurs in developing countries, where payment fees and participation requirements can be as much as three times higher than in, say, the United States. It’s also not always possible to take money from the payment processor to a local bank account for these small and medium entrepreneurs. Participation in these workshops allowed these businesses preferential rates and customer service with Payoneer, PayPal, and eBay, giving them both the educational benefits and the boost up in financial challenges to become successful online.

The International Trade Centre (ITC) kicked off these events, with support from the EU funded project, Linking Central American Women-Owned Businesses with the Global Gifts and Home Decoration Market, together with the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA). Overall, we’re helping these women develop strategies to make their businesses successful and grow over the long term.

More Than Business and Sales

On a personal level, as Gil said, “It is a privilege being part of this mission to bring new resources for Latin American sellers to grow their local business into one without borders. I am confident that Payoneer can do just that and being able to reach so many new people that can immediately benefit from our services was great. We look forward to being able to continue to work alongside ITC to make an even bigger impact in Latin America.”

Participants also had lovely things to say about their experience with Payoneer throughout the week. Many of them run online stores featuring local craftwork and Payoneer allows them to reach a global audience affordably. “With eCommerce we do not need to move to other places to sell. We just need to gather all the elements to make our website and products attractive so that we reach more people,” says Johanna Canahuati, Founder and Manager of Joe Canahuati Handbags. Fátima Calero, Founder and Manager of Piedraluna, agrees and says, “eCommerce will be a source of employment for women in El Salvador. The project will help us become self-sufficient and more competitive in the national and international markets.”

We definitely agree and look forward to more exciting collaborations in the future!