Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pervuvian Minister of Development and Social Inclusion Carolina Trivelli admire the products made by Peruvian women entrepreneurs. Photographer: Piko Tamashiro Kanashiro

Luzmila Huarancca Gutiérrez began making textiles at home in Ayacucho, a region located in the Andean Highlands. The quality of her work quickly attracted buyers from across Peru and abroad, and today she is a leader in the artisanal textile industry, managing a network of 800 artisans in Ayacucho.

To meet the rapidly growing demand, Huarancca trained 16 women to work with her. She is also investing her earnings in her family and community. She is improving her family’s home, enhancing the local community center, and building a store and acquiring sewing machines.

Huarancca, along with other successful women entrepreneurs, was front and center at an event in Lima last week entitled Power: Women as Drivers of Growth and Social Inclusion where President Humala of Peru, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and Executive Director of UN Women and former Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet all spoke passionately about how the success of women is key to increasing economic growth and improving lives throughout Peru and the world. The event was part of Social Inclusion week, highlighted as one of the fundamental guiding principles of President Humala’s administration.

At the conference, USAID showcased the work of Huarancca and three other Peruvian women who received USAID support to grow their businesses. The women entrepreneurs shared their stories with Peruvian national and international dignitaries, including Secretary Clinton. These women increased employment and prosperity in their communities and demonstrate the spirit, drive, and dedication needed to boost individual women into the formal economy, connect them with national and international markets, and lead their families and communities as agents of economic and social change.

In fact, two of the entrepreneurs, who had never met before, agreed to work to develop and market products together – chocolate and Brazil nuts. Listening to how these women overcame barriers and became successful business women who are giving back to their communities is inspirational and they demonstrate how these types of program interventions can inspire lasting and dramatic change for women, their families, their communities and their countries.

Read more of their stories below:

Ms. Hurtado is a leader in the Brazil nut industry in Madre de Dios, a Peruvian Amazon region along the Brazilian border. A long-time Brazil nut producer, Ms. Hurtado cultivated her leadership skills by participating in development efforts to train and organize Brazil nut growers. Ms. Hurtado founded the first Brazil nut producers association in Madre de Dios, promoted the creation of more associations, and now is a Board Member of the Madre de Dios Brazil nut federation. Ms. Hurtado remains focused on increasing women’s participation in producers associations. Ms. Hurtado participated in the PAS women’s entrepreneurship program and is a USAID partner in the management of natural resources.

Ms. Tejedo is from Loreto, a northern Amazonian region bordering Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador. A furniture-maker’s daughter, Ms. Tejedo learned to love woodworking as a little girl. Motivated by her family’s dedication to hard work, Ms. Tejedo earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a post-graduate degree in International Business. Today, she combines her artistry with her business acumen to develop her growing company, Tejedo Arts, which sells more than 400 pieces a month and exports to the United States and Europe. Ms. Tejedo is a USAID partner in sustainable livelihoods activities in the Amazon.

Ms. Quinteros is from San Martin, a region in the north-central Peruvian Amazon where illicit coca cultivation once dominated. Ms. Quinteros lived through this frightening time and directly contributed to her community’s transition to licit livelihoods. Ms. Quinteros worked alongside her neighbors to remove all the illegal coca themselves, to cultivate cacao, and begin an all-woman artisanal chocolate business called Mishki Cacao. A mother of four, Ms. Quinteros now heads Mishki Cacao, is a leader at her community church, and promotes the Vaso de Leche childhood nutrition program. Ms. Quinteros is a valuable USAID partner in sustainable livelihoods to reduce illicit coca cultivation.