Haiti’s women drive economic revival at HAIFEX entrepreneurship fair

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Not removed from the dialogue stage—surrounded by tables overflowing with Haitian-style clothes made out of karabela material, straw hats, palm-fiber suitcases, and scarves adorned with vèvè symbols rooted in Haitian id—Maëlle Figaro David welcomed guests to the inaugural HAIFEX Girls’s Entrepreneurship Honest.

The 2-day occasion served as a strong show of how ladies are utilizing creativity and enterprise savvy to construct their financial portfolios and assist breathe new life into Haiti’s financial system.

An artisan since 1982, David exhibited her work beneath the label “Tayino,” crafting designs infused with Haiti’s ancestral imaginative and prescient and centering on the colourful karabela material.

“I’m creating a sector centered on Haiti’s ancestral heritage via karabela, as a solution to remind us that we’re directly Taíno, African, and Haitian,” stated David, founding father of Maëlle Création. “I’m organizing this community in order that we will really costume as Haitians—and that’s what I’m presenting at this occasion.”

Held July 5-6, the primary HAIFEX Girls’s Entrepreneurship Honest spotlighted Haitian ladies whose creativity and tenacity proceed to energise key sectors of the financial system. Almost 70 exhibitors, introduced collectively by EGM Strategy and Management, showcased their services and products to a rising viewers longing for innovation.

“Haitian ladies entrepreneurs present distinctive resilience and creativity,” stated Emmanuel Grégory Morissette, founding father of the HAIFEX expo. 

“But, after supporting companies for greater than a decade, I’ve seen that fewer than 10% of Haiti’s high company taxpayers are women-led. It’s time to alter that dynamic.”

The occasion additionally gave David the right stage to launch her “Tayino” clothes line—an open invitation for Haitians to embrace and have fun their tradition via vogue. 

Guests explored cubicles providing handmade sneakers, artisanal belts, t-shirts adorned with vèvès symbols, and pure beauty merchandise made out of domestically sourced vegetation. Culinary choices ranged from packaged peanuts and pistachios, grated coconut with sugar, jars of conventional cooking spices and tamarind and cherry liqueur to breadfruit meatballs and natural roots tied to environmental preservation practices.

Among the many exhibitors, Les Délices de Vida stood out for jams, marmalades, spicy sauces, fruit similar to tamarind, quenepa, and cherry, macerated in alcohol, and chili-infused olive oil—all designed to showcase Haitian flavors and the transformative capability of girls in enterprise.

“Our merchandise are domestically made, additive-free, and fully pure. There’s one thing for each style—wealthy in taste,” the corporate’s representatives stated.

The 2-day truthful additionally featured a vogue present celebrating Haitian designers and workshops on ladies’s financial inclusion and enterprise networking methods.

On the HAIFEX pitch competitors, three ladies—Marie Changlais Aimé, Naichka Léonard and Laure Mendie—stood out for the energy of their initiatives and enterprise concepts and every obtained a grant of 1 million gourdes to assist broaden their ventures.

Regardless of Haiti’s political instability and insecurity, the truthful supplied moments of reflection, studying, and connection. Attendees stated it created a significant area for visibility and recognition of girls’s initiatives whereas providing a quick respite from the nation’s challenges.

“This occasion is greater than an expo—it’s a catalyst for ladies’s entrepreneurship in Haiti,” one participant stated.

Beneath is a show photograph of cubicles and artisans presenting their work at HAIFEX.