“Finally, we can get back to business,” said
For five months, talks of networking and sales
projections were put on hold as business owners tried to navigate
through the civil unrest caused by the forced removal of Honduran
President
Getting back to business now means facing the harsh
economic landscape of a country that has essentially been on standby
for half of the year.
Almost 180,000 jobs have been lost since Zelaya’s ouster, according to studies by Honduran business groups. A study by the
While the
business leaders are hoping international acceptance of the election
will also restore faith among foreign investors and local consumers.
“Foreign businesses often have a fear of investing in
“What
has demonstrated is that we’re not going to follow in the political
path of Chavez,” Facusse said. “Many business owners will look at what
happened here, will note our elections and see
Already the third-poorest nation in the Western
Hemisphere, the country’s weak economy suffered even more setbacks in
the months following Zelaya’s removal.
Tourism dried up as leery travelers kept away and the
Infrastructure projects, which employ thousands of Hondurans, remain on hold after
in U.S. aid has been suspended, a substantial amount for a country
where foreign aid accounts for nearly 20 percent of its budget.
Throughout the capital city, shop owners try to lure in customers,
despite running their shops behind windows boarded up to keep
vandalizing protesters at bay.
“As soon as people feel safe by the new government,
which promises to be a reconciliation government, then we’re going to
be OK,” said chamber director Willingham. “The clarity of the political
map in our country, and the overwhelming amount of people who showed up
to vote, will demonstrate the faith that our people have that our
country is moving forward in the right direction.”
Moving forward, business leaders say they have
gleaned several economic lessons in the five months of political and
economic isolation — namely they must try to reduce dependence on
foreign assistance and trade.
“We learned the hard way that governments have
interests, not friends,” Willingham said. “We have depended too much on
the good will and donations of other countries. We really need to start
moving in the direction of becoming self-sufficient.”
Willingham said her chamber is doing its part to
revitalize small businesses — by training folks accustomed to selling
goods from their home on ways to formalize their business practices and
expand their ventures.
Business leaders are pegging their hopes that Lobo,
a wealthy cattle rancher, will use his business prowess to boost
economic development. Lobo is a graduate of the
“The first thing that needs to be done is to create
a plan for the next four years that should be a long-term plan to
create the conditions for investment in our country,” said Amilcar
Builnes, director of the
Builnes was among a dozen high-profile Hondurans
whom Lobo called upon just days after his victory for the first of many
“national dialogues,” which the new president hopes will fuse rifts
created by the political crisis.
The council will be launching an outreach campaign to help assure foreign investors that it is safe to resume business with
“We’re the No. 1 business purchaser of other Central
American countries, but we’re not sending enough of our products to
them,” Builnes said.
He added: “The nature of the elections was a great
starting point, but now we have to get back on course to working on
restoring faith in our economy.”
