Gender Equity Nora Nucamendi, General Accountant at Café Capitán, is a member of Root Capital’s Women’s Leadership Council. Credit: Root Capital
Nora Nucamendi is a mother, a farmer, and an accomplished businesswoman. She is the General Accountant at Café Capitán, a thriving coffee business in Mexico’s southernmost state of Chiapas. In this region, coffee farms dot the landscape and are deeply woven into the cultural and economic fabric.
For four years, Nora has played a key role in shaping the company’s accounting system to secure new opportunities. She helped Café Capitán take on its first loan from Root Capital in 2022. She also played a crucial role in obtaining the business’s Fairtrade International Certification, enabling it to sell coffee at higher prices and pass along increased revenues to its farmers.
The Challenge
Coffee production in Chiapas is the primary source of income for a quarter of its labor force. Historically, it has been difficult to access capital for agriculture. Now, it is even more so given increasing uncertainty tied to climate change and growing security risks. Additionally, life in the region exists under the shadow of violence.
The plight of women farmers is particularly acute, with women needing opportunities to support their families and livelihoods. As Nora describes, “We have two producers who became widows. These are women that must raise their children alone and work on their plots.”
In a prevailing machismo culture, where men are typically in power, “Gender equality represents a great challenge,” says Nora. She has experienced this firsthand. Men can be hesitant to accept women in business roles. As Nora says, “They generally don’t want to take direction from or to be supervised by women.”
But things can change.
Café Capitán is a fast-growing coffee cooperative with Organic and Fairtrade International certifications. Credit: Root Capital
Our Collaboration
Café Capitán and Root Capital have been partners since 2021. The collaboration started with advisory services to help the company build its management capabilities, ready to take on its first Root Capital loan. From there, our relationship expanded as Café Capitán blossomed.
With Nora’s involvement, the company invested in building greater accounting capacities. A Talent Partner intern was hired to assist Nora with invoicing, bank reconciliations, and more for a whole year. “She got very involved in our work,” said Nora, “it was highly valuable.”
When securing the company’s Fairtrade Certification, there were gender equity requirements to be met. This prompted Café Capitán to seek Root Capital’s Gender Equity Advisory services – services that analyze a company’s gender barriers and highlight where greater gender awareness can promote business efficiency. The result was the creation of a gender action plan that now guides the organization.
The Impact
As for the widows mentioned earlier, Nora says, “They were able to raise their families… and now their children are partners of Café Capitán… They are a success case… They deliver their coffee product 100% organic, and their communities are engaged with us.”
In just four years, Café Capitán’s sales have more than doubled, as have the payments it passes on to its farmers. The cooperative now sources Organic and Fairtrade coffee from nearly 300 farmers, 41% of whom are women producers.
“The work we have done at Café Capitán shows that we know the importance of gender equality. Thanks to the advice we received from Root Capital, we have learned that not only men can do this work, but women can as well,” says Nora.
“The proof is that when the business started in 2017, there were three men and one woman [in leadership roles],” Nora explains. “Now there are four women and four men.” She adds, “We have been able to improve Café Capitán. The person now in charge of Quality Control is a woman. Roasting is also led by a woman. I am in Administration and another woman is in Collection.”
In recent years, there has also been a significant increase in the number of women agronomists and technicians who interface with the supplying farmers.
The benefits of greater women’s representation extend to relationships with the farming communities. “When we come to communities and we start meetings, women participate very actively,” says Nora. For example, “We have women in charge of a tree nursery. Café Capitán communities belong to and participate in this nursery led by women.”
Nora not only appreciates the accounting advice and continuous support she receives from Root Capital, but attests to the great benefits of investing in gender equity.
“It has helped us a lot,” says Nora. “At the beginning, men were a little reluctant to accept, but after they saw our capabilities, it was an easy task… Now they are in awe of the work of women and how necessary we are in the work we do.”