The Mexican government has started a program to award money to Mexican migrants who open a business in Mexico.
The Productive Assets Project, launched in early 2009 by the secretaría de desarollo social (Ministry of Social Development in Mexico, SEDESOL), focuses on helping citizens living in the U.S. start a business with the hope that they return to Mexico with the business they have already started.
The project provides up to $23,000 and puts no restrictions on the type of business for which an individual can receive money.
Norma Carbajal works for the Institute for the Mexican Abroad in Tucson, collecting applications from migrants and passing them on to SEDESOL. Applicants must be Mexican citizens, and they must also belong to a hometown organization.
“It’s sometimes hard to maintain or even find a job in Mexico,” Carbajal said. “Hopefully, with the money they receive, and a successful business, they will return.”
A hometown organization is a group of individuals from the same location coming together, allowing them to live abroad in the U.S. and be eligible to receive money.
One of those countrymen is Joel Barceló, president of the hometown association of Granados, Mexico. Barceló was awarded money to invest in a ranching project.
“My whole purpose for the money and the ranch is to raise cattle with the help of my dad,” Barceló said.
He said that ranching is very popular in his family and hopes that with the money, he can continue the tradition.
Carbajal said the application process can take a few months.
The money awarded to migrants is not a loan and does not have to be repaid to the government; however, Carbajal stated that the money individuals make from their business is invested into the community project that they first developed, rather than being paid back to the Mexican government.
“Instead of paying all that money back, the individual must reinvest it to improve parks, buildings or schools, for example,” Carbajal said.
Barceló, for example, said he plans to reinvest the money from his ranch to rebuild a church in Granados in poor condition.
“What better way to repay the money I was awarded than to work on something that is important to all and that many of us use?” asked Barceló.
SEDESOL oversees the business projects.
“When they approve the project, they keep an eye on them just making sure that they are actually using the money for what they got it for,” Carbajal said.
Barceló says he is thankful that he has the opportunity to become a businessman and work at something he loves.
“A business is something that everybody has in mind,” Barceló said. “I have always had plans to establish a business of some sort little by little. And now I have that chance.”
