At the "Regional Consultative Forum on Microenterprise: Lessons and Opportunities" held May 8 and 9 in San José, U.S. first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, her counterparts from the countries of Central America and Belize, and several development experts spoke on the importance of supporting microentrepreneurs, but only after hearing Berta Alarcón de Castillo describe the gritty reality of raising a family and running a business on a shoestring.

Alarcón, a 37-year-old mother of three who owns five kiosks in San Salvador, El Salvador, told seminar participants how she began selling nail files on the street when she was 12 years old. She gradually taught herself how to read and write, and then set up a stall to sell clothing and other goods. In 1988, with a $200 loan from Financiera Calpia, a finance company in San Salvador supported by the Multilateral Investment Fund, Alarcón expanded into shoes. Her repayment record on subsequent loans was so good that last year she was able to borrow $5,000 to further expand her business, now named "Calzados Berta."

"We are able to walk on our own," Alarcón said, "but we still occasionally need a hand for support."

Alarcón and two other microentrepreneurs, one from Guatemala and one from Costa Rica, spoke to an audience of 500 that included Clinton and the first ladies of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. Also participating were IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias, Marguerite Berger, chief of the IDB's Microenterprise Unit, Mark Schneider, USAID assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the directors of several leading nongovernmental organizations that specialize in microenterprise development.

The seminar was marked by a tone of candid pragmatism, according to Berger. "There aren't many occasions when donors, program managers, institutions and actual microentrepreneurs get together to exchange ideas," said Berger. "Our aim was to cut through all the layers of bureaucracy and bring people together to share experiences."

In her address, Clinton spoke of the particular importance that microcredit has for women. Microcredit "is a stroke of genius," she said, "precisely because it brings out into the open and builds on skills that are already there, but which for too long have gone unrecognized by governments, banks and international aid organizations."

Clinton also said that microcredit "is of special benefit to women," because it is one of the "tools of opportunity" that, along with health care, legal protections and education, can unleash women's productive potential. "By offering new opportunities, it moves us all closer to making real the dream of equality," she said.

Workshops during the seminar offered practical advice on expanding a microenterprise, how to obtain financing and other services for a fledgling business, and how microentrepreneurs can contribute to community development.

The workshops drafted recommendations on improving microentrepreneurs' access to information on markets and supplies, providing credit at the start-up stage of small ventures, offering training programs for established entrepreneurs and increasing nonfinancial services for these businesses.