Walmart's social responsibility program, Una Mano para Crecer (A Hand to Grow), aims to strengthen the capacities and abilities of women entrepreneurs and increase the productivity and competitiveness of their companies in local and international markets. Each women-owned company or woman entrepreneur selected receives training in leadership and management, organization and computer skills as well as conflict management.

Leticia Hernandez is a supplier of gourmet fried plantain flakes who has benefited from the program. According to Leticia, “Through A Hand to Grow, I found the opportunity to make my desire/dream come true. I wanted healthy snacks colorant-, preservative-, artificial-flavoring and hydrogen fats-free because I know the harm these do to health, especially to women.”

Leticia is not the only woman to benefit from her involvement in A Hand to Grow. She also employs nine other women. “All women who work for the company were unemployed and some were going through very tough moments as head of their homes,” Leticia explained. “Through what Walmart does for my company, other women get helped. They have a job and sometimes other members of their family can get jobs. With this, we help their economies all year round as Walmart buys our products.”

In January 2011, Leticia was honored as the “Supplier of Excellence” in the small- and medium-sized supplier category. Thanks to A Hand to Grow, Leticia feels “fulfilled as a businesswoman, free to plan my future and my family’s future knowing that I own a business that has total support from Walmart to continue growing.”