Building Markets is on the ground in Colombia. Within 48 hours, our team's rapid outreach had identified more than 30 SMEs in our Valle del Cauca network reporting earthquake-related impact, an early minimum as assessment continues. We are working directly with entrepreneurs to understand losses, and with allies and community partners to coordinate emergency response so help reaches affected businesses and families quickly.

Many businesses in our network operate in food and essential goods and are ready to help their communities. Our response is focused on mobilizing them, alongside trusted partners, to get food, shelter materials, and other essentials where they are needed most, while laying the groundwork for recovery support in the weeks ahead.

As needs are assessed, we are directing support toward the specific ways this disaster is undermining small business viability: replacing lost inventory and raw materials, helping entrepreneurs relocate or repair damaged production space, restoring working capital, and reconnecting businesses to buyers and contracts lost in the disruption. Because business and household recovery are inseparable for many of these entrepreneurs, our approach will also account for the caregiving, displacement, and emotional strain they are carrying alongside their business losses.

Small businesses in Valle del Cauca are not only sources of income. They are employers, suppliers, and, as the stories below show, first responders in their own communities. Supporting their recovery is a way of supporting the broader recovery of the region.

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