Indigenous women from San Miguel de Allende create natural products company

Published November 19th, 2021

Ten women from four indigenous communities in San Miguel de Allende created a company dedicated to the production of personal care products.

These products already have a brand name written in the Otomí language: Ra ye ñöhñö, which translated into Spanish means “Indigenous Hands”.

They also sell products extracted from medicinal plants, such as remedies for health problems.

They come from the communities of La Cuadrilla, El Salto, Bordo Colorado, and Los Guerreros and have been operating in the local market for eight years.

Adriana Ramírez, a representative of the company, said that they themselves are in charge of the entire process of obtaining the final product.

“We produce products based on traditional medicine, from plants, such as syrup for coughs and colds, ointments, paints, shampoos, soaps, oils, creams, relaxing oils, facial oils…, all derived from the plant.

“We do the elaboration, from the cutting of the plant to the final product. We create approximately 500 pieces per month, our sales are variable. There are times when we sell everything and there are times when we don’t. There are times when we have to elaborate a little bit. There are times when we have to make a little more,” he said.

The products are distributed mainly in the city of San Miguel de Allende and in the communities of the municipality.

Adriana Ramírez said that so far they have not resorted to digital sales, as they distribute the products themselves, but they have joined the women’s business organization Amexme, where they receive training.

Like other companies, Manos Indígenas hopes that the green traffic light will be a starting point for their business to take off.

“We hope to have more sales opportunities and more spaces where we can sell our products, and thus move our business and our families forward,” she said.