16 businesses from Cucuta and Villa del Rosario were invited to participate in the trade fair, which was a platform where they could exhibit their creations, create brand awareness and, most important, sell. These ventures have received support from the Inclusive Cities, Communities of Solidarity project, consisting of providing training and capital injections that aimed to help owners to learn some tools to make their businesses self-sustainable and thus effectively integrate them into their community’s socio-economic structure. Footwear, accessories, jewelry, toiletries, clothing and food are some of the goods that these entrepreneurs from the refugee and migrant community made available to the public, who packed the fair.

Don Arnoldo, an older adult who brought his groceries to the fair, summed up his participation in the fair as follows: “This was a success, we sold a lot of bread and people liked our products. What I learned from Inclusive Cities was very useful because it helped me start my own business and now I have a motivation to move forward”. His testimony, along with the ones from  other entrepreneurs supported by the program, motivates other members of the community to be part of the Inclusive Cities project.