Austin woman entrepreneur wins national grant for Mexican chocolate business

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Inside an east Austin apartment, the sweet smell of Mexican chocolate fills the air. Ashley Ugarte is the woman behind the magic.

After working in chocolate for four years, Ugarte founded her business, Hijita, two years ago.

"A small batch, Mexican chocolate company," Ugarte said. "We focus on highlighting Mexican cacao that I sourced directly from farmers in Mexico."

Ugarte said she works with farmers who practice more sustainable agriculture methods.

"I feel lucky that I can combine my culture with my passion for food, and also a passion for sustainability and agroforestry, Ugarte said.

The Fund Her Future grant

After two years of testing the chocolate and funding this business herself, Ugarte applied for Fund Her Future.

It's a new competition by H&R Block for women entrepreneurs. The company awarded $100,000 in grants and small business services to winners.

"We're helping them with their taxes, their bookkeeping, their payroll. We're also going to help them figure out the formation. What kind of business should they be?" H&R Block Chief Small Business and Strategy Officer Jamil Khan said.

Khan said the inspiration behind this was to close the funding gap for women.

"Women-owned businesses are growing at twice the rate of male-owned businesses. But what we've seen from some of our own research, is that they typically make less money and have less access to loans."

Jamil Khan, H&R Block Chief Small Business and Strategy Officer

According to PitchBook, women-founded companies only received 2% of venture capital funding in 2023.

Khan said a lot of people reached out for this new grant, with more than 6,000 applications across the country.

While this was the first year doing this, Khan said they'll continue figuring out ways to help women entrepreneurs.

"Exactly what shape and form it will take, we'll figure out and take learning from this. But we definitely want to be helping people succeed in their small business," Khan said.

'Start scaling our production'

Ugarte's financial burden just got a little lighter. She won one of the grants and took home $12,500 for her business.

"There's a guarantee that I'll have enough cacao for at least this year, and hopefully grow us to be able to start scaling our production," Ugarte said.

Ugarte called this a game-changer. It'll help her get closer to her dream.

"Have a small space where I can educate and inspire people and people can come and enjoy the chocolate. I dream of having even something in Mexico where I can be closer to family there and the farms, which I'm so inspired by," Ugarte said.

Ugarte said she'll start selling at the Texas Farmers' Market at Mueller on Aug. 11. She said every Saturday they are already at the Texas Farmers' Market at Bell in Cedar Park.