Ana María and La Sultana: Driving a Family Business Forward
Entrepreneur Ana María Frez, owner of Distribuidora La Sultana and winner of the Impulso Chileno award, explains that starting a business in Iquique has been about much more than just running a business: it has meant working alongside her three children to create jobs and an opportunity for them to plan their future.
Every morning, before starting her workday, Ana María drops off her youngest daughter at school and then goes to buy the vegetables she needs for the day. At Distribuidora La Sultana, freshness is a key part of their offering, so every night she checks which products need to be restocked and goes out to get them the next day.
She opens the doors to her shop at 9:30 a.m. and works straight through until 7:00 p.m. She says she’s not alone in the business: her three children play an active role and share the day’s various tasks.
“My children are my partners; they’re my right-hand people; they’re my eyes. When I go out to deliver merchandise, one stays at the register and the other helps me make the deliveries. It’s a 100% family business,” says Ana.
Ana María is a single mother and has worked for years to support her family through her small business: her oldest son has already finished school and now works alongside her; her second son is finishing high school and preparing to study Civil Engineering with a focus on Mining in Santiago; while her youngest daughter is still in school. However, she says that Distribuidora la Sultana has gone from being merely a source of income to becoming a place where she can spend time with her children.
Her business got off to a simple start. Ana María began by using boxes to organize her products, and little by little, she added counters and other items to improve her produce stand. It was precisely this desire to keep growing that led her to apply to Impulso Chileno, an initiative of the Luksic Foundation.
In the seventh season of the program, she was named one of the winners and received $1,500,000, which she used primarily to purchase the fixed assets she needed to strengthen her business. With the funding, she was able to buy a Visicooler, install new shelves, and improve her team’s workflow. She also managed to diversify La Sultana’s product offerings by adding new merchandise and successfully moved to a new location.
“I was able to buy the machines I wanted so badly, so really, it went from being a dream to a reality. This is the boost you need,” says the entrepreneur.
For Ana María, the impact of Impulso Chileno goes beyond business growth. The support also provided personal and family motivation: “It was both financial and emotional support. They gave me the boost I needed to prove to myself that I could do it,” she recalls.
And that inspiration rubbed off on her children, too. “Seeing me so motivated and realizing that I’d earned this project—which was a dream come true for me—motivated them as well. Through all of this, they can see that their mom has always been a dreamer and that dreams do come true, and that’s the most wonderful thing,” she says.
For Ana María, the fact that her children can study and plan for their future is a source of pride: “When you start to see the results of your efforts, you begin to feel motivated and empowered—and you realize that you really can do it.”
Today, Distribuidora La Sultana continues to grow in the city of Iquique as a family business, where the work of Ana María and her children blends with the dreams each of them has for their future. The business name also has a special meaning: Ana María chose it in honor of her youngest daughter, whom she calls “the queen of the house.”
“Stories like Ana’s reaffirm our purpose as a foundation, where we believe in people’s talents, dreams, and abilities to forge their own path. Our commitment is to provide them with concrete support so they can improve their well-being and, in turn, that of their families,” says Cristián Schalper, Social Programs Manager at the Luksic Foundation.
Impulso Chileno recently closed the application period for its eighth edition, which attracted more than 21,000 applicants from across the country. With this new group of winners—who will be eligible for funding ranging from $1,500,000 to $5,000,000—the total number of entrepreneurs who have received support to launch and grow their businesses will reach 1,920.
