This insights post is a summary of the blog post published by Relaciones Públicas Estrategia. View the original LinkedIn post from Luis Felipe Sánchez Lam.
Honduras has the most valuable asset in all of Central America. And most of its midsize companies don’t know it, nor are they protecting it.
83.1% of the most informed Hondurans trust private enterprise. It is the highest number in the region. More than Guatemala, more than Costa Rica, more than Panama.
And yet, when a crisis comes, most improvise.
Corporate communication work in Honduras over 17 years reveals a recurring pattern in conversations with managers of medium-sized companies: they indicate they will reach out when communication support is needed. However, by the time contact is made, the opportunity for strategic intervention has often passed. These attitudes motived Luis to review the actual data.
What the numbers say:
The study “Reputation in Central America 2025: The Value of Trust”, published by Revista Estrategia & Negocios together with DATOS Group and Pizzolante with almost 5,000 respondents in the region revealed something that few companies in Honduras have processed:
- 83.1% of the informed public trusts the Honduran private enterprise
- 86.7% trust the country’s business leaders
- Honduras is the country where trust in the private sector reaches its highest point in all of Central America
- Family businesses generate more trust than non-family ones
- Private enterprise is today the most credible institution in the country above the government, justice and the media
This response is extraordinary. It’s an asset built over decades of serious work. But there is another number that no one is celebrating:
According to WTW in its 2025 Reputational Risk Report for Latin America, only 13% of companies in the region feel resilient in the face of a reputational crisis. And that number fell from 23% in 2021. Do you see it the contradiction? The asset grows. Protection deteriorates.
What’s really going on?
In Peru, the Image and Communication Observatory (OBICOM) analyzed 41 business crises during 2025. The report had a disappointing conclusion: 51% of these crises had internal origins, management errors, lack of protocols, leadership without communicational preparation.
They were not external attacks.
The crisis was not a campaign against the company. They stemmed from internal decisions that were poorly communicated, or simply silenced. Many of them escalated to destroy what took years to build. And if that happens in larger economies with more robust equipment, what do you think What happens in a medium-sized Honduran company that has never thought about this?
This mini-report is the first in a series on the state of corporate reputation in Honduras. If you are interested you can follow Luis Felipe Sánchez Lam on LinkedIn.
Post Data provided by: Trust Study 2025 — E&N / DATOS Group / Pizzolante / FUNDAHRSE | WTW Reputation Risk Report LATAM 2025 | OBICOM Peru 2025 | Capterra Crisis Communication Survey | Edelman Trust Barometer 2026
