Las Pagadoras Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to LAS PAGADORAS Group, consisting of VERONICA, FABIOLA, NANCY VERONICA, ANGEL GABRIEL, MARIA ROSARIO, GERALDINE, JUANA, LEONELA ISABEL, ADA LILY, SERY, CINTHIA, ROMY ESMIR by Fundación Agrocapital, a partner of ACDI/VOCA in Bolivia. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 4 months of this loan, Fundación Agrocapital, a partner of ACDI/VOCA will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Today, I had the unique opportunity to talk to Las Pagadoras, a friendly and warm group of women entrepreneurs.

Veronica is the president of Las Pagadoras and makes kabob dinners and sells them at night in front of her home. She used her loan to buy a bigger grill and a table for her customers, which has increased her business considerably. She told me, “My profits have increased a lot. I’ve been able to buy this [gesturing to her kitchen table] and a sofa for my living room!” In addition, Veronica can take her kids to the movies and eat out once in a while, which she was never able to do before. In the future, she would like to take out another loan to buy a freezer to store soft drinks and beer for her business.

Adalin sells cosmetics by order from the companies Yanbal, Essica, and Avon, and she was able to fulfill more orders with her recent loan, increasing her profits quite a bit. Over the course of a couple of loans, she has reaped enough profits from this business to buy a washing machine, freezer, stereo, and television for her home. She has five children, and only the youngest, Liliana who’s 12 years old, still lives with her. She now can buy some things that her daughter, which she was not able to do before. “This loan has definitely allowed me to improve my quality of life,” she told me. In the future, she would like to buy her own home.

Leonela is only twenty-three years old, and has her own kiosk in the market, where she sells candies, cigarettes, phone cards, etc. Leonela is a self-sustaining woman; she uses most of her profits to re-invest in her business and pay for night school, where she is studying to be a bank teller. She tells me, “The next step for my business would be to buy a phone booth to put next to my stand; that will bring in more business.” She thinks she will be able to fulfill that goal with her next loan.

These women struck me as confident and entrepreneurial; they are completely dedicate themselves to their businesses in order to be able to advance in life.

This is a picture of the group in front of President Veronica’s new grill that she bought with the loan.

If these entrepreneurs interested you, consider lending to more AgroCapital clients here.