Por Un Futuro Mejor (cuenca) Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Por Un Futuro Mejor (cuenca) Group, consisting of GABRIELA MARIA PAGUAY ZHIRZHAN , CLAUDIA PATRICIA PUENTE ZHAPAN , MARIA CARMELINA YARI CHIMBO , LAURA MARIELA PAGUAY ZHIRZHAN , MARIA LUZ AURORA ZHIRZHAN CHIRIBOGA , DIANA CAROLINA PAGUAY ZHIRZHAN , MERCEDES VICTORIA ZHIRZHAN SIMBANA by Fundación ESPOIR in Ecuador. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 3 months of this loan, Fundación ESPOIR will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Dear Lender,

As you may know, all Kiva loans are actually administered by local field partners. For the past couple of months, I have been working as a Kiva Fellow with Fundación ESPOIR, a brand new Kiva field partner. Over the course of the summer, I’ve had the privilege of meeting Espoir’s first batch of Kiva borrowers and hearing their stories.

A couple of the most memorable stories I heard were from two young women who are using loans to help run their small businesses while also pursuing their education. The first, Verónica Acurio, worked for years in her parents’ restaurant before deciding to open a restaurant of her own. She now has her own restaurant and uses the profits to pay for medical school. She has one year of studies left before becoming a full-fledged doctor. Despite her impressive accomplishments, Verónica is very down to earth and not at all boastful. Before her Kiva interview, most of her fellow group members didn’t even realize that she is a medical student.

Another Kiva client, Ana Lucia Chapa, lives in the rural community of Turi with her husband and her four-year-old son. Monday through Friday, she makes the long commute to and from the city of Cuenca, where she works full-time as a housekeeper. She also raises guinea pigs, sheep, and cows at home for extra income. Ana Lucia dropped out of school when she was 14 to start working so that she could help support her family, and so she never finished high school. After she got married, though, she decided that she wanted to be a veterinarian, and started going to school on the weekends to earn her high school diploma. She still has eight or nine years of education ahead of her before she can officially become a veterinarian, but she has a great attitude and is determined. Her family has been supportive and her parents and in-laws help take care of her son while she works and studies.

Both Veronica and Ana Lucia are 23 years old, just like me. When I heard their stories, I was impressed that they could juggle so many responsibilities simultaneously and overcome such daunting obstacles in pursuit of higher education, which is more than I can say for myself. Both are cheerful and upbeat despite the difficulties they face and the long hours they put in, seven days a week. I hope to return to Cuenca ten years from now and find them both in white coats, running their own successful businesses of another sort.

Kiva clients aren’t the only people at ESPOIR with inspiring stories of upward mobility. I’ve also had the privilege of meeting staff at ESPOIR’s headquarters and four different branch offices. All received me warmly and touched me with their hospitality and generosity, but I was particularly impressed by a handful of female ESPOIR loan officers who were once village bank clients themselves. For these women, becoming loan officers is an important step forward in their lives. They find the work difficult but also quite gratifying, and are happy to be helping clients because they know how it feels to be a small-scale entrepreneur in need of business capital.

It has been exciting and inspirational to see success stories like these during my fellowship with Fundación ESPOIR. I hope you continue to support Ecuadorian entrepreneurs through ESPOIR!

To search for currently fundraising ESPOIR loans on Kiva, click here . No currently fundraising clients? Please check back soon! In the meantime, you can join ESPOIR’s Kiva Lending Team.

Best regards,

Cynthia McMurry

Kiva Fellow

SRA. LAURA MARIELA PAGUAY ZHIRZHAN

La Sra. Laura Paguay invirtió su dinero en la compra de frutas para su negocio en el mercado del cantón Paute, en el negocio que lleva laborando hace un año, le pone mucho afán en su trabajo ya que labora desde las 8 de la mañana hasta las 5 de la tarde y los días feriados como son los miércoles y domingos labora desde las 6 de la mañana hasta las 7 de la noche, nos comenta que no tiene ninguna dificultad en el pago de su crédito ya que ahorra 3 dólares diarios y así logra recaudar un poco más del valor de pago quincenal, en su vida y en su salud no ha tenido ninguna dificultada, como es madre soltera tiene una hija de apenas un año de nacida que se le enfermo con broncomonía pero ya se encuentra recuperada de su enfermedad, en su familia tienen un poco de problemas económicos pero nos comenta que todos en un momento lo tienen, con el préstamo que le han otorgado le han beneficiado en el pago de unas deudas y en el incremento de su negocio.

SRA. MERCEDES ZHIRZHAN SIMBAÑA

La Sra. Mercedes Zhirzhan invirtió su dinero en el pago de una pequeña deuda y con el dinero que le quedo invirtió en su negocio comprando materiales para la elaboración de pan, Mercedes trabaja en el mercado los días miércoles y domingos en un puesto que tiene y los demás días trabaja elaborando un rico pan que entrega en las tiendas de su sector, su dificultad es el tiempo que tienen que pagar las cuotas ya que son quincena desearía que le aplacen un poco mas, en su salud se encuentra un poco delicada por que se encuentra con la gripe y en su familia todas se encuentran muy bien de salud, los créditos que en la fundación le han otorgado le han servido para incrementar su negocio y el pago de unas pequeñas deudas, se encuentra muy agradecida por sus beneficios que recibe de la fundación.