Delia Celoso

She is an entrepreneur engaged in an ambulatory business. She has survived many problems including shortages of capital and low inventory, illness, low sales, and even an accident while traveling. The business requires that she and her employees wake up well before dawn and travel to the town whose market day it is, set up their display and then serve the customers until long past sundown. Then they have to pack up everything again and travel home, only to follow the same routine the next day. But she persists because she believes that with determination, patience, good customer relations, and honesty in all her dealings, she will be able to achieve her life's goal of supporting her family and providing her children with a secure future away from poverty.

This is the life of Delia Celoso, a 57-year-old married woman with four children. The oldest now has a family while the rest still live at home and help their parents in the business. She and her husband decided to go into this business because of its income potential. Delia joined NWTF-Project Dungganon because she knew that she could borrow the capital she needed to start her business without securing the loan with a piece of property or other asset for collateral. At first she only sold small items from her home, but as time went by, her good credit record allowed her to borrow more and this enabled her to buy stocks in bigger bulks. At that point she started to go to different towns to sell her wares on their market days. She also began to employ some people to help her.

In her nine years of running this business, Delia's loans from NWTF-Project Dungganon have been the catalyst that have allowed her to expand and make more plans to widen her territory. At present this business nets a monthly profit of PHP 9,000 which helps pay for her family's household expenses. In her 16th loan cycle she borrowed PHP 15,000 to help her maintain a certain stock volume of the wares she sells. This loan was fully paid on time without any delays in the weekly repayment. Now she is borrowing PHP 14,000 for her 17th loan cycle and she will again use this money as additional working capital for her business.

About NWTF:
In a world full of challenges, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, Inc. has answered the calling of not just a few but of thousands of women. Through the alleviation program, these women have progressed from earning less than a mere $1 a day to achieving realities beyond their dreams. They have learned to live a life where they can finally be called honorable. This is Project Dungganon.

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