Lúcia Simango

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Lúcia Simango by Hluvuku-Adsema in Mozambique. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 12 - 15 months, Hluvuku-Adsema will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Unfortunately, Sra. Simango has suffered major hardships since receiving her Kiva loan. With the funds from her loan, Lúcia bought a variety of staple foods and drinks in bulk to stock her store and attract new customers to her new business. She bought items such as flour, rice, sugar and fresh produce as well as a host of refreshments and cookies.

Business was going well and her customer base grew within the first month, but at the beginning in the second month of business her store was robbed at night and all her merchandise was gone. Dismayed, she called upon the police, but little could be done. She later sent her one employee to fetch her savings from the traditional Tchuma community bank in order to buy more merchandise, but the employee left with her money and has never been seen again. Today her store sits empty and she has much trepidation about opening anew. This is also a loss for the community which now has very limited shopping options nearby.

With help from her husband, Lúcia is managing the repayments of her loan but these events demonstrate just how susceptible a business here can be to events out of one's control.

Looking on the postive side, Lúcia had saved part of her loan to buy five large pigs. She went to the small town of Maube to buy them in bulk at a discount, and paid to transport them back home. She raises them in a stall in front of her home. Two pigs she will keep for her family in order to raise more pigs. The other three pigs she plans to sell for a significant profit at the end of the year when people buy meats for New Year's parties. With this profit she will close out her current loan and contribute to the schooling costs of her two children.

When asked about her future aspirations, Lúcia tells me that she would like to focus her efforts on used clothing sales. She plans to take a new loan in order to buy stock of men's, women's and children's clothes in the capital city Maputo (30km away) and sell them at the South African border where she hears from her friends that more profits can be made.