Mujeres Unidas Iii Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to the Mujeres Unidas III group, consisting of Valentina Rosario, Jesuita Vasquez, Domingo Roja, Dolores Paredes, Maria Paredes by Esperanza International, a partner of HOPE International in Dominican Republic. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 6 months, Esperanza International, a partner of HOPE International will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Mujeres Unidas III-Hato Mayor

The Mujeres Unidas III group recently met for a regular repayment meeting with their Esperanza loan officer. This group is a subset of the “Mujeres Unidas” bank. These entrepreneurs live in the countryside about twenty minutes away from central Hato Mayor.

During that meeting, bank members shared some insight into current bussiness conditions. The Mujeres Unidas bank is involved in a variety of ventures, including two “colmados” (convenience stores), a fruit stand, a meat seller, a women's accessory store, undergarmet vendor, and chicken and pig sellers, among others. Everyone is preparing and hoping for a December that brings its usual increase in sales. Like other Esperanza banks, these women relate recent slowdowns in the local economy to worldwide economic problems. To stay successful in such a small community, several women commented on how important it is to maintain a loyal customer base. To do this, the entrepreneurs who are involved with clothes and food make sure to listen to client feedback about particular needs and the quality of products. Overall, the bank maintains an optimistic outlook, and everyone has plans for their next round of loans with Esperanza.

I hoped to get a picture of Valentina Rosario (group coordinator) with her fruit stand during this interview, however we were unable to arrange it since her merchandise at her home was too far away from the bank meeting. Luckily, another bank member Altagracia Astacio (who's group also recieved a Kiva loan) volunteered to show us her and her collegues' recent investment: a large pig whose meat shared for individual meat sales.

Although many of Esperanza's community banks are located in beautiful settings, this particular area is exceptionally lush and green. Although the community is one of very modest resources, many locals have constructed some strikingly simple (and small) yet colorful and bright homes.

Happy Holidays.

From: Kalie Gold, Kiva Fellow, Dominican Republic

(For stories from Kalie's work with Esperanza in the DR, please check out: www.kivafellows.wordpress.com and go to the "Dominican Republic" section!)

Note: Due to the inflexibility of an earlier version of Kiva's software, the repayments that were marked for this loan lagged a few months behind the actual repayments being collected. The Mujeres Unidas loan was corrected in the Kiva system to reflect that Mujeres Unidas III recently completed all of their loan repayments. Lenders to this business will be repayed in full during the next billing cycle. Thank you for your participating in this Kiva loan!