Vanesa Dortis Flores Mendoza

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Vanesa Dortis Flores Mendoza by Manuela Ramos / CrediMUJER in Peru. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 4 months, Manuela Ramos / CrediMUJER will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Earlier this week I visited Vanesa at her stand in the incredibly busy, chaotic market called "Bellavista" which spreads out near the center of the city of Pucallpa. Vanesa sells chicken every morning of the week, Monday to Sunday. She finishes her work sometime in the late morning, whenever her supply of chickens runs out. Vanesa arrives at the market daily around 3:00 or 4:00 am to purchase the chickens live from vendors who arrive in trucks from the countryside. She then spends a few hours slaughtering and cleaning the birds and is ready to begin selling by dawn.

Vanesa’s chickens sell for around 2 soles (about 65 cents) each, depending on the size. Vanesa is able to earn between 50 and 70 soles (about $16 to $23) in profits per day with her business, which has been doing pretty well lately. Business is generally best during holiday periods and at the end of the month when teachers and other government workers are paid their salaries. Vanesa has been selling chickens for 14 years, since she was 13 years old.

Vanesa has three children, aged 4, 2, and 3 months. She is a single parent. Vanesa used to also sell “salchipapas” (hot dogs and french fries) from her home in the evenings but has left this business for a while in order to take care of her baby. Vanesa struggled a bit when this baby was first born. She became very sick and was unable to work at her market stand for a month. Fortunately she now has her health back and continues to sell chickens as before.

Vanesa has been working with Kiva partner Manuela Ramos for six years. She decided to begin working with Manuela Ramos because she felt that the interest rates were low, she liked the monthly payment system, and because she appreciated the organization’s mandatory savings program. With the help of her recent loan from Kiva and Manuela Ramos, Vanesa was able to purchase a motorcycle taxi. She earns a little extra income by renting the taxi out to a driver for 20 soles (about $6.50) daily. Vanesa is currently paying back another loan, this one of 2500 soles (about $830), which she used to purchase more chickens.

In this short clip Vanesa talks about her goal of selling more chickens in order to help ensure that her children have the chance to get a good education.

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