Laura Pacaya Tamani

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Laura Pacaya Tamani 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.

Recently I visited Laura at her home to meet her and talk about her work. Laura is currently paying back another loan of 2000 soles (about $665) from Manuela Ramos and Kiva through her communal bank, "Nuevo Eden" (New Eden). Laura is engaged in a variety of different business ventures. She sells clothing in her neighborhood and in the villages near her family's farm in the countryside, where she also has a small grocery shop. Additionally, Laura raises chickens and owns a small fishing boat. Laura provides all the necessary materials (such as gasoline for the motor, a fishing net, supplies of water and food) for a crew to take this boat out on several-day-long fishing trips on the large lake of Yarinacocha, the small suburb of Pucallpa where Laura lives. Laura used her current loan to repair the boat's motor.

With respect to the chickens, Laura was eager to show me the pen where she raises them. Laura and I took a motorcycle taxi from her home about a mile down a dirt road to a large screened-in enclosure in a fenced-in compound. Loans from Manuela Ramos enabled Laura to build this spacious enclosure. Here she is able to raise about 2000 chicks at a time. Earnings from this enterprise total about 6000 soles ($2000) for each group of chicks. Currently the pen is bare-- Laura is allowing it to sit empty for a time to get rid of any potentially lingering disease vectors from the previous group of chickens. At the time of our conversation, she was hoping to begin raising the next batch of chicks in about three weeks time.

Laura has been working with Manuela Ramos since 2001. Not only was she able to construct her chicken pen with loans, but she was also able to purchase and equip her fishing boat. Laura told me that she has always paid back her loans on time. Occasionally she becomes frustrated with Manuela Ramos's communal bank structure because her ability to take out new loans is compromised if other members of "Nuevo Eden" cannot repay their loans. Despite these occasional frustrations, however, Laura has clearly been able to make good use of her credit from Manuela Ramos. Laura has four adult children and one of her daughters, Madeleine Almonacid Pacaya, also belongs to "Nuevo Eden" and is a Kiva borrower.

Laura's businesses appear to be doing well. Clothing sales are good and the current season is the best one for fishing. Laura would eventually like to conduct more of her business ventures from her family's farm in the countryside, a 4-5 hour boat ride up the Ucayali River from the nearby city of Pucallpa. Laura's brothers currently raise plantains and papayas on the farm and also help manage Laura's store there. Laura already has plans for her next loan: she hopes to use it to fix up her home. To view a list of currently fundraising loans from Laura's MFI, Manuela Ramos, click Here.