Colquiri Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to COLQUIRI Group, consisting of HENRY RONALD, EUSTAQUIA, LENNY PATRICIA, ROSMERY LUISA, FRANCISCO, PAOLA JACKELINE, MARY ELBA, LIZ ALIZON, GLADYS, MARIA ELIZABETH, GABRIELA, VICTORIA HILDA, CRISTINA by Fundación Agrocapital, a partner of ACDI/VOCA in Bolivia. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 5 months of this loan, Fundación Agrocapital, a partner of ACDI/VOCA will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

I went to visit the Colquiri group meeting today to see how their loans had been going.

Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of conflict within the group since a few members had not paid, and tensions were running high. This has been a good group all along, and this is the very first payment in which members have not paid. According to AgroCapital policy, if the group as a whole does not fulfill its payment, it will be cut off from access to future loans. Some group members were of the opinion that they did not want to “pay for the sins of others,” or cover payments of members that had no made enough of an effort to pay back. Other group members lamented the lack of unity in the group. For example, one member explained that she had been in groups with other microfinance institutions in Bolivia like ProMujer and Crecer, and her groups had always united to cover missed payments of any one group member. Her opinion was that in this group, when one member missed, other members slacked off as well. Don Roberto, the loan officer offered empathetically, “Maybe it is just because they actually don’t have the money to pay it off.”

Whatever the cause, Don Roberto made it clear that it was in the group’s best interest to sort out any conflicts they had and come up with the minimum payment so that they can keep getting loans in the future, especially since it would be difficult to get loans even from other institutions if they defaulted. He told them to find a way to make it happen.

One young woman is a prime example of “making the payments happen” through rough times. She sells soft drinks to stores on foot, and used the loan to buy more soft drinks to sell. Recently, her husband, who drives a taxi, hurt his leg playing soccer. His leg got infected, got gangrene, and he had to have an operation. Now, his leg is bandaged and in the process of getting better and he can walk, but he hasn’t been able to drive his taxi for two weeks. In addition, she has not been able to sell soft drinks for a couple of weeks since she’s been at home taking care of her husband. She sold her TV, DVD player, and a gas tank for the stove in order to make her payment, and all that remains is her baby’s cradle, which she is not willing to sell. She is a bit short on the amount of money due, and she brought all of her husband’s hospital bills as proof to show the loan officer.

On the other hand, another woman sells snacks in a stand on a college campus. Since the economic downturn, students aren’t buying from her stand like they used to. In addition, right now they are on their winter vacations, so there has been no one on campus for two weeks. This woman took out the most amount of money and owes the most amount of money (equivalent to about 120 dollars).

One woman has sold food in a stand in the town for ten years. She agrees that business has gone bad in the past year since people don’t have money. She is thinking of shutting down her business and getting a paid position in a kitchen, laundromat, or business. However, since she took out a smaller loan, she has made her payments.

One man drives a taxi and took out the loan as a form of savings, since AgroCapital requires that the members save a portion of their income at every repayment. He used the loan to buy tires and oil for his taxi, which has helped his business. He would like to keep growing and buy another taxi in the future.

One woman sells clothing, and says that the loan has helped her business to keep running through hard times. Since it is wintertime, she says that people do not go out and buy as much as they do in the summer, so her business has slowed a bit, but the loan helps it to keep going.

Don Roberto sat down and hashed out the problems with all of the group members for two whole hours. He genuinely cares about this group and does not want them to get cut off from access to future loans just because of a few members that did not pay. He told them he would keep visiting them in the next week until they paid back the minimum amount, and they agreed to that.

Since AgroCapital covers any losses from borrower default, the lenders to this group will always receive their repayments.

If these entrepreneurs interested you, consider lending to more AgroCapital clients here.