Las Pioneras Group

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to LAS PIONERAS Group, consisting of ROSSEMARY, BRINDICIA, WILDER ALVARO, ISABEL MARIA, ALEIDA VICTORIA, MARISOL, SANDRA IRIS, FLORENTINA, MARIA INES, ALICIA XIMENA, MARIA, JUANA by Fundación Agrocapital, a partner of ACDI/VOCA in Bolivia. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 4 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.

Today, I went to visit the group meeting of Las Pioneras, who had met up behind Victoria’s grocery store.

Juana had has a cassava stand for eight years, and she used her loan to buy more cassava to sell. Her business has grown substantially, and she has a lot more profits than before. With the profits, she has been able to buy a TV and a DVD player for her home. Juana has three children that are 12, 6, and 1. Juana has been able to buy a lot more food for the household. She says, “Before, we used to eat once a day. Now, we each have two, three meals a day.” When asked about her future goals, she smiled and replied, “I haven’t thought about those yet.”

Rossemary sells clothing out of her home, and used her loan to buy more goods to sell. She told me that the loan has helped her a lot, especially in paying for her son’s education. Her son is in college, studying electro-mechanics. Her daughter is graduating from high school this year and is also going to get a bachelor’s degree. The main difference in her life has been that she is more at peace now, since it is much easier to pay her electricity and telephone bills. Right now, the family lives in a rented home but she would like to buy a house in another part of town. “Houses are so expensive here, especially if you want paved roads and access to public transportation!” she exclaims. “But with another loan, I think it’s possible.”

Florentina has had a stand with all sorts of groceries, like bread, oil, sugar, etc, for a few years. She used her loan to buy a garage door and to buy more food to sell at her stand. Though there is a lot competition in the market, she has made every single payment on time. In the future, she looks forward to keep taking out small loans. She says, “I only take out as much as I can pay back. I don’t like to miss payments.”

Brindicia had has a cart on which she makes and sells malteadas, or milk smoothies for two years. In the past, she used to be a maid, but she got tired of working in homes, so she started her own business. With this business, she has a higher income than before. Brindicia used her loan to buy milk, plastic cups, sugar, and wheels for her cart, and has made higher profits since she expanded her business. She has mainly used the profits to better feed her two children, a high school and a college student studying linguistics. The higher income has also improved the household’s health and allowed her to pay for her daughter’s education. (Universities in Bolivia are very cheap.) In the future, she would like to open her own store, maybe in the next two years. Also, when her daughter graduates in two years, Brindicia would like to finish constructing a new home for her family.

Isabel has a cosmetics stand, and she used her loan to buy more cosmetics from wholesale vendors. Isabel has two children that are 6 and 2, and comments that her business has been going well. However, she does not think she will continue with AgroCapital since cosmetics are expensive by unit, so she needs bigger loans in order to buy cosmetics in large quantities.

Victoria is a jolly elderly woman who loves to joke around. Victoria has a store where she sells grocery products. Victoria told me that the loan has helped her business keep going, but there aren’t a lot of sales at the moment because of the bad economy. “I make enough profits to feed my family and fulfill certain obligations,” she says. She takes the rise and fall of sales in stride, and tells me that the store is a help in the household, since she can buy a few more things for her children to eat, but is not the main source of income for the household. Her husband drives a taxi and works for AgroPecuaria, an NGO that works in agriculture.

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