Karina Tipto Perez

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Karina Tipto Perez 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.

Last week I visited Karina at her home to talk about her business ventures. Karina currently lives in her mother's house, a modest wooden home built on short stilts to avoid the overflow of water during the rainy season. Karina continues to sell Ebel beauty products and cheese. Karina purchases her cheese from a factory twice a week and earns a profit of 3 soles ($1) for each cheese she sells. This amounts to a profit of about 60 soles ($20) per week. Karina must choose her clients carefully because she sometimes has difficulties with people who do not pay what they owe her (she sells on credit). Karina and her partner also have sound equipment which they rent out for parties.

Karina studied primary education but was not able to get a job as a teacher this year. For this reason, she is using her teaching skills elsewhere: Karina runs a preschool program in her home for low-income children. During the school year, every day a small group of 2-year-olds comes to her home from 8:00 to 11:00 am. Karina is paid 332 soles (about $110) per month by the government for running this program.

Karina also lives with her partner. They have two children, aged 10 and 2. Karina's partner works as a motorcycle taxi driver. Karina was able to purchase this vehicle with her loans from Kiva partner Manuela Ramos. Karina has been working with Manuela Ramos for five years and told me that her credit has served her well. She is currently paying back a loan of 800 soles ($265) through her communal bank, "La Familia" (The Family). She has used this loan to purchase more beauty products and cheese.

Next door to her mother's home Karina is currently preparing a piece of land on which she wants to build her house. She hopes someday to have a business out of her home selling food and drinks to the workers from the Maple Gas company, located across the street. In this short video clip Karina speaks briefly of her desire to have her own stable business venture once she has her house.

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