Ana is a woman of 59, single, with older and independent children. Her business is selling food. (She is seated and wearing a gray blouse.) Her business takes place in the rural area of Cotoca, which stores agricultural production to distribute to markets in the city. The need to improve her business led her to leading the entrepreneurial bank.
The businesses of the partners are: fabricating hats from palm, baking, selling sugar cane honey, leather craftsmanship, selling hot drinks, producing dulce de leche, agriculture, and selling ice creams.
Ana’s business is selling traditional food such as ‘watía’ [which is food cooked in an underground oven]. This is a soup with a pig’s head base, which is accompanied by corn. The cooking takes approximately six hours, and it is said to be a curative broth for hangovers. “I start to cook early in the morning to have the food ready as soon as possible,” she says. Her business is successful because she has many years of experience. One advantage of her business is that it sells all types of food. A disadvantage is the lack of kitchen ingredients.
Her dream is to build her house. She wants to buy meat, corn, and other ingredients. This is the first sequence of loans with this institution in two years for this type of endeavor. It is for these motives that Ana is asking for a loan to buy meat, corn, and other ingredients to sell food every day.
In this group: Ana Marlene, Dayana, Ena, Maria Jesus, Ross Mery, Roly, Maria Isabel, Maria De Los Ang, Jocelyne Mariana
*not pictured
This loan is special because:
Jon
Kiva staff
More about this loan
This loan product is designed to provide working capital to riskier agricultural businesses who have been traditionally excluded from the finance sector.
About Emprender:
Emprender has been working in Bolivia since 1999. It is dedicated to becoming a key tool in the development of its clients and the improvement of their quality of life. Operating in three of Bolivia’s major cities – La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz – Emprender offers both urban and rural clients the opportunity to obtain financial products tailored to fit their needs and businesses. These products include housing loans, salary loans, “opportunity” (short-term) loans, and higher education loans. To better the quality of life for its clients and non-clients through non-financial services, Emprender offers free medical consultations and health classes given by trained doctors.