Norma is 37 and lives with her partner and their two children, ages one and five, who are starting school. They live in a rented room, which is built out of brick and is connected to the main utilities. She runs a bakery downtown alongside her partner.
She is standing in the back row of the picture, wearing a black sweater. Her desire to improve her income led her to found this group. Its members work in a variety of businesses: selling natural products, selling food, selling used clothing, selling cosmetics, repairing cell phones, making sheets, and selling soft drinks.
Norma sells traditional baked goods, made with cornflour, cassava, and rice. As opposed to bread, these pastries call for milk, and need not be served with butter or sweets. They are mainly consumed at tea time, hot or cold. “I do the baking in the afternoons. That way I have the whole morning to take care of my children,” she says. Her success is due to the popularity of her pastries. Her advantage is that she has regular customers, and her main disadvantage is not having enough flour. Her dream is to become the most popular baker. She wants to use this loan to buy cornflour, cassava, and rice. She has been in business for three years and this is her first loan cycle through Emprender.
In this group: Norma, Nidia, Paulina, Bety, Lidia, Felipe, Mirka Gabriela, Vania
*not pictured
Translated from Spanish by Kiva volunteer Mariana Sanchis View original language description