In 2008-2009, microfinance partner organizations supported by Global Partnerships served more than 850,000 borrowers with credit and other services that help them succeed over the long term. Here are a few of their inspiring stories.

Paulina Quispe Quispe
Achocalla, Bolivia

Paulina Quispe Quispe is proud of what she and her family have accomplished. With her most recent loan from Global Partnerships microfinance partner CRECER, she has built a greenhouse and grows organic lettuce and other flowers and vegetables. She sells her crops to wholesalers--many of whom are loyal to her specifically because of her organic produce. But for Paulina, microfinance is a family activity. Paulina’s husband Alberto Jiménez runs an auto mechanic shop. Paulina used her initial loans to get the shop up and running. And now her oldest daughter, Rosa, has taken a business loan with CRECER to start her own sewing business. Rosa plans to sew on the weekends to pay for her university classes that she attends during the week.

Eudocia Ayala
San Jose de Conchacalla, Peru

With the help of an initial loan of $65 from Global Partnerships microfinance partner Arariwa, Eudocia has developed a number of income-generating activities, including selling clothing, farming, raising livestock and fishing. Her current $330 loan has helped her buy a freezer to preserve her prepared foods, fabric for her clothing business, and food and grass for her six cows.

Eudocia participates in Arariwa’s communal bank lending model, and her husband currently serves as the bank’s president. She thinks highly of Arariwa because they have been a reliable partner in her success, and because of the savings program the institution offers. Eudocia has also taken advantage of Arariwa’s technical assistance programs, receiving help with grass seeds and hygiene training for increasing her farm’s milk production.

All three of Eudocia’s children attend the local school, and their books, uniforms and school supplies are purchased with income generated from her businesses. Eudocia works hard to provide them with education and an opportunity to become professionals.

María Simiona Say Batz and her husband, Guillermo Obispo Tohom Poncio, make their living together weaving and selling traditional Mayan fabrics on hand-operated looms. The growth and success of their business has been made possible by microloans received from FONDESOL, a Global Partnerships microfinance partner institution. The couple began ten years ago with a loan of $65. Ongoing access to microcredit has helped fuel the steady growth of their enterprise, and their most recent loan was in the amount of $1,000. This support from FONDESOL has helped Maria and Guillermo purchase raw materials for their weaving, and the profits have enabled them to save enough to now own three large, wooden looms to facilitate greater levels of production.

Not only have they invested their profits into the growth of their business, they have also used those earnings to support their five children, ages 10 to 21 years old. The entire family lives together in a modest, sturdy house, built around a center courtyard, with a new tin roof and electricity. All their children attend school, and Maria and Guillermo hope that some of them will stay involved in the family business. They share a dream of one day opening their own family store where they can directly sell their products.

Seven years ago, Leticia Villega Campos took out a loan of $30 from Global Partnerships microfinance partner, Pro Mujer in Nicaragua. With that capital she began the business she continues to this day: making and selling piñatas. Over time, Leticia’s business has grown, and with it, the size of her loans. Today she pays two employees (one of whom is her daughter) who help her make the piñatas and sell them in the streets.

Leticia’s four children are all grown, and she is proud of her business and of the home she has been able to provide her children and grandchildren through her work. She is also grateful for the health services that Pro Mujer offers their clients, including low-cost cervical cancer screening.

Leticia dreams of growing her piñata business and also of adding a small cafe in her home for students to visit for lunch. She is an inspiring example of entrepreneurship as she makes use of the opportunity that microfinance, integrated with health services, provides her for improving her and her family’s life.