Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Meet Melo, our new Matagalpa Loan Officer

I have the pleasure of introducing Maria De Los Angeles Lopez Lopez or "Melo" as our Matagalpa region's first Loan Collections Officer. With the expansion of our operations in the north of the country we have reached the capacity to require a loan officer. With our four new loan groups and many more in waiting PHPG has decided to hire local staff to assist our Program Coordinators with collections and the identification of new opportunities.


We set off by interviewing a series of well-qualified candidates for the position. But what it came down to was who had the soft skills that we felt best suited the position. Melo stood out to PHPG as one of the most proactive group leaders we've seen. She galvanized and organized her group in Susuma in ways that weren't done with other groups. This prompted Isabel to immediately offer her an interview for the position. Having spent a good amount of time observing Melo with her group and in her community we felt that she has strong interpersonal skills and wonderful ideas for how to improve our work in Matagalpa. A young mother herself, Melo is well attuned to the lives our of clients and understands their context intimately.



We are very happy to welcome Melo to our small family and hope to see great things from her soon!