Monday, December 14, 2015

Distribution of New Loans in El Pantanal

While during the second week of November the center of Granada was getting ready for "Hípica", a local horse parade, which attracts both tourists and Nicaraguans to come to Granada giving them an excuse to go out and drink some Nicaraguan rum and beer, in El Pantanal, which is sometimes referred to as the forgotten district of Granada, because it does not appear on maps and is never visited by tourists, we were distributing new loans to our existing clients.
Juan Carlos and Esterlina enjoying their breakfast
The day of disbursement we started with breakfast together with a group of " Unión Que Hace La Fuerza", which had repaid its second PHPG´s loan recently and since that morning has been enjoying the benefits of cooperating with PHPG for its third time. The good thing about working for PHPG is that occasionally one is obliged to inspect businesses of our clients for example like this - eating delicious “enchiladas” that one member of this group sells.

Although it was a very hot day for this time of year even for Nicaragua, we enjoyed this opportunity to meet some of our clients and a talk we had about their future plans. One of the most successful groups - "Las Triunfadoras" - which just got its fourth loan from PHPG, told us about their plan of opening a new dining spot sometime next year. Although all Las Triunfadoras´ ladies have their own businesses like shoe store, fashion design and sewing etc. that does not stop their entrepreneur´s spirit to seek new opportunities to improve their financial situation. What a motivation to see that!
Petra and "Union Que Hace La Fuerza"

October in Matagalpa

Mandiel
We finished the month of October and initial training of new PHPG´s coordinator, Petra, by new loan disbursement, enriching our list of clients in Matagalpa by a new group of kind ladies. This way PHPG helped Maria Delmis to expand her “mini pulpería”, mini grocery store, by selling mobile phone’s refills, and to invest more money in rest of businesses that our new clients have. They dedicate themselves among other to the sale of milk products, secondhand clothing or sewing. Because the objective of PHPG is not only to provide loans but also to strengthen the relations between group members so they share their work experience, we are proud that with the help of Maria Jacoba who apart from working as a teacher in a local primary school has 20-years’ experience in selling secondhand clothes, the leader of the group Mandiel could start her proper business with secondhand garments.
Maria Jacoba




Unfortunately October also was the last month for Berly who supervised PHPG´s activities in Matagalpa. Berly has done an outstanding job, not only distributing new loans but also giving various lectures improving financial literacy of our clients, initiating new partnerships with other NGOs in Matagalpa and many more. Therefore we would like to thank her for everything she has done for our clients in Matagalpa and PHPG in general and we wish her all best in future.