Workshop in Matagalpa!

Today we had our first workshop in Matagalpa! It was a great success! 16 women micro-entrepreneurs joined us to discuss how to improve their businesses. The goal was to think more about their businesses, their costs, profit, and operations. The women were all very active and the discussion was lively. 

Here's a taste of what we discussed:

* The importance of planning
* Steps for a feasibility study
* Analysis of expenses and income
* How to set prices & determine costs per unit.
* How to and why separate business expenses from personal expenses

Group leader Hazell at the board.

Iriz reading out-loud for us.

 Listening intently.

     

Martha at the board.

The Pulsera Project Loans in Action

This post is written by Trent Shelton, PHPG's Program Coordinator in the Granada region.

A month ago, we distributed 10 loans to members of the Pulsera Project cooperative. In the past 30 days, each client has had the chance to invest the loan into their own business. Ranging from businesses of buying and selling cheese to repairing and selling cell phones, the young adults are now in action with their own businesses. Here are highlights of a few of the businesses.

Pollera

Yelma, one of the Pulsera Project’s long time coop members, has always wanted to start his own business of raising chickens. However, the high start-up cost was always the main obstacle. Owning a small piece of land on the outskirts of Granada, he was prepared to make his dream come true. With the help of the loan provided by the partnership between the Pulsera Project and PHPG, Yelma has put his business plan into action.

Yelma has constructed a chicken coup equipped with all the necessities. During the day, he makes sure someone is there to take care of the operation, usually himself or a member of his family. To start, 102 chicks were purchased. After raising the chickens to maturity, he will sell them at the local market to earn his profit. Afterwards, more chicks will then be purchased to restart the cycle. Over time, Yelma plans to reinvest his profits to expand the size of his chicken coup in order to raise more chickens and to continually increase his earnings.

Yelma's Chicken Coup

PHPG's Juan Carlos, taking the opportunity to check out the chicken coup

Yelma has purchased 102 chicks which will eventually be sold in the local market

Hamaqueros

Made up of Ernesto, Rommel, Adolfo, and Geovanny, the loan group called the Hamaqueros specialize in the production of hand-made hammocks. Each member was given a loan of about $200, which was used by each of them to invest in their own hammock workshop, tools, and materials. The high-quality hammocks are sold in the Pulsera Project store in Granada. Each hammock takes about 8 hours to make.

Ernesto using his newly purchased hammock workshop

Adolfo preparing his materials

Rommel takes a break from making a hammock to create one of his popular bracelets

Stories from the field: Jaquelina, the Queen of Cashews

Jaquelina Silva is a loan recipient of People Helping People Global. Jaquelina and her family of seven work in the cashew business. Each week they buy sacks of raw cashews to clean, prepare and sell. They are quite happy, because unlike most jobs in Nicaragua their earnings are reliable. A buyer from Costa Rica comes each Sunday to take away however many sacks of prepared cashews they were able to process and bag for that week.

Jaquelina took out a loan from PHPG in October of 2010 to improve her cashew business. One year later not only had she fully repaid her loan, but she had improved her business immensely. With more earned income, she now hires two of her neighbors to help her family with the labor-intensive cashew production. Jaquelina commented, "With more hands to shuck, clean, and toast the cashews, we are able to produce more cleaned cashews at a quicker rate."

On top of adding employees to her family cashew business, Jaquelina has also begun to replace her flimsy scrap metal walls with concrete. "It is a work in progress," she says, "as we continue to make more money from the cashew sales we will continue to improve our home."

PHPG is proud to work with amazing people like Jaquelina. She is both a strong business woman and an amazing role model for the entire community. Not only is she improving the lives of those in her family. She's employing others in her community and helping them improve their lives as well.