Family ties: loans from generation to generation
Monday, January 5th, 2009Blanca Méndez works at Oikocredit’s international office in Amersfoort, a lovely, green city in the heart of the Netherlands. We at MicroPlace know her as we work closely with Oikocredit on a daily basis to source many of the listings that you see on MicroPlace. Blanca recently went to South America and wrote a series of blog posts on this trip. You can see all her posts here.
Not only do microentrepreneurs stay loyal to a microfinance institutions (MFI) for years: they stay loyal for generations. I did not realize it until I met Juana Mayta Wanka, her son Leonardo Torres and his wife Karina Cori in La Paz, Bolivia.
It was not easy to find their house. With much effort, the car rode up the very steep hill on the border of La Paz city. “There, that is the bakery,” said the FIE loan officer. While the loan officer rang the doorbell, I looked around for a bakery sign. The view down to the city was amazing! I was trying to find Oikocredit’s office in the jungle of buildings 500 meters below, when the small door opened, and Doña Juana greeted us a lovely smile. She is 63, but she crossed the garage and walked up the stairs to the second floor much quicker than all of us.
