Mauricio López García

Mauricio and his wife with some of their products

52 year old Mauricio López García has worked hard his whole life to support himself and his family. As his parents were both poor farmers, he started working and supporting himself at age 12, finding various farming jobs and moving around frequently.

Due to his family’s poverty and frequent moves, Mauricio was never able to receive a formal education. However, during the literacy campaigns of the 1980s, he had the opportunity to learn to read and write.

Mauricio and his wife have four children together. According to Mauricio, when he and his wife first married, they were so poor that they “didn’t even have a spoon to eat with.” Today, Mauricio is able to support his family and his children’s education with the money he earns from the store he and his wife own.

His road to success, however, was not without hardship. Mauricio and his oldest son spent some time working in Costa Rica to support their family, when his son was tragically murdered. Some years later, Mauricio and his family were living on a small farm in the mountain community of Ocotal, just outside of El Sauce, when Hurricane Mitch struck.  The family lost their farm and almost lost their lives to the hurricane. After that, Mauricio decided to move his family down to the safer location of El Sauce, where he bought some land to farm and built a home for his family. Just recently, Mauricio had to sell this farm due to a family emergency, leaving his store as his only source of income.

Mauricio and his wife outside their store

Despite all this hardship, Mauricio’s store is doing well today, and helps him provide for his family. He confesses that he started out with little knowledge on how to run a business, but he also says that “nobody comes with knowledge, you have to learn everything you do.”

Mauricio received a loan of U$200 that has enabled him to widen the variety of products in his store to include beans, corn, and wheat, which he previously could not afford. Mauricio is grateful that Enlace not only provides loans, but also teaches clients how to manage their money and their business. He says that his training from Enlace has helped him learn how to better direct the cash flow of his store and how to invest his money more efficiently.

While he is happy with the success of the store so far, Mauricio sees even more potential in his business. He hopes in the future to be able to apply for a second loan from Enlace in order to expand his store and make it more comfortable for his clients. 

--Written by Jessica Kroenert and Cameron Houser