Rosa, a single mother with three children, was a small business owner until health problems caused her to close her store last year. Since then she has worked to generate funding in different ways to launch a new store with a wider variety of merchandise.
She began by washing clothes to earn income, and used that income to start selling hot food items to her neighborhood. This venture generated enough for her to open a small storefront in her home stocked with basic products like sugar, salt and beans. Rosa then applied for a loan with the El Sauce Mayor’s office and used the credit to purchase store shelves and fix a refrigerator to sell chilled beverages. Yet when Rosa applied for a second loan with the Mayor’s office, the requirements were out of her reach. That’s when one of her neighbors told her about Enlace’s Microloan Program, which put made a loan available to Rosa . Rosa has since invested in expanding her store’s merchandise to meet her customers’ demands, and her fritanga now offers more delicious Nica food favorites to her neighborhood, like chilaquiles, chalupas, and pork with steamed yucca, and fresh-made juices.
--Originally Written in September 2012
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