What do small business owners need?

I am spending one week interviewing small business owners in an impoverished community, San Andres Azumiatla, in the city of Puebla. These business owners are members of Caja Depac Poblana, a savings cooperative, and must save a small amount on a monthly basis in order to qualify for loans. They take out out loans mainly to improve their businesses but also for unexpected expenses such as

an illness.

After interviewing many business owners, I felt inspired by their stories of survival, perseverance and business acumen. I was surprised by the commonalities in the obstacles that small business owners in poor communities face in order to grow their businesses.

Sra. Maria is a mother of four young children whose husband dedicates himself more to politics than to his family. He eventually left for the United States and didn't send any money to his family. Sra. Maria was forced to find a way to make a living in order to support her family. She opened a butcher shop that is one of the most popular in the community. She currently buys about 6 cows that she slaughters based on demand. Her customers are her neighbors who like the quality of the meat she sells them and maintain their loyalty to her in spite of competition. She currently operates her business from a small room in her house with full time hired help where she has a meat cutting machine and a refridgerator. Sra. Maria's dream is to open a first class meat shop with a glass display, a clean space that is comfortable and appealing to the customers and a diverse selection of meat products. She strives towards registering her butcher shop with the city slaughter house. She is confident that she can realize her dream if she perseveres, making small but constant strides towards her goals. The biggest obstacle she faces is access to credit with a sufficient repayment term that allows her to generate the profit necessary to repay her loan.

Sra. Anselma makes gorditas, a traditional snack from Puebla that consists of fried tortilla with cheese and salsa. As many women in the community, she was a housewife for many years until her husband lost his job and she faced serious health problems, generating an unprecedented level of expenses. In desperation she turned to community loan sharks who would lend her 200 dollars which in a matter of few months became 1,000 dollars. She eventually accrued almost 10,000 dollars worth of debt at an exhorbitant interest rate of 10% monthly. Sra. Anselma opened two gordita stands and has made a serious effort to pay off her loan. She cooks the corn the night before and then wakes up at 5am to take the corn to be ground. Then she prepares the sauces and stores everything in containers that she will need for both of her stands. After dropping off the ingredients to the stand that is operated by hired help, she drives to her stand to set the stove and tables in place. After being up on her feet for more than seven hours, she goes to the market to buy the ingredients she will need for the next day. Sra. Anselma dreams about having an enclosed stand to sell gorditas, where she can be protected from the wind and the rain, offering more quality to her customers. She wants to grow her business and open more gordita stands in the city of Puebla. Sra. Anselma needs help improving the image of her business, learning about ways to ensure higher quality gorditas and diversifying the snacks that she sells.

Sra. Anselma and Sra. Maria are two of the savy business women who want to grow their businesses yet lack the necessary tools to do so. They need support in expanding access to markets, sufficient capital to buy raw materias in bulk, and credit to invest in equipment. Most importantly they need to believe that they can make their professional goals come true.