Lelia

Loan description:

Lelia Sasotil is 50 years old and married with two children. Her eldest child is 21 years old and a high school graduate while her youngest child is 19 years old and currently at college. Her husband, Jose, is 52 years old and works as a farmer. To supplement the daily income of the family, Leila runs a small business in the public market of Sibago, a neighbourhood in the town of Pinamungajan in Cebu province. She mainly offers fresh and delicious fruit products to her customers including ripe mangoes, bananas, oranges and pomelo. These fruits are sellable in all seasons but demand for them increases as soon as summer in the Philippines comes because of their refreshing taste. Along with other market vendors in the area, Lelia offers her products on a per kilo basis. She gets her stock from a trusted supplier in the market and does the retailing herself in order to generate a sufficient return. This has been her business for the past 15 years and she has been a full-time member of the microfinance organisation, Lamac Multi-Purpose Cooperative, for the same amount of time. She has had five previous cycles of microloans. She has recently availed a new loan in order to purchase more stock in bulk especially of oranges and mangoes. Lelia will use her income for the studies of her youngest child as well as save a part of it in her deposit account at the institution. Her simple dream is for her business to become sustainable and stable so she can provide all the needs of her family. The loan is set to be repaid over a period of three months.