Ma. Diana Rose

Ma. Diana Rose Hulguin is a 30-year-old businesswoman. She has been running a shop selling used clothes for nine years now. This business is called a "ukay-ukay" in the Philippines. She is married to John Renan and they both have three children ages 12 and 8 years old, and 2 months old. The family all lives in the Cebu province.

"Ukay-Ukay" is the term used to describe businesses that sell affordable, often second-hand clothes, bags, and accessories that are imported from other countries. Diana focuses on selling t-shirts, shorts, trousers, sleepwear and swimwear. The prices of the items depend on the quality and what country they came from. She buys her items to sell in Cebu city and usually buys them in volume in order to save on travel expenses and avail discounts from her suppliers. Diana's business has been operating for 9 years now and it has been the main source of her family's income during this period. She owns her land so does not need to pay rent. This year, she pays her annual permit of 4,500 pesos (approximately £66). Her husband is her business partner, and they also employ one full-time worker. Any unsold items are not a problem because she can still resell them to rug makers in town. She earns daily sales between 4,000 to 7,000 pesos (between £58 and £102 approximately).

Diana has been receiving loans from Lendwithcare's microfinance partner MFI-Lamac since the year 2019. Recently, she applied for this, her seventh loan, in order to have more funds to buy additional stocks of clothes. She hopes that she will gain greater profits for their family's future. Diana promises to continue to repay her loans on time so that she can keep receiving loans from the cooperative. She will repay this loan in ten months' time.