Maria

Maria is 43 years old and separated from her husband. She lives with her new partner named Allan. She has four children ages between 9 and 20 years old. All her children are studying in different levels. and they all live in Cebu province. Maria used to work at the village hall until this year she decided to move on by running her own food shop selling snacks and easy to cook dishes and barbecues.

For the past eight months Maria and her partner Allan have been managing a food shop selling snacks like buko juice and fried bananas. During lunchtime, they also serve easy-to-cook dishes and in the afternoon they start selling pork barbecues. Maria pays the monthly rent of 1,500.00 pesos (£21.92) for the space used for her small business. Her business opens daily and it is found near the public terminal. For the snacks alone, she earns sales of 3,500 pesos (£51.18). Her snacks are fast selling to drivers and passengers. Maria’s sales are up during the weekends since more people are in and out of their village.

To start her small business, Maria joined our local partner MFI-Lamac eight months ago and she applied for loans. She already repaid three previous loans and those loans have helped a lot for her to buy the daily ingredients needed for her business. Recently, she applied another loan and she promises to repay the loan in 10 months. Part of the loan was also used for paying the school fees of her children. With the help of the loan, Maria is more positive that her business will continue to grow and earn more profit which will surely help her to cover the needs of her family.