Lucia

Mrs. Lucia owns and manages her homebased general store for many years. She sells commodities needed daily for people living in the community. Her husband Dante is an electronic technician and his income comes from fixing televisions or sound systems. Living with them now are her two daughters, one is working as a call center agent and their other daughter currently stopped schooling and had to undergo therapy after she encountered a road traffic accident.

Eleven years have passed since Lucia has been running her store selling grocery items such as rice, corn, biscuits, chips, sweets, tinned items, powdered drinks, noodles, eggs, detergents, hygiene products, cold drinks, ice cream, and many more items. She manages her store all day and earns a daily income ranging between 1,500 to 3,000 pesos (£21.32 to £ 42.65). She allows credit to some of her reliable customer and they pay their debts during paydays. Aside from the store, the couple also earns rental income from their four video-karaoke machines and the rental is 1,000 to 1,200 pesos (£14.22 to £ 17.06) per machine. "Videoke" is common among Filipinos for birthdays, fiesta celebrations and even weddings.

Right now, the couple also earn an extra income running their internet cafe, they have 10 computer units and the two units need repair. Lucia is thankful for the income she generates through her business. The businesses has helped her send her daughters to school and cover their household and other expenses.

Lucia has been a member of MFI Lamac for seven years now and she has repaid several loans already. In fact, two loans were funded by Lendwithcare in the year 2018 and 2021. The loans she previously received have helped her business grow and generate more income to support her dependents. Recently, she applied for her third loan in order to continuously access funds to restock her store with more of the products she regularly sells. Some of the loan money will go towards covering the repair cost for the two computer units and the therapy expenses for her daughter. Lucia is thankful for having access to the loans and she hopes for continuous support from the lenders so that she can provide for her family. She will repay the loan in twelve months.