Hilda Maria

Hilda is 23 years old and lives in a rural community in Carchi province in Ecuador. She is a single mother with a small son, and she has been working on a farm, doing the milking to cover her household costs. She also runs her own business, raising cattle and growing potatoes on separate farmland.

With the benefit of her years of experience and her parent’s support, Hilda has managed to build her own business. She has a field where she grows potatoes twice a year and she has a small farm where she raises twenty calves. She employs eight people on her farm; two look after the calves and six people look after her crops. Her business is very profitable because from a young age, she learned to look after cattle: both about their care while they were growing and about the business aspects of buying and selling cattle.

Hilda also works for other people by helping with milking so that she can earn an additional income to cover her household expenses.

She has requested a loan to buy three heifers, vitamins and vaccines for her calves.