MOM-PRENEURS – How four women turned microfinance loans into profitable businesses to support their families

With small loans and sheer hard work, these four women from El Salvador, India, Tanzania and Ethiopia have grown successful businesses. But their greatest reward remains the ability to provide for the needs of their children. Read their stories below:

Maria Mendoza, El Salvador (Bakery)

Sponsored child Veronica, 12, eats buns from her mother’s bakery. It’s the only one in their rural community in El Salvador.

Maria Mendoza, 50, is more than a breadmaker: she’s a breadwinner. The earnings from the 300 loaves of bread she and her 12-year-old daughter, Veronica, bake each day go to feed and purchase school supplies for the sponsored child and her nine brothers and sisters.

Before launching her business in 2002, Mendoza and her family struggled to survive on her husband’s meager income as a subsistence farmer in El Salvador. “It wasn’t enough for us to live on,” she says. With Veronica suffering from malnutrition, Mendoza signed up for nutritional training from World Vision. As part of the programme, she received a loan to purchase a $250 oven to start her own bakery with two other women in her area.

Because it’s the only bakery in the community, business has been booming. But for Mendoza, the real payoff isn’t monetary. “Veronica is very happy because she is gaining weight and getting better,” she says. “Because she is happy, I am happy, too.”

You can help women in Asia like Maria by supporting the microfinance programmes in their countries. To contribute to VisionFund – World Vision’s microfinance subsidiary, click here.








Rekha Ananda Parit, India (Garment Shop)

Rekha Ananda Parit (left) sells saris to factories near her village in India.

After attending a World Vision employment workshop for women, Rekha Ananda Parit, 35, decided to form a group with 11 other moms. With the help of a loan through World Vision, the women began selling garments in their rural village in India. They take orders for saris and underwear from a nearby garment factory. “We have gone a long way,” says Parit. The group now also takes orders from other establishments in the garment industry near their village.

The self-made businesswoman now feels she can handle almost any situation. “I have confidence to talk to men and government officials,” she says. And most importantly, she’s putting food on the table for her children.

You can help women in Asia like Parit by supporting the microfinance programmes in their countries. To contribute to VisionFund – World Vision’s microfinance subsidiary, click here.

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Hamisa Bernard, Tanzania (Basic Goods Kiosk)

Hamisa Bernard uses the profits from her basic goods kiosk in Tanzania to help provide for her children.

Besides toothpaste, soap and packets of porridge, Hamisa Bernard, 27, supplies another key commodity in her rural community in Tanzania – hope. The mother of three has gone from poverty to operating her own kiosk and co-owning a catering business with a group of friends. “My community saw my success and many have joined income-generating groups,” says Bernard.

Having parlayed two loans of 20,000 Tanzanian shillings (S$23) into her two thriving businesses, she now plans to apply for a loan of 60,000 Tanzanian shillings (S$69) to improve her kiosk and increase its stock of goods. Eventually, she hopes to open her own clothing store.

Bernard credits World Vision with giving her the financing and business training she needed to succeed. But no matter how busy her business gets, the bottom line for her remains the same: “The bigger and better my business becomes,” she says, “the better I can look after my children.”

You can help women in Asia like Bernard by supporting the microfinance programmes in their countries. To contribute to VisionFund – World Vision’s microfinance subsidiary, click here.


Tiruesh Tadese, Ethiopia (Dairy Business)

Hamisa Bernard uses the profits from her basic goods kiosk in Tanzania to help provide for her children.

When Tiruesh Tadese, 42, and six friends took out a small loan to start selling butter and cheese, they had no idea they’d be running a successful bus service in their community two years later.

Tadese received the loan for the dairy business through a World Vision-affiliated microfinance institution in Ethiopia six years ago. After paying off the loan, the mother of seven and her partners then leveraged the profits, along with two additional loans, to rent buses for the public transport venture. Their business became so successful, they now own their own bus.

With her earnings, Tadese built a home and was able to send one child to university. “I never imagined my life would be this much better,” says Tadese.

You can help women in Asia like Tadese by supporting the microfinance programmes in their countries. To contribute to VisionFund – World Vision’s microfinance subsidiary, click here.