Philanthropy Friday

Zulma Goes To College!

An entrepreneur realizes her dream come true…The empowering nature of microfinance.

Zulma (see nearby photo) is one of our most successful microfinance entrepreneurs. Funded several years ago with a relatively small loan, Zulma launched her tamale shop from her home and proceeded to make a solid living providing this common fast food to hungry neighbors. Zulma’s dream, however, was to earn enough profits from her business to go to college and become a certified social worker, helping to care for the needs of the many broken souls in Honduras. Well, Zulma has graduated from college and her dream has come true! She is now an employed social worker.

What now? Zulma has brought her niece, Tiffany, into the business, enabling her to have multiple revenue streams from her social worker job AND her business. We recently provided Tiffany an expansion loan, enabling her to grow Zulma’s business and add other delicious items like pupas to her menu (see nearby photo). During a recent trip to Honduras, Tiffany catered lunch for me and a group of CareLink volunteers and I can tell you the pupusas were delicious!

Microfinance creates jobs and lifts entire communities!