Wanda

We are continually amazed and inspired by just how successful some women can become. Our most recent example?is Wanda. She started with us three years ago at age 21, when she had a tortilla business and was making $280 a month. By December 2016, she had completed training Cycles 1, 2, and 3 totaling 27 months. During that time, she turned over the tortilla making to her family and entered the locally produced traditional clothing business. Her profits more than doubled to $780 a month as she expanded her selling territory, improved her customer service, found better suppliers and began keeping a detailed set of books. More importantly, she and her business adviser hatched a plan to diversify by adding modern clothing, and she joined the Namaste 18-month Cycle 4 program.

That’s when her financial history really gets interesting!

With a $2,000 loan, she purchased a large inventory of new clothing in Guatemala City. She transports the clothing to the Pacific Coast for door-to-door sales. She hired two full-time sales people and some part-time help as well. This initiative has been a spectacular success – her monthly profits have averaged $6,700 over the first 13 months of her new line of business!

It is true that Wanda has had an advantage over most of our clients – she has a high school education and can devote full time (think 100 hour weeks) to her business, as she is single. She says her financial training and monthly counseling have been extremely important and the support and encouragement she receives from her business advisor – especially when she is down and feels in danger of losing sight of her dream – has made all the difference in the world.

Wanda shares her success with her family, providing health care for her teenage sister who has heart problems, and supplementing the daily expenses of her father, mother, and her two younger siblings. It’s been said that “Wanda is the motor of the house!”

Now she plans to go to college on a part-time basis next year so that she can help her community. Wanda has not only risen from humble circumstances; but she has also truly broken the glass ceiling that hovers over women in her country!