Posts filed under 'Mexico'
So, what is a “community bank”?
By Julia Kastner, KF9 Mexico
When Kiva first started, all of its loans were to individuals. Borrower A asked for X dollars and voila! Person A got a Kiva loan. Over time, however, Kiva’s been working with more and more MFIs, and the number of different types of loans and lending models has been increasing.
Watch a meeting of a community bank (a.k.a. UDE):
As Kiva explains:
“In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a group of individuals bound by a group guarantee. Under this arrangement, each member of the group supports one another and is responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members if someone is delinquent or defaults.”
So, how is an UDE different from other group loans? Why is an UDE helpful? And how does it work?
These are the questions I’ve been asking folks here at FRAC for the last two months, and this is what I’ve learned…
4 comments 10 November 2009
Spreading the word: MFIs and Publicity
By Julie Pachico, KF9 Mexico
A big part of the loan officers’ work load at FVP is “prospectando,” or heading out into the field and reaching out to potential clients. When I was first invited to come along I was a little nervous, as my career as a canvasser lasted for all of one day and I hate pushy sales people, no matter how good the cause. However my fears were rapidly relieved within minutes of accompanying the loan officers on their door-to-door visits. Their attitude isn’t that of aggressive marketing, but rather stems from a genuine concern and desire to help. Their message isn’t so much “invest in this program,” but more along the lines of “here’s this really great microcredit service offered by this organization, have you ever heard of it?” Here is a simple video I made of “prospectando” with the FVP loan officers in the Voluntad y Trabajo neighborhood , on the outskirts of Nuevo Laredo. You can read more about FVP’s method of finding new clients behind the cut.
7 comments 7 November 2009
How to “Seguir Adelante” in Nuevo Laredo, Kiva-style
By Julie Pachico, KF9 Mexico
I said in my first post that I wanted to keep my eyes and ears open, especially in terms of how “la crisis” has been affecting the lives of Kiva borrowers in Nuevo Laredo. Most of the clients I’ve interviewed for journals have definitely commented (quite emphatically at times) that business these days has been certainly tough. What’s surprised me, though, has been the number of clients I’ve met whose struggles are more due to random acts of life or just plain bad luck, rather than the economy.
4 comments 23 October 2009
Making a mountain…
By Julia Kastner, KF9 Mexico
This week, I visited a Kiva group loan called Peña Blanca at the top of a mountain. Sometimes you can drive up to the top, but when it rains, the stones that make up the path can come loose and it can be dangerous. So the Fundación Realidad loan officer and I climbed the four hours up the hill to see how the loan was going.
I documented some of our journey so you can get an idea of what it was like!
5 comments 22 October 2009
Babies and Banking
For many of us, going to the bank (or the doctor, the post office, etc.) is a quiet, adult activity, but for many recipients of micro-loans, they have responsibilities like children that can’t get left behind.
Continue Reading 7 comments 9 October 2009
Kiva Fellow on La Frontera
By Julie Pachico, KF9 Mexico
FVP's mission statement: "to generate positive, durable change..."
I’ve been living in the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo for almost two weeks now, working with the microfinance organization Fundación para la Vivienda Progresiva. While most Fellows in my KF9 class must confront extreme jetlag, long layovers, and complicated visa applications, I didn’t even have to buy an international ticket: I flew into Laredo, was picked up by someone from FVP and then we just drove over the border. If I were so inclined, I could simply walk over the bridge to Texas and go to Starbucks. It all feels a bit disjointed here on la frontera, to say the least.
Nuevo Laredo has certainly taken its fair share of blows over the years. While it isn’t spoken of in the same horrified, awestruck tone with which people mention Tijuana and Juarez, the city and its inhabitants still come off as slightly traumatized. The streets are eerily deserted here, especially after 7pm. While driving to meet clients, the loan officers often point out locations of interest to me: “oh look, see the bullet holes in the walls there? That’s where the big shoot-out six years ago took place.” “See that apartment building? That’s where they assassinated that journalist.” It’s always the vague and indefinite “they” (“ellos”); apparently the newspapers don’t cover drug-related crimes and executions anymore. One of the accountants told me not to go to a particular gym because “the police go there,” which was definitely a first for me.
11 comments 8 October 2009
How to turn on an oven in Chiapas
Watch a video about how to light a stove in Coapilla, Chiapas, Mexico.
Continue Reading 5 comments 27 September 2009
Mexican Markets and Microentrepreneurs
By Julia Kastner, KF9
Hello!
I start my placement with Fundación Realidad on Monday, but I’ve been in Mexico a few days now and I wanted to share with you some footage of some of my favorite Mexican microentrepreneurs – the market venders. This footage is taken from the Condesa marketplace in Mexico City, one of the nicest markets I’ve seen (almost like a farmer’s market in the States), which I think shows how skilled the venders are at their work. More to come!
4 comments 19 September 2009
New York City to Mexico City – Pre-Fellowship Musings
Pre-fellowship musings.
Continue Reading 2 comments 13 July 2009
potato chips
Greetings from Zacatecas, capital city of the state of Zacatecas, Mexico! 
I have spent the better part of the week camped out in this fine colonial city to continue to bring ADMIC journal updates to Kiva lenders. Yesterday, I met Maria de la Luz and learned about her family’s potato chip making business.
This should have been a fantastic journal update for some Kiva lender but sometimes the great work of a microfinance institution (mfi) like Mexico’s ADMIC is not funded by Kiva dollars. As I am sure has happened to other fellows, the microfinance partner staff are so excited to introduce you to one of their most interesting and industrious clients that you are swept up in the moment only to return to your laptop after lots of walking, two buses and a taxi to discover (gasp!) of the 18 Maria de la Luz’s using ADMIC/Kiva funds for their business, the Maria de la Luz who makes potato chips in Zacatecas is not one of them. So in honor of all of ADMIC’s work, this a Kiva fellows blog entry. Not to mention I will take advantage of more room for pictures to share the story.
Six years ago Maria de la Luz, her parents and her brother began a potato chip making business. Her brother had worked for another person making the chips and convinced the family to get involved. The brother is no longer a part of the business but Maria de la Luz and her parents are still doing the daily labor of making the chips. For those of you have traveled in Mexico, you have likely seen folks selling chips in clear brand-free plastic bags, on the side of the road, in front of schools, on the bus, in the market. I always just thought folks bought huge bags of Lay’s and broke them down into smaller bags for re-sale. Maybe that happens, but I may have just been missing some of the finest potato chips Mexico has to offer.
Maria de la Luz and her family buy potatoes by the ton- typically six tons- to last them just about two months. The process is reasonably simple using only potatoes, oil and salt, but incredibly labor intensive. It sounds like simple but check out these pictures to get an idea of the work.
Every morning her parents are up by 7am cleaning the potatoes and removing the skins. I got there in the afternoon, so missed this step. Here are the potatoes they keep for the process.
the potatoes awaiting...maybe another two weeks worth
The potatoes are put into a slicer for…slicing. The pieces fall into a vat where they are cleaned.
From there the slices are poured into a huge vat of boiling oil presided over by her mom. The oil is changed a couple times a day to ensure it is fresh and the flavor consistent. When the color is right, Maria de la Luz’s mom sweeps them out of the fryer and sets them aside for cooling, a dash of salt and ole! potato chips!
scooping the potatoes from the fryer
Maria de la Luz then takes the boxes to the shop and bags them up for distribution.
I hope the scrappy pics do some justice to the work that I got to see. This family barely breaks even if the cost of potatoes or oil gets to high. They appreciate the loans from ADMIC. It has allowed them to purchase potatoes when times are rough and the equipment they needed to get the business started. ADMIC has been providing microloans in Mexico for over thirty years. They have branch offices throughout the country. ADMIC is one of Kiva’s long standing partners for the last 2.5 years.
Best- Megan
5 comments 30 January 2009
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