Visita a la comerativa "de todas"

Today we had the chance to meet the facilities of “Banco solidario” “detodas” located in downtown Guayaquil in “ciudadela los almentros”
The building was small and really hard to find because the cooperative’s sign was hard to find itself. We could say that at that time of the day there were a few associates in the place.
We spoke to Mrs. Llanela Guamanga who wanted to lend 100 dollars to start an internet coffee place with other girlfriends in the “Guayacanes” area in the north of the city.
We hang out with her that day and we asked her to take us to her business which actually was her own home’s living room.
We could see that the space was very limited and in very bad shape.
Another thing that warned us was that in that area there were a few of that kind of business already as well as small restaurants and shopsLlanela needed that money to make some small upgrades to her place like painting and buying and a.c unit.
Mrs. Llanela told us that she wasn’t in the cooperatives yet because she didn’t had a clue about how to do it and for lack of time, but that she already had started filling the documents for the inscription that same day.
During our time together we asked her a few questions that we brought from class:

Why did you decide to start the business by your own?
Mrs. Llanela explained us that she already had a previous business before (“encebolladeria”) but she did it along with her husband that never really helped her and use to hit her in front of all the customers, which is why instead of making money they were losing it so this is why they stopped.

What does ur husband think about this?
The lady told us that after the failure of the “encebolladeria” and after another problems she had with him she decided to make a complaint to the police and divorce from him due to physical violence (he use to hit her).

What did you do when you lose ur last business?
She started to sell beauty and natural dietetical products (Noni juice) from home to home and among her girlfriends which were her main clients

Why did you decide to change your business?
The lady told us that in her area there were already some internet cafés but she was sure that one more, not to close from the others will give her good profits, plus she assure us that her business was going to be good because her own sons will run the place and take care of everything.

What does another your girlfriends thing about that?
Her friends were really proud of her and there were other few that wanted to do the same thing and abandon their own small business and gather together to start something bigger.
To finish my blog entry I would like to emphasize how this initiative has made that lots of people rise up and decide to get busy to start their own businesses, that is something that really works for giving movement to ideas from people that plus get organized and help each other.