This blog will focus on a project I worked on in Bolivia with a woman named Maria. I’ve participated in several Bolivian based projects, some small, and some large. Bolivia is located in South America, and happens to be the continent I was born on.
Now, I should start by saying that if you want to start a business, no matter where it is, there will be start-up costs. Never believe the ads that tell you that you can start a business for free because there is no such thing.
Maria is a Bolivian native in her 40’s who sells DVDs on a kiosk (see picture). She wanted to raise about $875 USD to improve and expand her business, and I thought this would be a good project to get involved with.
Maria used some of the money to buy a television so that she can display her movies while customers are browsing. She is going to invest in her company by expanding her DVD inventory, since there is a high demand right now. Maria faces challenges in her business because of a lack of cash to buy her products (don’t we all), so she is going to use the loan to continue buying a variety of products for each selling season. Maria’s dream is to grow her business to help support her family even more. This project is just a few months old, but already a great success, and something I am very proud to be apart of.
So… why is this so important to me? I have participated in projects where I send money every week / month, and it sometimes gets discouraging after a while to not see progress or sustainability. I mean, what’s going to happen when I’m poor, and can’t afford to send anymore money? I say this so that I can point out that this project with Maria is sustainable. Maria is a person who is building something that she can eventually hand down to her children. Okay, it may not be DVDs in the future, but you know what I mean…
Asif Zamir
