Borrower Profile: Jesus Lorenzo Garcia

Jesus Lorenzo Garcia

Photo by Emily Allred

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walking to Lorenzo’s house

Photo by Emily Allred

One of Lorenzo’s Employee

Photo by Emily Allred

By Jeanne Duffy, WCCN Development & Marketing Director

After a 15-minute uphill walk, through a cornfield, at 8,000 feet of altitude, WCCN study tour participants reached the home and small business of Jesus Lorenzo Garcia a bit out of breath. Lorenzo politely waited until we caught our breath before telling us about his shoemaking business in the western highlands of Guatemala near Totonicpán.

Fifteen years ago, Lorenzo was working on a corn and bean plantation but knew he could not support a family on his wages. He started his shoemaking business without access to capital and, through hard work, earned a living. 

Five years ago he took out his first loan from WCCN partner agency ASDIR for about $2,000 to purchase shoemaking machinery and hire workers to increase his productivity. In November 2010 he received a third loan for $5,000 from ASDIR and purchased a machine to glue soles on shoes instead of doing so by hand. 

Lorenzo is proud that with each loan he can buy equipment that not only increases his production but also improves the quality of his shoes. 

Lorenzo is working so that his two children have a better life. When asked about his hopes for his children, he quite bluntly said that -- if they do not have a better life as a result -- “there is no point to this.”  While working to improve his children’s lives, Lorenzo also is improving the economy in his small town by providing employment for five people.