Yes! I want to support microfinance and empower people to work their way out of poverty.

Luis Pillajo

Pesillo, Ecuador
Client of ACCION partner Banco Solidario

To support their two young daughters, Luis Pillajo and his wife María opened a tiny grocery store in the rural Ecuadorean town of Pesillo five years ago. The store measured a mere 10' x 15', and Luis and María made barely enough money to keep the shelves stocked with goods. After months of barely making ends meet, Luis heard about ACCION’s local microlending partner, Banco Solidario. He applied for and received a loan of $600.
With the loan from Banco Solidario, Luis – for the first time – was able to purchase inventory in bulk. “By buying in quantity, I saved and could then sell to my customers at a good price,” he remembers.

Luis paid back the loan, and has since taken out five additional microloans – the latest for $6,600. With each loan, he has expanded his business a little more, buying an oven to make freshly baked bread and purchasing several cows for milk. He’s also used the loans to renovate and enlarge his business: today, the store is ten times its original size.

Most importantly, Luis and María have been able to improve their quality of life. They have expanded their cramped home to make more room for their daughters and have even bought a car.

“Without the loans, we wouldn’t have had any improvement,” says Luis. “We would have been lost.”