Women's Stories

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WE Supports The Women of Grameen de la Frontera

WE is raising money to provide business loans for the women of Sonora, Mexico.

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One of GDLF's first clients, Matilde Montes Valdez is now on her 10th loan and has recently paid back a loan of almost $1,000. She and her husband are successful entrepreneurs who raise and butcher livestock, operate a small store, and sell food at community fiestas.

A Family Business Thrives

In 2000, Matilde Montes Valdez and her young children relied on her husband's wages as a day laborer. “We could not save money,” she explained. “If we wanted to do something, we wouldn't have the means to do it.”

Matilde was the first in her neighborhood to join GDLF. “I have been with Grameen since the beginning and I've done very well. I've had ten loans. Recently I paid off my second loan of 10,000 pesos (about $1,000) and now I would like to borrow 15,000 or 20,000.”

With her first loan of 1,000 pesos, Matilde opened a small shop to sell groceries, gifts, and women's accessories. With her profits, she purchased pigs that her husband, Julio Cesar, butchered and sold for meat. With subsequent loans, she acquired lambs and an old vendor's cart so she could sell more food. Eventually, she had 60 pigs she gradually sold so she could buy a hot dog cart and a griddle for making carne asada tacos.

She grew the business for six years, but closed it when competition from similar stores reduced her profits. Matilde, however, saw this as a new opportunity. She continues to sell gifts and accessories from her new house, bought with profits from her business, but she earns more on the sale of meat from their animals and food vending opportunities.

Matilde is always smiling. Her optimism and faith in people have given her the courage to confront difficult situations, including the time a pack of starving dogs killed 22 of her fattened sheep.

During all these years, her husband has been involved in all the businesses. Now they are both confident entrepreneurs, partners who know how to grow their businesses.

Today, at 34, Matilde is stronger than ever in her conviction. “I am not going to stop selling, as this is my work. Grameen has been good for me and thanks to them, we are doing well.”