I spent two days last week in Lima, Peru with the wonderful team at EDAPROSPO (Vittana’s first MFI partner). (Photo above is with Gustavo Chauca (Director of Education Loan Program) and David Ardela (Executive Director). EDAPROSPO has been in the microfinance business for more than 15 years and they have almost 4,000 microfinance clients throughout the mega-city of Lima. After partnering with Vittana earlier in 2009, they started creating a student loan product to offer to the children of their microfinance clients. Currently, EDAPROSPO has already dispersed (and Vittana lenders like you have funded) one student loan, and they have plans to disperse another dozen (two in each of their six branches) by the end of the year.
EDAPROSPO advertising their “Programma Prosperidad” (their microfinance loan product)
Their plans for 2010 are even bigger. After doing some market research with their client base, EDAPROSPO learned that practically every eligible client (someone who’s been a borrower for more than one year and who has a child between 18-29 who has or will complete high school with good grades) would like to take advantage of a student loan product.
Brainstorming plans for 2010 with Gustavo Chauco (center with laptop), Director of EDAPROSPO’s new education loan product, and all the EDAPROSPO branch managers.
Melissa (head of EDAPROSPO’s microfinance program) said, “Most of our (clients), already use any extra money they have for their children’s education. They can be living in a house that hardly has a roof, but their kids will be studying hard for university, and their mother’s will be saving for it.”
In fact, the school loan product is so popular, that even the staff at EDAPROSPO are excited to take advantage of it once the pilot program is complete. This enthusiasm for education has a dark cloud over it though. Very rarely are EDAPROSPO’s clients (or any Peruvian who isn’t in the very highest of economic classes) able to save up enough to send their kids even to a 3-6 month technical program (like a certificate program on Microsoft Office) let alone enough to attend a 3-5 year university. Moreover, it’s practically impossible to get a loan to go to school — education loans simply are not accessable in Peru. Most banks don’t even offer them. Until now.
EDAPROSPO Team saying “V for Vittana” and “V for Victory in Education”: Gustavo Chauca (Director of Education Loan Program), Veronica Caucho (Branch Manager), David Ardela (Executive Director), Milagros Vasque (Branch Manager), Nalda Gamboa (Branch Manager), Daisy Rodriques Baimeceda (Branch Manager), Katie Gruver (Vittana Fellow), Elizabeth Lazo (Branch Manager) and Roberto Huatuco (Branch Manager)
EDAPROSPO has big plans to expand their education loan product in the coming years so that anyone who is eligible and who wants to continue their education will be able to fulfill their dreams. The success that they’re seeing with their first student loan recipient, Nardith, only encourages them to further pursue this goal.
We were able to meet with Nardith and her family in her home for about an hour while we were in Lima. (We all wanted to chat longer, but she had to get back to class. I didn’t think it would be wise for me to keep her from her studies for too long!)
Melissa (Director of Prosperty Program), Francesca (Nardith’s Loan Officer), Katie, Nardith, Angelica (Nardith’s mom) and Nardith’s youngest brother Stephen.
Nardith is 23 years old and mother to a smiley four-year-old son. She had been attending school when she got pregnant, but after her son was born, she dropped out so that she could care for him. Like most students in Peru, she was going to school, working full time. On top of this, she was trying to care for her new baby. There were just not enough hours in the day for everything.
Fast forward four years. Nardith’s mother Angelica Norma Marcelo Asencios, has been a long-term microfinance client of EDAPROSPO. Angelica now owns her own combi (a bus-like taxi) business and, as a single parent, makes enough money to care for her family (2 daughters and 2 young sons) and also put some money away for the future. When Angelica’s loan officer at EDAPROSPO approached her to see if any of her children would like to try out EDAPROSPO’s new education loan product, Angelica and Nardith jumped at the offer. Within two months, Nardith was signed up for classes (this time in laboratory science program), the loan was organized and about 10 Vittana lenders from the U.S. had fully funded her loan for $700.
Nardith and her brother Stephen, next to their mother’s combi.
Nardith is currently going to school full time (4 hours of class in the morning, 3 hours of class at night) and working full time selling paintings at a tourist shop during the afternoon in between classes. Her grades are good and she likes her professors. She’s excited about school even though her studies are quite challenging. Her mother beamed at her through the entire interview… obviously proud of how bright her family’s future was looking.
When we left EDAPROSPO, the team was finalizing their plans for an Client Information Fair in late November. They plan to offer information sessions on their new education loan product and start accepting new loan applications. To date, they expected between 500-600 attendees.
From one single client today, to a dozen by the end of the year, to perhaps a hundred in 2010… EDAPROSPO is taking a giant leap towards changing the future of Peru. They’re changing the lives of their clients, yes… but more than that they’re also opening the door of opportunity for generations of young people who will be able to dream big and have the tools they need to follow through with their dreams.
Katie was a 2009-2010 Vittana Fellow in Latin America, and currently serves as our Engagement Manager at Vittana HQ.