Huge Dividends from Microfinancing in Mexico Anne Majumdar - Travel Weekly | |
go to original May 1, 2014 |
Silvia's taqueria is most renowned for her tacos made with the tender meat from a roasted pig’s head. (Travel Weekly)
These are the tastiest tacos in town, Silvia tells us with pride as she piles our plates high with fried peppers and black bean-speckled rice served with a steaming side helping of freshly made tortillas which we gratefully parcel into our mouths.
This simple taqueria in Santo Domingo Tomaltapec, a small village just outside the Mexican city of Oaxaca, is the result of Silvia’s determination combined with the assistance of micro-finance scheme Fundacion En Via.
Founded in 2008, En Via aims to empower women in the villages with interest-free loans and business coaching. To participate in the scheme, the women must form groups of three to provide each other with the necessary support to ensure the repayments are made over a 10-week period. To date, the organization has given out over 1500 loans to almost 400 women.
But this is no loan shark operation. If, for any reason, the women can’t meet one of the repayments, a revised payment scheme is settled in order to ensure they remain on track.
The loans themselves, which range from U$100 ($106) to US$250 ($266), are raised through responsible tourism activities, with En Via working hard to lure travelers beyond the pretty pastel colored streets of colonial Oaxaca, to explore the surrounding towns on a day tour with a twist.
Once they venture beyond the city, they’ll find that tacos, tupperware, tortillas and textiles are just some of the enterprises that are thriving in areas which offer a rich culture, history and backdrop of their own.
Read the stories of some of Oaxaca's most entrepreneurial women here
En Via tours depart the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca several times a week and are priced at 650 pesos ($53).
For more information, visit Envia.org
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