I recently had the pleasure of meeting up again with Yamileth, the microcredit client of ACRG in Costa Rica featured in the 2015 Whole Planet Foundation calendar.
Since my visit last year, Yamileth’s business has grown exponentially. Where before she was rearing four pigs, this time around the tally came in at 13! Half of them are in new concrete pens with drainage grooves built with her last microloan.
In addition to raising pigs, Yamileth has also started a thriving egg business with more than 50 chickens, also raising ducks and turkeys. While her business is now eligible for an individual Small Business Loan from ACRG (PYME product), Yamileth has decided to continue with her group loan. She enjoys the interaction with her fellow borrowers and is meeting her financing needs with the profits she is making.
It is always a joy to revisit a client and see the benefits of Whole Planet Foundation funding in action!
Another individual who has fared well since my last visit is the pig who was in the calendar photo with Yamileth. He has since been promoted to the enviable position of lead boar in the piggery and is now viewed as a pet, so the only contact he’ll have with a Tico dining room table is eating the scraps that come off of them. I should add that since my last visit he has a name, Pochoncho, and is MASSIVE! Easily the biggest pig I’ve ever come across.
Yamileth poses with Ponchocho