Neither earthquakes nor tsunamis can hold María back

In less than five minutes María Carrasco lost the investment which had cost her years of effort. On two occasions, Nature has snatched away her dreams. First an earthquake and after that a tsunami which destroyed her business and most of her home.

This entrepreneur was a cook in a restaurant for many years. At that time she dreamed of having her own food outlet one day. With huge effort she achieved this, until mother nature turned against her. “Everything was going well, until that day, February 27. We lost everything: all the machinery and part of our home”, she recalls. On top of this calamity her husband lost his job as a fisherman. “We were in a really tight spot. With two daughters at university, we had to start again, whatever it took, even if it was from the bottom. In December of that year I was invited into Fondo Esperanza and I didn’t think twice”, she tells us.

Maria Carrasco, emprendedora de Fondo Esperanza FMBBVA

María is an entrepreneur thanks to the support of Fondo Esperanza

Thanks to the micro-credits, she managed to restart the sale of pies. “When it happened, we were helped by family members and friends, but we needed capital to buy goods and to get going again, this time as a family project. We really made a commitment to the business and after a while we couldn’t keep up with demand, so we reopened our premises again”, says María proudly. Now she has turned her passion for cooking into a family microenterprise, with a definite purpose: to pay for her daughters’ university education.

Maria has not stopped dreaming. Her next challenge: to open her own restaurant. And her vision of her future with Fondo Esperanza is to carry on with her business.  “I recommend that anyone who wants to sign up with Fondo Esperanza should do it, they will receive support, and they can make their dreams come true. It can be done”, she ends.

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