{"id":28015,"date":"2019-10-18T11:29:51","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T09:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fundacionmicrofinanzasbbva.org\/angeles-princesas-pequenos-talleres-costura-donde-se-cosen-grandes-suenos\/"},"modified":"2019-12-18T17:42:29","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T16:42:29","slug":"angeles-princesas-pequenos-talleres-costura-donde-se-cosen-grandes-suenos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fundacionmicrofinanzasbbva.org\/en\/angeles-princesas-pequenos-talleres-costura-donde-se-cosen-grandes-suenos\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAngels and Princesses,\u201d small-scale sewing workshops where great dreams are stitched together"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yamile Salazar has entrepreneurial spirit and an indomitable drive flowing through her veins. Her sewing business is so much more than an enterprise: it is a lifeline for around 90 people, the majority of them women, who sew in their homes the children\u2019s clothes that Yamile designs and then sells.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a child, this female entrepreneur had to leave school to help her mother sell\u00a0<\/span>hojuelas<\/i><\/span>, a Colombian corn flour flatbread, on the streets of San Carlos, the Antioquia municipality where she was born. Doing her neighbors\u2019 washing and cooking, and providing hairdressing for special events, challenges forced her to mature more quickly than any ten-year old should have to. Her strength in dealing with difficulties is inherited from her mother, who worked as household help to raise her daughter on her own.<\/strong> Her wages were not enough to cover basic needs, though. Yamile remembers how at that time everyone at home ate \u201cfrom the same plate\u201d because every grain of rice mattered.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Yamile Salazar, in her workshop<\/p><\/div>\n

Under these circumstances, Yamile started working young and learned that by saving, she could bring her dreams to life. At the age of 15, she moved to Medell\u00edn because her village was becoming increasingly violent and her mother feared for her safety. When she turned 18, she began studying at the Social Impact Foundation. At that moment, she decided that sewing was going to be her future.<\/strong> By the time she completed her studies, she knew she was going to create her own brand and have her own clothing workshop.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nine years ago, after her daughter Ana Luc\u00eda was born, she discovered that children\u2019s clothing could be good business and she shifted the course of her professional career. Using offcuts bought from wholesale firms she tailored garments from them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The orders increased and the time had arrived to upgrade her premises and buy more stock. Since she had no credit history nor income to guarantee a loan, the only bank that supported her was Bancam\u00eda<\/a>.<\/strong> BBVA Microfinance Foundation\u2019s Colombian institution granted her first loan: \u201cThat was my gateway to success,\u201d explains Yamile. \u201cI bought two more modern sewing machines and more offcuts so that I could carry on sewing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

During her customer visits to deliver orders, Yamile began meeting mothers who were heads of hosueholds with jobs that forced them to be away from their children. It was then that she decided to turn her business into a support point so that other women could work towards a better future thanks to sewing. She taught them all to sew and they began to join her workshop. <\/span><\/p>\n

But Yamile didn\u2019t want to be just a boss to these women. She wanted to provide them with tools so they too, could get ahead without having to leave the care of their children and families to others.<\/strong> So she asked Bancam\u00eda for new loans to buy more sewing machines. But this time not for her workshop \u2026 rather, so that her employees could work from their homes. Yamile cut the fabric and they finished making the garments in their homes. <\/span><\/p>\n