Teresa, real-life success (micro finance)

Over a year ago, Teresa had a small little bodega (tiny store), selling just a few minimal items as well as making wooden butterflies to sell to tourists. With her first loan, she invested within her bodega –purchasing more items to sell. On her second loan, she decided to start a little restaurant selling French fry’s, rice, and hamburgers. She started out cooking on a tiny gas stove. Business was slow at first –people were literally scared to eat her hamburgers (a new concept for most people).
Soon business picked up enough that she eventually closed down her bodega to run her restaurant full time. With her third loan, she purchased a full size, moveable gas grill that allowed her to cook more items, more effectively, thus increasing her business. She has since continued to reinvest within this business and it has continued to grow despite other similar business starting up near by.
Her business is to the point now, that you have to wait roughly 20 minutes to get your order in –but it is worth the wait. She has never once (in over a year, with weekly payments) missed a payment, and has attended just about every meeting (also weekly). She is an extremely responsible woman that has intelligently improved the life of her family –and subsequently others around her. She is one proof of many, that micro-finance can work.