Luisa makes the Whole Planet Foundation Annual Calendar 2013

This client story was featured on the Whole Planet Foundation website at http://www.wholeplanetfoundation.org/partners/microentrepreneurs/
The calendar is available at http://www.wholeplanetfoundation.org/cp/calendar

Luisa is an entrepreneur from Samoa. She is currently in her 6th loan cycle from South Pacific Business Development (SPBD). Her first loan size was $300 WST ($131 USD) and gradually increased thereafter due to her ability to efficiently repay previous loans.

Luisa and her family lost most of their possessions and home due to the destruction of the tsunami of 2009 and were forced to start over. She solemnly expresses the difficultly her and her husband had rebuilding their life and generating enough income to support their large family (9 members currently live in the home). In addition to using loans from SPBD for her business she has also been allowed to use funds to rebuild proper shelter and add a toilet and electricity to their make shift home. Now she uses the borrowed money to maintain her small business of selling vegetables, flowers, cobra (coconut meat for oil production), and rolled cigarettes. Her husband helps in all of these activities as he lost his fishing boat to the destruction of the tsunami and which was their family’s main source of income.

Cobra production is the most profitable of her sources of income. Accordingly, her and her husband’s desire is to improve and increase the cobra production. Collecting coconuts is quite labor intensive and Luisa is not able to climb trees to gather coconuts so trading the cigarettes she rolls for coconuts is in fact the most efficient and affordable option for her.

Cobra is made through a process of drying coconuts, scraping out the coconut meat from the shell, and bagging it to sell. Pacific Oil Production purchases the coconut meat for $2 WST ($0.87 USD) per kilo, and then uses it to make oils, soaps, and other coconut products. She also sells the coconut shells by the bag for about $10 WST ($4.37 USD) each. Luisa likes her day to day work and the wide variety of income generating activities she now has. Moreover, she is extremely grateful for the loan opportunities that were available to her in a time of great need and continue to be available as she establishes productive businesses.