By Lorena Gil, KF12, Fondo Esperanza – Chile
On August 6th, over 10,000 balloons soared into the sky with the dreams of Fondo Esperanza’s entrepreneurs. Fondo Esperanza is a non-profit foundation that supports entrepreneurship through the provision of credit and training to people living in vulnerable situations to improve their lives and their families. More than 12,000 entrepreneurs and staff from Fondo Esperanza from Iquique to Puerto Montt united in the main plazas of each city at noon, and in a simultaneous effort, these entrepreneurs of the foundation let their dreams fly into the sky, as a special gesture for the month of solidarity, and in this special year – Chile’s upcoming bicentennial. The activity “Sueños de Emprendimiento” (Dreams of Entrepreneurs) consisted of entrepreneurs writing down a dream and tying it down to a balloon and let it fly it among the other thousand of balloons to the sky.
This event is also a component of a month long campaign Fondo Esperanza has been working on to inform funders and the community at large of their presence and more importantly, acknowledging the accomplishments of the entrepreneurs. Some of the dreams that entrepreneurs wrote were: “I want to provide my children with a better education”, “I dream and work everyday for my business to grow”, “I would like to buy a car to be able to sell my products to more people”, “I dream for my kids to be proud of their mother”…
Fondo Esperanza today supports 35,000 microentrepeneurs across the country, reaching 87% women from Iquique to Chiloé with a total of 31 offices, serving more than 116 communes throughout the country.
Fondo Esperanza (FE) is currently the largest Chilean microfinance organization and is proudly Kiva’s first microfinance partner in Chile! To view & read the bios of all the loans Fondo Esperanza has uploaded to Kiva to date, click here!
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