Maria Elena Ortega - Owner, Perfumes Europeos

Location: Ciudad Juarez, Chih.
Tuesday, August 1st, 2006

Details:

Editor's note - Seeds Across the Border provides ?micro credit? loans to empower people through economic independence.

In 1998, Maria Elena Ortega had been involuntarily ?retired? from her job and at 55 years of age, she knew that finding employment would be difficult. Months went by and desperation dissolved into sadness and then resignation.

But her life was to go through a huge transformation. At the urging of friends, Maria Elena decided to attend a community bank presentation by FEMAP?s Seeds Across the Border program.

?They talked about the program and the emotional, educational and financial support we receive if we open a small business,? she recalls. ?So, I borrowed $60 and decided to sell corn in a cup. I was not very successful, but taking that risk made me realize that there were other opportunities I was not aware of.? Maria Elena paid her small loan and continued attending the monthly classes by Seeds Across the Border which include product placement, marketing, finance, selling tips, and customer service.

Each time she attended a class, she would get motivated by what she learned so she decided to again borrow a small amount. This time, she took a chance on perfumes. ?I bought perfumes and started selling them at maquilas, door to door, at stores, wherever I could go. FEMAP taught me how to start a savings account and how to finance my money so I could reinvest in my small business,? she adds. ?Soon I was repaying my loans and borrowing more.?

Within three years Maria Elena had three stores and was able to pay off her son?s student loans. Oscar Cordova (her son) graduated with a degree in Marketing and Finance from the University of Texas at El Paso and after graduation, started developing marketing plans and talking about expansion. ?We fought, and fought, and fought,? Oscar recalls with a smile. ?She felt three stores were more than enough.? But Oscar kept pushing and soon Maria Elena decided to let him help her. Now, the mother and son team have grown their business to include four additional perfume stores, one beauty salon and a natural foods store where they employ 200 people.

Today, Maria Elena hires employees and continues to attend the business classes offered by Seeds Across the Border. She also tends to the natural food store and has enrolled in classes to learn more about the various herbs and teas she now sells. Oscar?s job is to scout potential store fronts and he also designs the look of the stores. His sketch book?s pages are full of designs.

?I don?t know where I would be without FEMAP. When I think what I have been able to achieve, the education I was able to provide my son?? Maria Elena says as she looks at her store and then her son. ?Look how talented he is. I don?t think he would have had an opportunity to express and use this talent if it had not been for this program. There is so much for me to be thankful, so much!?