MicroLoan Group 3

July 2010 Group 3 – Joachin Protège, Rose Petit-Maitre, Marie Pierre, Manise Louidor, Evanne Louis

The women in group 3 live in Bel Aire.  There are two experienced and successful business women in the group.  The group is highly interconnected as family and neighbors.  They also have a strong connection and recommendation from Johny on the board for Espoir Haitien.  We are hoping that the other younger women will seize this new opportunity for growth and follow the lead of Marie Pierre and Rose Petit-Maitre.

PROTÉGE, Joachin – Joachin, 30, is the daughter to Marie Pierre and daughter-in-law to Rose Petit-Maitre.  Joachin has a small business of selling sandals.  She typically purchases them individually and sells individually at the market.  She would like to be able to purchase larger quantities.  She lives with her mother, husband, son (7) and is expecting a baby in January.  Earning money is particularly challenging for women with nursing babies.  The women in Joachin’s family will to help watch the new baby so that she can spend some time growing her business.  Joachin completed the 11th grade.

PETIT-MAITRE, Rose – Rose, 46, sells rice, beans, sugar, milk and other dry good at the large market and from her house.  She typically purchases inventory twice a week for between $1000 H and $2000 H ($125 – $188 US).  She makes the most money selling sugar but it is expensive to buy.   Rose also has experience selling used clothing.  She lives with her husband, who is a mechanic, and 3 children.  One son, 30, does not have work.  The daughter (17) and son (7) are in school.  Rose completed the 10th grade.

PIERRE, Marie – Marie, 65, is a butcher.  She has been selling pork and goat locally for many years.  She purchases animals and sells the meat 3 days a week.  She lives with her daughter (Joachin Protége), son-in-law, and grandson.

LOUIS, Manise – Manise, 35, sells clothing at the 3rd street market that she purchases in bulk.  She has been doing this since 2002 but business has recently been challenging.  She lost merchandise after the earthquake when someone stole items from her house.  Additionally, she sells some rice and sugar from her house.  Manise lives with her boyfriend who sells paint, her sister (Evanne Louis – in the loan group), her daughter (8), son (3), and daughter (1.5).  She completed the 10th grade.

LOUIS, Evanne – Evanne, 31, sells eggs and some salami.  Every Monday, she travels to the Dominican Republic by Tap-Tap[1] and buys about 20 cases of eggs.  She sells in Bel Aire, downtown in the city, and walks the neighborhoods with the products on her head.  She suffered a setback in her business in February when 3 cases of eggs broke traveling back from the Dominican Republic.  Eggs make a nice profit but they can be a risky undertaking with the state of the roads to and from the Dominican Republic.  Evanne lives with her sister (Manise Louis – in the loan group) and her sister’s family.  She has a boyfriend who lives in the countryside and occasionally helps support her.  She completed the 9th grade.


[1] A Tap-Tap is like a bus.  It is typically a pickup truck with seats in the bed.  It is inexpensive but crowded.

Leave a Reply