With 24 years old, Erika Gutierrez began as a merchant in the Iván Montenegro market in the capital Managua. He was born in a municipality of Boaco City named Teustepe, where she learned from her family to process cow's milk, so it was there when her first business idea emerged which is the sale of curds and creams.
Erika defines herself as a successful woman and good for business. She arrived at the market hoping to be a successful woman and give her family a quality of life. She shares with us, "when I came here to the market, we started from zero, we had nothing." Not having anything at that time became the main engine to set firm goals, within them was to buy a plce in that market. It took not too much time when she reached that goal and now, she has more than 10 years of having accomplished that dream.
Daily part from her house at 2:00 am and travels approximately 65 kilometers to reach the doors of her business. At 5:00 am she sits outside of her place to pack her curds and prepare the cream, products that before the sun rises has already been sold. But her day does not end there, her entrepreneurial spirit has inspired her to diversify her business. With a smile on her face Erika tells us: "now I sell solid plastic, vegetables, but the heart of my business has always been dairy."
In her 13 years as a merchant, she has not been alone, since her beginnings she always had the support of her husband, from a time here the help of her 2 oldest children and now that from MiCredito, which began to be her financial support, she affirms, "I feel grateful with MiCredito because they attended me, it was fast and I didn't lose any investment." Thanks to the loan, she was able to buy more merchandise, “I invested in bags, which I kept, and it is only being taken out when the price has raised” says Erika, who also shared that she had worked with another financial institution, but because of the crisis in the country, they couldn’t renew their loan, “I have always paid on time and worked many times with them, but they closed the door to me, I looked for them for a loan and they said no ”.
Erika's life has not been easy, but with her positivism she has managed to break every barrier. Thanks to her work, together with her husband, she has been able to build her house, buy some vehicles and land, and she feels proud with it because she has been able to give other people the opportunity to work. One of her goals for the next few years is to continue giving her children a better education, since she wishes to see them as the best professionals.