Elisa Gomez
Sandals/Accessories/Soap Manufacturer
Philippines
Pursue good education on how to complete a task and then use innovation to improve upon it – that has been Elisa Gomez’s life strategy. Now 62, she has had sufficient time to refine and benefit from the strategy!
Elisa started her working career as a seamstress and used that as a springboard to learn how to make sandals. She adapted and improved the techniques, producing superior quality sandals, and that soon became the key product of her thriving business. Later she pursued education in how to make soap, and once again improved the product to the point that its quality differentiated it from other soaps and made for some very happy customers.
Over the years Elisa has adapted and improved her
business in many other ways as well. Using loans from CCT, PEER
Servants’ partner in the Philippines, Elisa purchases secondhand
dresses, towels, blankets, and other cloth items for her sandal-making
materials, thus reducing her costs by up to 60% and increasing the
variety of her products. Elisa also uses buttons and other spare parts
from the secondhand clothes to make and sell items like earrings.
Elisa not only pursues education for herself – she
offers training to others. Over the years, she has trained so many
employees that they have been inspired to start their own businesses.
CCT estimates that at least 15 families make their living from training
they received from Elisa.
After
a bout with cancer as a young adult, Elisa determined to serve God by
helping those less fortunate than herself. While God has given her two
biological children, she also has a heart for children who are
neglected by their families. She has taken in many children like this
and given them support and direction for their lives. Many are grown
now and have gone on to successful careers like teaching and
engineering; Elisa is training one of them to one day take over her
business.
The success of Elisa’s business has allowed her
husband to work full time in church ministry with little or no pay. It
has also allowed the family to take a month every year to do mission
work among one of the most oppressed indigenous tribes in the
Philippines, sharing materially and spiritually with those who are in
need. It has allowed Elisa and her family to not only experience more
of the kingdom of heaven on earth, but to extend that kingdom of heaven
to many others.
Najima Molla
Concrete Rings Manufacturer
India
You may not know what it is like to go to bed hungry, or to put your children to bed without dinner, or to watch your children stay home from school when the other children are skipping to theirs. But Najima Molla knows. Her husband was a day laborer, and too often could not find work or earn enough to feed their family. Desperate to provide for her family, Najima started going door-to-door, trying to sell glass bangles (a bracelet or anklet), but that was not very successful.
Najima heard about a workshop a long way from her home
where she would be able to learn how to make concrete rings that are
used in making wells and septic systems, so she and her husband decided
to go. They learned how to make the rings, and returned home to start
that business.
But Najima had no capital to start a business. That
is when she contacted the Christian Service Society (CSS), PEER
Servants’ partner in the outskirts of Kolkata, India, to access a small
amount of business capital – initially under $50. Najima got her
first loan in 
2004,
and the business has grown steadily since then.
2004,
and the business has grown steadily since then.
Now Najima’s
business employs eight people - four family members and four other
workers. One of her employees used to be homeless – now he is not only
working for Najima, but she and her husband have provided a place for
him to live. Her business is right by the side of the road and is the
only one of its type in the community, so Najima has many clients. She
is providing a product and service that only the government used to
provide, and she is helping her community improve their overall health
by making wells and septic systems available to more people.
As a result of the success of her business, life is
much better for Najima and her family. Not only are they able to have
adequate nutrition, they have been able to build a house. Najima and
her husband were also able to provide the dowry for their daughter to
get married (the bride’s family pays dowry to the groom’s family in
much of South Asia). All of this has made Najima very thankful that
CSS has helped her, and given her great joy that she, in turn, can help
others.
Richard Candia Tunya
Cassava Processor
Uganda
Three years ago Richard Candia Tunya had a small grocery business with one employee. He was struggling. With business training from CAFECC, PEER Servants partner in Northern Uganda, Richard identified cassava, a very important part of the diet in the area, as the main product that he sold in the store.
With CAFECC loans ranging from just over $100 to just
over $300, Richard started and grew a cassava processing business.
Over time he developed innovations that have helped his business
succeed. It started with his relationship with the cassava farmers:
Richard helped them choose a sweeter, more popular variety of cassava,
he helped them get the tools needed to succeed in farming, and he
bought their crop early, before it ripened, ensuring a sale for the
farmers but also allowing him to get the crop at a cheaper price. Then
his employees process the cassava by cutting it up into chips that dry
overnight before being sent off to be ground into flour.
Now Richard’s business is thriving. In addition to
helping the local farmers, Richard employs 11 people, including young
adults who were school drop-outs, students looking to earn money for
school fees, and housewives and mothers looking to supplement their 
meager
family income. Richard and his employees can now feed their families
and pay school fees for their children. And the whole community has
benefited from having a local source of cassava flour. Richard hopes
to continue to grow his business by purchasing his own farm land and by
adding a clipping machine to reduce the amount of work required to cut
the cassava.
meager
family income. Richard and his employees can now feed their families
and pay school fees for their children. And the whole community has
benefited from having a local source of cassava flour. Richard hopes
to continue to grow his business by purchasing his own farm land and by
adding a clipping machine to reduce the amount of work required to cut
the cassava.