Dionicio the merchant and businessman

Dionicio

Quevedo is a big city, full of busy and active businesspeople. The city center has vendors and stores of all kinds, with people buying and selling products and services, especially related to agricultural activities in the sector. In the middle of all that is the public market where Dionicio, 56, has a small grocery store. It has the largest range of stock and is always the busiest.

Dionicio has six children, Darlyn, 21, Brigitte, 20, Luis, 18, Steven, 17, Nicole, 16, and Jefferson, 14. He always struggled to earn money has felt his share of life's difficulties. He has been working since he was 14, when he started selling vegetables on the street. Eventually it grew to be an established sales store, but income was still poor. When he found VisionFund Ecuador, he joined a credit group, and with his loan he was able to buy more merchandise to increase his stock and store. Three years later, his store is thriving, and his income has grown significantly.

With the last loan, he acquired machinery to process peanuts for a popular food in Quevedo. He hopes to pay this back shortly and take out a new loan to establish his processed peanut venture, which will increase his income and will create a family business that can pass to his children when he decides to retire. Meanwhile he regular visits and help from his children at the store, who thanks to the support of VisionFund’s loan cycles, are continuing their studies and starting college. “I want them to have the support I didn't have, as I always had to work,” he says.

Dionicio enjoys serving the customers who come to see him in the market, and is relieved that VisionFund’s loans came to him when they did. “I tell you honestly, I asked for loans in other organisations before and I regretted it,” says Dionicio. “Now with VisionFund in my life I am calm and I have not had any inconvenience”.