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Quiénes Somos
El establecer un negocio propio
o lograr el Sueño Americano de adquirir una casa es algo que la mayoría de nosotros aspiramos poder hacer
durante nuestras vidas. Lograrlo, sin embargo, requiere de autosuficiencia y capacidad para crear y
mantener una alta calidad de vida.
Muchas personas en Arizona
no pueden gozar de estos beneficios, especialmente los grupos minoritarios y las familias de bajos
ingresos, quienes por lo general carecen de acceso a créditos y viviendas de bajo costo.
PMHDC se compromete a
servir a las personas de bajos ingresos en las zonas rurales de Arizona, proporcionando un mayor
acceso a los recursos locales para el desarrollo y a instrumentos financieros.
NUESTRA HISTORIA
La
Corporación para el Desarrollo de la Microempresa y la Vivienda
de PPEP (PMHDC) se incorporó en el estado de Arizona en 1977,
como una empresa sin fines lucrativos, y como una empresa
afiliada del programa Preparación Educativa Portátil y Práctica(PPEP).
PMHDC lleva 23 años proporcionando servicios a los habitantes
de las zonas rurales de Arizona, especialmente a los de bajos
ingresos, Hispanos, Indígenas Americanos y trabajadores rurales.
PMHDC es el proveedor más grande de planes de financiamiento
alternativos para la vivienda y los negocios en la zona rural
de Arizona. El Departamento de la Tesorería certificó a PMHDC
como una Institución Financiera para el Desarrollo Comunitario
(CDFI) en 1996, y renovó su certificación en Julio del 2000.
Microlending
- Arizona Style
Tucson’s
PPEP finds a market niche helping fledgling entrepreneurs
grow their businesses.
By
Jonathan J. Higuera
Frank
Ballesteros feels like a modern-day Robin Hood. But instead
of stealing from the rich, he borrows from the U.S. Small
Business Administration and other financial institutions and
lends to the working poor.
“It’s
making wealth more readily available to the disenfranchised,
the low income, the poor, and the homeless,” he says.
Mr.
Ballesteros is the chief administrative officer of PPEP Microbusiness
and Housing Development Corp. in Tucson, Arizona, an organization
that has loaned more than $10 millions to 1,300 “micropreneurs”
since 1986. It currently has 235 active accounts and a loan
portfolio $4 million.
The
loans go to rural people in Southern Arizona who run tiny
businesses that need working capital to grow. They’re
accompanied by technical assistance to help business owners
understand the basics of running a success enterprise.
“We’re
stabilizing these businesses,” says Mr. Ballesteros.
“Of all the businesses we’ve assisted in the last
15 years, 150 to 200 are at a point where they don’t
need us anymore. They are going after $100,000 loans from
banks because we’ve helped build them up.”
The
program is based on a concept pioneered by Grameen Bank in
Bangladesh and its founder, Muhammad Yunus. Grameen makes
small loans- as little as $15 or $25 - to struggling entrepreneurs.
The bank also provides a technical assistance and general
support services. Similar programs have sprung up in other
developing countries, including several in Latin America.
Loan recipients are required to meet regularly among themselves
to share information.
“We’re
not going to show you how to make better tamales,” explains
Mr. Ballesteros, who studied microlending programs in Latin
America before launching this program. “We’re going
to show you how to market yourself to sell more tamales. Eventually,
we’ll show you how to cut your costs so it doesn’t
cost 50 cents to make that tamale, but 25 cents.”
In
the United States, such loans are necesarily larger than they
would be in poorer countries. At PPEP, the average loan amount
is $10,000, with an average payback period of 18 months. That’s
higher than the average $3,500 loan the group made during
its first several years. Loan amounts range from $500 to $25,000.
Successful
loan recipients often return to obtain larger loans, which
generally have higher interest rates than traditional bank
rates, though not as high as consumer credit card rates. The
default rate is less than 5 percent, despite the fact that
45 percent of loan recipients are considered low-income individuals.
“We’ve
found that after the third loan, they are no longer low-income,”
says Mr. Ballesteros. “We’ve taken people off welfare,
off food stamps.”
Danny
Renteria of Nogales, Arizona, wasn’t on welfare when
he sought his first $1,000 loan in 1987. He simply wanted
to buy some tires and sell them by putting them in front of
his gas station. With PPEP’s repeated financing help,
he now owns a seven-bay garage and no longer sells gas.
“They
have been very helpful,” says Mr.Renteria. “I probably
would not have this business without them.” PPEP’s
business seminars on money management have been particularly
helpful, he adds.
Mr.
Ballesteros, who has been recognized by the White House for
his work, would like to see microloan programs sprout throughout
the country. In fact, he has approached the Tucson Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce about offering his program’s services,
which he envisions as a revolving loan fund, to the group’s
members.
“I
think my members would use it,” says Fred Orozco, the
chamber’s president. “Do you have a loan fund?”
is the biggest request I get.”
Because
microloan amounts tend to be smaller than amounts banks want
to deal with, Mr. Ballesteros sees a niche for his lending
services.
“We
have to show people how to leverage,” he says. “If
we show Hispanic-owned companies how to manage money and what
cash flow is, they will be much, more better off. Nobody has
taught them.”
For
more information on the PPEP Microbusiness and Housing Development
Corp., visit its Web site at www.azsmallbusinessloans.com.
Jonathan
J. Higuera is a business writer at the Arizona Daily Star
in Tucson.
"We
show Hispanic-owned companies how to manage money and what
cash flow is," says Frank Ballesteros of PPEP, which
has loaned more than $10 million to micropreneurs" since
1986.
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