Learning the Ropes

Today turned out to be my most exciting day of work so far. Rather than visiting clients to inform them that they (or their friends) are falling behind on loan payments, I shadowed Dilcia (a loan officer) while she performed a new client evaluation. We rode two buses from Pedregal to Flor del Campo where we walked to Catalina's business. She rents a small space about the size of a bedroom where she sells all types of clothes for children to adults. Her rent for the space every month is 1,300 Lempiras (about $65) Can you imagine renting anything for just $65 a month? I watched while Dilcia helped her write out the investment plan for the 20,000 Lempira loan she is applying for. Business is a lot simpler here. Catalina, who enjoys being the only employee of her business, simply told us how much of each type of clothing she plans to buy with the loan and how much she buys it for at the market which she visits twice a week.

Then we went though a cost/profit analysis. Dilcia simply asked Catalina which clothes sell the best and how much Catalina buys and sells each item for. After that, Dilcia took pictures of her to upload to Kiva assuming Catalina's application is approved by Prisma. The video below shows her and her store while she was having her picture taken.



Back in the office later today, I had my most nerve-wracking experience yet. Susan (the office manager) made me accept a few payments. That meant I was responsible for greeting the people who came into the office, asking them what they needed and calculating how much they owed. I'm sure my level of Spanish is sufficient but I got so worried that I will say the wrong thing or charge them the wrong amount! It reminded me of my first days at Starbucks trying to make drinks for angry customers in a rush. I just hope I don't end up having dreams about calculating interest like I did about making lattes! The important thing for me to remember is that after a while at Starbucks, I even started to enjoy making drinks for the difficult customers. Hopefully I will become as comfortable behind the front desk as I was behind the espresso bar!

Tomorrow I'll accompany Dilsia to meet three people who will be applying for a loan as a group. She says that I'll be doing all of the application procedure and she'll just be there making sure I don't have any problems. I hope my Spanish holds up!