“Ten armed guerillas stormed our house just before dawn looking to kill my husband because he had been a soldier,” says Sugey Armenteo of Colombia. “Thankfully, he wasn’t home, and he was able to escape to Magangué. The next day, I sold everything we owned and left with my children to meet him, even though we had no place to live.”
Several years later, Sugey and her family still live in a shantytown with no water or sewage system. But since she found Opportunity International in 2008, she has renewed hope. Her sandal business has already grown and she has repaid her first loan of $109.
In Colombia, two to three million people have become displaced as the result of a decades-long armed conflict. Those like Sugey Armenteo, struggling with poverty but economically active, are just the sort of clients for which Opportunity products are tailored. To help these clients realize their potential we offer business microloans, savings with no or low minimum balances and affordable insurance— all at easily accessible branches. Sugey takes full advantage of these services at one of our new kiosk banks near her business.
Every day, Sugey leaves her house at 7:30 a.m. to sell sandals at the Olympica Market in Magangué, Colombia. “My cart provides me with a living,” she says. “My goal is to become a wholesaler with my own store, and make our lives so much better.”
Sugey has already made dramatic changes in just months since becoming an Opportunity client. Her children are well-fed and they attend school. She has $16 in savings and life insurance worth $4,500. When she became a displaced person, she lost everything. Now she says, “Opportunity has given me a new place in the world because they didn’t judge me by the neighborhood I live in.”
