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Snapshot

USAID /Paraguay Vende M. Martínez

Maria del Rosario Arguello poses in her family's workshop, where she and her husband assemble brooms.

Maria del Rosario Arguello and Francisco Garcia are micro entrepreneurs. For six years now, Arguello and her husband have been making traditional straw brooms in the courtyard of their home in Hernandarias, Paraguay. Garcia, a family man from Encarnación, Paraguay, and owner of Peanut Guzi, has been making and selling sugared peanuts for over a decade.

After overcoming many barriers, both have finally had the opportunity to expand their businesses-always a challenge in a country with poverty rates exceeding 30 percent and an under-employment rate of around 26 percent.

Thanks to USAID support, Arguello and Garcia were able to meet with local supermarket owners to facilitate business opportunities, learn how to navigate bureaucratic barriers and receive training on registering their products.

"We saw the announcement of a business meeting and decided to participate," recalled Arguello. "We took along a few samples to try our luck, but we had no expectations since we'd never sold our brooms in supermarkets. I felt so proud that day because the supermarket representatives praised my product and they all wanted to buy from me."

USAID/Paraguay Vende M. Martínez

Francisco Garcia is the proud owner of Peanut Guzi, a 14-year-old business now selling to supermarkets.

The Arguellos now have a well-established workshop in the courtyard of their home with two manual machines for assembling the brooms. They have reached a production capacity of 360 units per day and four more employees are now working in the micro-enterprise.

Garcia was also granted a loan of approximately US$12,000 through the help of USAID and the local finance institution El Comercio. He bought a new oven as well as additional raw materials and hired another employee and a salesman. These improvements have allowed him to double his daily production of 1,000 peanut packets, as well as add a few new products to the family line. Salty peanut packets, peanut candy bars, and pretzels now have a new look and color labels.

"With this money, Peanut Guzi can go further. It is a huge boost for us," said Garcia.

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