Patricia S. P. lives in the Los Almendros neighborhood in the town of Soledad, which is located south of Barranquilla. She has a store called “Donde Patty” where she sells foods, meats, soft drinks, sweets, and other miscellaneous general goods. She is married and has 4 children who range in age from 8 to 26. Even though this is Patricia’s first loan from the Fundación Mario Santo Domingo, she already knows that it is both important and useful to invest the loan in her business; Patricia's husband has a very good credit history, and she now wants to start building her own credit history. She is going to use this loan of 2,300,000 Colombian pesos to purchase two tables and chairs, and to stock her business with beverages and foods such as rice and sugar in large quantities.

Patricia comes from Piedecuesta, a town in the department of Santander in the country’s interior. This is panela country (an area that produces panela, which is basically a loaf of unrefined sugar), where, as Patricia says, you can meet people who are very hardworking and innovative who “put our shoulders toward the sun.”

Patricia worked in restaurants until her husband proposed to her—she then left her job and the two of them borrowed some money so that they could set up a store in Piedecuesta. Her husband also worked as a telephone network and Internet maintenance technician, though that was not going so well since he only occasionally got contracts. In 2001 an important company hired Patricia’s husband, and he suggested that they move to Barranquilla; they thus sold their store in Santander and purchased a house in Soledad, which is where their new store is located. Patricia’s most important challenge is making some adjustments to her business so that she can expand it and be able to offer services to families who shop at her store. Overcoming this challenge will allow her to fulfill her dream of paying for her house through her own hard work, which will in turn help her to live a stable life and have good health.