Coal for the Fire of Success

The Christmas tradition tells a story of children behaving badly and as punishment, receiving pieces of coal as Christmas gifts. For the Ospina family, coal has been a gift from the sky, which has permitted them to thrive for generations.

“My father was a coal miner as were his parents. The business has been in our family for over 40 years…my husband tracks the sales that we have been able to achieve in our microenterprise,” said Luz Mery Ospina. “Carbonera los Robles”, is the name of Luz Mery’s microenterprise that transports the coal to Cali to a warehouse before distributing it throughout the city.

“Transportation is the biggest difficulty. The transporters that we contract are uncomfortable distributing coal because it is a resource that involves getting dirty and a lot of uncomfortable work.” These issues kept the family from reaching its goal of distributing 500 bolts of coal each month. Luz Mery realized the only way to grow her business was to buy a vehicle and to process more coal.

“Six years ago we learned that the Women’s World Banking (WWB) existed and it was able to open doors that was a great help to us. We started with a credit of US$108 that helped us buy a small car, now we manage US$3,481 and without the help of the Women’s World Bank (WWB) we would not have been able to do this.”

Luz Mery has managed a total of 9 loans with the WWB that has permitted her to buy 2 trucks, two taxis, and a bicycle to distribute the coal and one motorcycle to do the collections. They are able to pay the rent of the warehouse, where they sell a total of 1,800 loads of coal per month, which represents a monthly income of 17 million pesos (US$7,400). With this income Luz Mery can finally afford to send her daughter to school.

> More stories from Women's World Banking - Colombia