Each week in southern Haiti, Lucamène Chéry puts on her uniform and stocks her market stall with local vegetables. Shoppers filter past, selecting products for their families. In exchange for the produce, Chéry accepts a unique form of payment—food vouchers—which allows the most vulnerable members of the community to access nutritious foods that they would otherwise be unable to afford.
Dieula Rosembert, a grandmother of five, has been selling cacao for as long as she can remember. But the middlemen in Haiti who bought her cacao paid her so little “you could not even buy a loaf of bread with the money!” she exclaimed.
Three metal boxes painted green, red and blue rest in the laps of three farmers from the rural community of Marchand Dessaline, Haiti, during a caisse communautaire, or community credit union, meeting. Secured with lock and key and entrusted to cashiers, the boxes comprise a system of savings and loans adopted by a growing number of area residents, and signify a new generation of economic opportunities for very low-income populations.
The growth of small businesses is essential for Haiti’s economic development, but few financial services exist to help connect them with needed credit, preventing many would-be business owners from ever realizing their aspirations.
Serge Jean Baptiste, a civil engineer student and mechanical technician, established his metal works business in 2003 to fabricate iron gates and roof frames for houses. He first entered the cooking technology business by making covers for the “Bip Ti Cherie,” a small gas camping stove. He then transitioned to making kerosene stoves, and finally started to manufacture propane stoves.
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