Yes! I want to support microfinance and empower people to work their way out of poverty.

Sorybel Pinales Cierra

Standing inside her small snack kiosk, Sorybel Pinales Sierra exudes confidence and emphasizes her potential.  “I think I will do great things someday,” she says. 

At 30 years old, she is raising her six-year-old daughter, running “Café Sory” and studying marketing at the local public university.  With any spare time, she scratches together extra income by going door to door, selling household items out of a catalog.  

Sory and her mother started “Café Sory” 12 years ago, when her mother had saved enough to buy the 4x3 corner stand in the busy market of San Cristobal, a dense city about an hour outside of Santo Domingo.  But for years, Café Sory failed to grow because Sory and her mother didn’t have capital beyond their meager savings to put into the business.  When Sory enrolled in a local microfinance program, she was able to stock her shelves, but the interest rates were too high.  Relief did not come until last year, when she discovered Banco Ademi, ACCION’s partner in the Dominican Republic.  

“With Ademi, the interest rates are lower, and the loan officer is my friend,” she says, grinning.  Her first Ademi loan, for approximately $600, has helped her to more affordably stock her café with juices, snacks and baked goods..

But Sory’s ambitions go well-beyond Sory Café.  With one semester of university left to go, she is planning her next business venture.  “I’m going to open a telephone and Internet kiosk,” she says, detailing her well-thought-out business plan.  Knowing there’s a better life beyond 12-hour days in the dusty market, Sory proclaims her intention to “make more money with less effort.” 

“She will do it, too!” says her loan officer, Ramon Peres.  With such enthusiasm, diligence and a little support from microfinance, Sory will no doubt fulfill her own prediction to “do great things someday.”