Steve & I returned with the SHIP crew for a week in El Salvador. (SHIP is Shelter the Homeless International Projects) Lots of the neighborhood kids were at SHIP to meet us. What a warm welcome we received from our friends.
For several months, we’ve discussed ways we can encourage the ladies who had micro-businesses here. So . . . Raquel, our SHIP shopkeeper, organized a seminar to help the ladies in their business.
We met on Jan 2nd with about 25 ladies with micro-businesses. Steve discussed vision statements & planning for the future. For Americans in January, this is an annual event. Time to set goals for the year.
Not so in El Salvador!
Many families are simply trying to meet their daily needs (food, clothing & shelter). Thinking beyond today was a new concept for many ladies. Steve laid out a strategy for the ladies to develop their own vision statement, looking 3-5 years in the future. It was awesome listening to the talk & hearing the ladies respond.
For our seminar break, I had a couple of the kids make homemade brownies. This time I remembered to bring cocoa & yeast for baking.
After the ladies got their brownies, I asked them if they wanted to make more sales. Yes, they responded.
We talked about increasing sales in 2 ways:
- Get More Customers
- Sell More to Existing Customers
Sounds obvious, but this generated discussion so Steve & I could hear their concerns, their problems & their successes. We plan to take this information back to Texas so we can send products they can truly sell.
With this feedback, we are finding other opportunities for ladies to earn money. We often have XL & larger shirts donated to SHIP. These sizes do not sell in El Salvador. We’re looking an El Salvadoran who knows how to sew. She can trim these shirts to mediums & larges, charging 25-50 cents per shirt & earning money for food & shelter.
We praise God that He is using SHIP to help ladies provide for their family. Keep praying that our work with SHIP will not return void. That His Gospel will be shared through all we do, including business seminars.
NOTE:.
.Question:
What business advice can you give to these ladies? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
