Ana’s Thoughts on La Ceiba

Why do you work with La Ceiba?

I work with La Ceiba because I see it as a way to give opportunities to women who are struggling at home, with their children and through loans we can try and improve the livelihoods of these women and give them a means of employment to help their family.

How would you describe the economic situation of the women of La Ceiba?

The reality is that we all have economic necessities; some might experience more difficult situations than others and so I think the women with whom we work with could benefit from a small business, which fits conveniently with their family situations.

How do you see La Ceiba’s service? Why does La Ceiba offer a good or bad service?

La Ceiba embodies an approach to finance in which families in economic need can develop their income with accessible, affordable and flexible loans where clients pay the way they want to pay.

La Ceiba is a valuable service because it offers an affordable product with flexible repayment options, low interest, no fees, and no collecting policy; in fact we try to give the benefit of the doubt when clients are going through difficult personal problems.

What kind of relationship do you have with the clients?

I maintain a healthy work relationship with most clients and consider a few of them friends especially when the kindness we feel is mutual and clients are genuinely grateful for the service.

What are the clients like?

Our clients are kind and respectful; they are good people. For example, Suyapa Guerra and Mirtala Aguilar surprise me with their manner of being. They are very hard workers and have a feisty nature about them. They try very hard to help their families; they work long hours.

In the last year, do you think La Ceiba’s service has improved or worsened? How? 

I believe the organization has improved its service in the last year. We have increased our client base and despite this, our service has not suffered because we have Eduar assisting me in the day-to-day operations. This has helped my communications with clients; it’s helped in serving clients and in giving loans and attending to clients faster.

How do you see La Ceiba’s future?

I think La Ceiba’s future is better than I would have said before. As long as we have sufficient staff in Honduras to attend to clients needs and keep communicating with clients. The fieldwork is very important, and for now everything is working well, if our plan is to expand our client base, we are ready to meet that challenge.

Whatever we decide to do in the future, we need to make the proper adjustments so we can keep our quality service and client centered attention.

Ana is La Ceiba’s Honduras Loan Officer. She has worked with La Ceiba since 2008. Ana is also the Administrative Director of SHH.