Through Her Resilience, Now Flora Can Dream

Jan 9, 2023

Flora de la Cruz Giron was having trouble finding a job that would allow her to support her family while caring for her children. She was selling products in the street when a friend invited her to join meetings for a solidarity group focused especially on women. Through that relationship, she took out her first loan from Esperanza International, HOPE’s partner in the Dominican Republic.

Flora shared her vision of opening two adjoining shops with her family—one a hardware store selling construction materials and the other a variety shop selling furniture, housewares, and clothes. Together with her family, she made her vision a reality. Today, her husband is in charge of purchasing from local and international suppliers for both stores, her eldest daughter manages the hardware store, and Flora and her younger daughter run the variety store together.

During the pandemic lockdowns, and amid the resulting supply shortages, Flora’s store had to close for several months. She and her family were forced to live off savings until they could find a way to restart the businesses.

Thanks to her involvement in Esperanza, Flora had savings prepared for seasons like this. As an entrepreneur, Flora got creative and started selling her products online through WhatsApp in order to navigate lockdown restrictions. She now has a delivery system for her products, which has generated more employment for other community members.

Flora is passionate about supporting youth, and she helps young people in the community get jobs, either through her business or someone else’s. Sometimes she hires young people as contractors to transport business orders, and she has been able to increase this since implementing her online product service and delivery system. Flora would like to grow her businesses to the point where she can hire a manager and go on to become a schoolteacher. She would love to someday play a part in providing quality education to youth in her community.

The income from the businesses has covered each of Flora’s children’s education, and she is currently putting her oldest daughter through university. She counts it as one of her greatest successes that she can include her daughters in her business. She feels empowered as a woman and a mom.

Flora used to be unable to help provide for her family as she would like, but now her businesses are an important source of income. She motivates her family and community to improve, encouraging other entrepreneurs to dream big. Now Flora can dream about the future without having to worry about feeding her children, because the businesses will cover their needs.

If you would like to invest in entrepreneurs like Flora, please reach out to Kirstin Dhlamini at projectmanager@homes4hope.org.

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