Run Across May - A Growing Business
Anne Milouse is a strong woman, business entrepreneur, a mother, and a wife. Her husband, Giordani, is one of our Run Across Haiti Crew members and is well known to run our runners in through the finish line each day.
Anne Milouse has worked hard over the years to ensure her family of 9 can be financially independent. Today, she runs her own business, a small boutique selling essential items such as rice, oil, and pasta.
Many moms like herself would travel an hour to the downtown market to shop for food for the day. Losing her time with her children and money spent on transportation, she recognized the need in her community. As a member of our Small Business Program, she was able to receive investment for inventory to grow her business.
Anne Milouse wakes up every morning excited to grow her business. “You know as mom, we are constantly thinking about our children, especially what they will eat each day. In the past it used to hurt me seeing my kids going to bed hungry. Now that I am a business owner, I never have to worry about that now. WORK helps me see further and set bigger goals for myself and my family.”
This is Carmitha, our first Small Business Program participant who runs a very successful business in the community. She’s also Anne Milouse’s sister-in-law and business mentor. She took everything she learned in our program to help get Anne Milouse started and continues to serve as a mentor to her.
Carmitha has also inspired others. Here’s Ysena, another sister-in-law, who’s started a similar business in a part of the community to address the market gap and bring in an income to take care of her family.
Ysena started the business with her husband, Josue, who’s a handyman and construction worker. They saved up enough money for Josue to purchase material to build the storefront on their property to serve their neighbors. Josue has continued to build extensions onto the store as business grows.
Another WORK family who’s been inspired by our entrepreneurs is Gertha. Upon learning about our Small Business Program and the success of our participants, Gertha saved up a small amount of money to start her business selling oil to the community. Today, she’s learned to reinvest her profits to grow her inventory options and her income.
Gertha worked at a factory making baseball shorts for a number of years. She was laid off a year ago and immediately reached out about our Small Business Program. She came up with an idea for a business, demonstrated the market demand, and shared with us how important this is for her to continue to support her family. Her kids are thriving thanks to her hard work.
Another family member, Liliane, took Carmitha’s model and started her own ‘boutik’ in her neighborhood. At our last check in, we confirmed and celebrated the fact that she’s earning above a living income as a business owner.
Here’s Liliane with her girls and her partner. Her income through her business has enabled her to provide for her young family, including sending her girls to school. They’re both at the top of their class and because of you, they have the opportunity to build a successful future for themselves and their future generations.
Renaud is a participant in our current cohort of our Small Business Program. As a builder, he also built his stop with his own two hands. Brick by brick, shelf by shelf, and with some of our support, filled with inventory to sell to his neighbors.
When our families enter our program at WORK, the household income on average $29USD/month. It’s less than $1/day per individual, leaving them in an extremely difficult living situation and a mountain of debts. We start by accompanying them out of this hole, removing health and educational barriers, and placing the two heads of households into a good, dignified jobs to build their financial wealth. This work takes time, patience, and commitment, and we’re glad to see our families get here.
Remember Carmitha, our shero who helped us show that small business that services an immediate need in the community can thrive? Here she is with her beautiful family. Her two oldest boys are in college, with her third boy preparing to graduate high school. Her two youngest are not too far behind. We’ve known Ruth, her youngest, since she was 1. The family had no income then and they were living in a home that’s been severely damaged by the 7.0 earthquake in 2010. When it rains at night, the whole family would have to stand up until dawn to stay dry. Today, and thanks to you, their futures are bright.