An atypical entrepreneur funded by an atypical microenterprise program in Peru

Teodulfo Blaas at work.

Teodulfo Blaas, a Peruvian restaurant owner, is in an unlikely position in today’s economy. While other entrepreneurs have seen business slow and even halt, Teodulfo’s business is thriving to the point where he is now considering opening a second location.

But just a few years ago, Teodulfo was in a very different situation—he had been diagnosed with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), a life-threatening disease that until recently was considered incurable in resource-poor settings like Peru. After about two years of intensive treatment, Teodulfo was cured, but the illness and the side effects of his medications forced him to leave his job as a laborer. This left the father of five with no income and with no prospects in Lima’s tight labor market.

The only viable option seemed to be to start his own business, but Teodulfo was far from an ideal candidate for a typical microenterprise program. His scant resources and recent health history made him seem like a risky investment. Even if he found a bank to loan him some capital, he didn’t have any business experience to speak of.

Fortunately, this atypical microenterprise candidate met an atypical microenterprise program in Socios en Salud (SES), PIH's Peruvian sister organization. Initiated with the assistance of the organization Nexos Voluntarios, the project provides small loans (generally between $300 and $700) to former patients, people who would not qualify for traditional loans because of their health status. SES's program requires no formal collateral and relies instead on the trusting relationships patients had built with SES staff over their years of treatment. Even more importantly, the program provides intensive, ongoing business training to patients who have little or no experience. This training includes several weeks of business seminars and individual mentorship to develop their business plan leading up to the loan, and then ongoing mentorship through monthly visits by loan officers during the life of the loan. SES made one final change to the standard micro-enterprise model: after recognizing that patients generally draw from basic needs like food or education to pay interest on their loans, they decided to provide the loans interest-free. Since this first class of twenty loan recipients, the program has expanded to over one hundred and twenty participants. In addition to MDR-TB patients, recipients now include HIV patients, and the family members of patients where appropriate (e.g. if the patient is a small child).

Teodulfo was part of the first class. Drawing on a job he once had as a cook in a Chinese restaurant, he decided to open his own small restaurant, serving up Chinese food with a Peruvian flare, such as aeropuerto (“airport”), a fried rice dish with local vegetables.

The intensive business training introduced him to basic financial concepts and helped him develop a business plan. His loan proposal was approved and an SES employee accompanied him to buy the startup supplies he needed. He then received monthly visits from an SES mentor/loan officer who would collect his payment and discuss the state of the business. Since its opening, the business has grown steadily and the biggest problem now is finding enough space to seat everyone during the night-time rush.

Watch a recent PBS Newshour video report highlighting another SES microenterprise success story – Oscar Ccencho Huamani, recovered MDR-TB patient and candystore owner.