Tortilla Business Builds On Microfinance Loan

By Hilda M. Perez

Amid the maze of rocky roads that wind through the hills of Colonia del Valle in Nogales, Sonora, a two-room concrete building houses the Mexican entrepreneurial spirit and a thriving business.

As the sunrise peeks over this hillside community, Patricio Felix grabs a plastic container filled with over 1,200 tortillas he and his wife, Guadalupe Garcia, made by hand. He then heads out to distribute them to local abarrotes, small supply stores. Through the profits he's made he's been able to afford a car, and no longer needs to deliver his tortillas on foot.

"It used to take about five hours, now it takes me a little less than an hour. That means I can cover a greater area and have more clients," says Patricio, who learned to make tortillas by watching his mother at a very young age. He later taught the skill to Guadalupe.

When NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) was signed in 1994, the resulting expansion of maquiladoras (factories) made up a considerable source of employment, not only for the residents of border cities, but for migrants from many parts of Mexico who moved north in search of jobs in these new assembly plants. But now many of these U.S.-owned maquiladoras are closing their doors as companies look for cheaper labor overseas. The closings have played a significant role in the border's economic crisis. They've left thousands of households without a primary source of income and support. A large segment of the unemployed are women and single mothers.

Catholic Relief Services Mexico launched a microfinance project, EnComun de la Frontera (InCommon Borders), to assist and provide working capital and financial services to the displaced workers and help them build up their enterprises in an informal economy. The project is currently operating in Nogales, Sonora, about 60 miles south of Tucson, Arizona. It's also expanding to the border cities of Agua Prieta in the state of Sonora and Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua. The project aims to reach an estimated 6,500 in all and was awarded a Global Development Alliance grant through the U.S. Agency for International Development and also a $1.5 million donation from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

"We are trying to improve their lives by making their business grow. They can have more options in life. It's about commerce, production and service," explains Jose Carlos Mendoza, director of EnComun de la Frontera.

'We Are Very Happy'

Building their business with this microfinance project has allowed Patricio and Guadalupe to purchase a dough mixer. In turn they can make more tortillas, close to 2,400 a day, which they sell for 85 cents to $1 per dozen. They have seen their business grow now to about 40 clients, including a neighbor, Mariana, who sells burritos and relies on a large daily tortilla order. "Their tortillas are the best. They taste great and don't fall apart. They are not full of preservatives, but they last longer," Mariana says.

"Being able to acquire equipment…has been tremendous. It's not just a business but in our livelihood that we are investing," says Guadalupe, who worked briefly at a plastics company in Tucson. Patricio used to work as a security guard at a maquiladora.

"It has allowed us to spend more time with our children, and we don't have to be yelled at by anyone or told what to do. What we put in, we get out," adds Patricio.

In spite of rising prices in flour and supplies necessary for making the tortillas, the couple is one month away from paying off their Ford station wagon. They also hope to build an addition below their home where they can set up a small shop. They work seven days a week from six to eight hours starting in the late afternoon and into the night, ensuring the product will be fresh by the next morning and ready for delivery.

Guadalupe greases her hands with lard and rapidly rolls the dough into small balls. Upon returning from deliveries, Patricio works in tandem with his wife, using an electric grill, which he has modified to run on propane. He presses down on a ball of dough, steam rising from the sides of the small plancha (iron). He uses his fingers to stretch the hot thin dough, picking it up lightly and slapping it from one hand to the other before tossing it into an iron skillet where Guadalupe cooks and flips the tortilla and lays it out on a table.

"It's hard work. Real hard work," says Patricio. "Pero estamos muy felices."

Hilda M. Perez is an award-winning photographer based out of Orlando, Florida. Hilda recently photographed and wrote stories about CRS programs in Mexico and Honduras.