“My name is Idalia del Carmen Mayorga Ruiz, I am 39 years old and my husband and I have four children. I am the owner of “El Shadday” food and delights.
I started in the microcredit program – village banks – because of a neighbour. At that time, I had a small bus to drive about 16 kids to different schools and I used my first loan to buy and repair parts of the bus. On July 4, 2012, I started renting a small room in La Esperanza, Quetzaltenango, and working Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 3pm to 8pm selling coffee, churrasco (skirt steak), pupusas (stuffed tortillas) and grilled chicken. Little by little the business grew and I added new dishes like hamburgers, cakes and other things that my clients suggested. I also kept working as a driver for the kids. By the end of October 2013, clients asked me for lunches so I decided to open my business at 11am and received positive results. I had then to decide between driving the school bus and working in the restaurant since it was very stressful to combine both at the same time. I decided that the restaurant was my best option.
In the meantime, I learned about the MBA project (Mujeres en Busca de Alternativas – women seeking opportunities) from other members of my village bank that were already participating in the project. Hence, I asked my loan officer for some information in order for me to participate and decided to join the 2015 MBA program.
Since the program, I started to open my restaurant from 6:30am from Monday to Saturday and on Sundays from 10am. My clients started to ask for bills and with the help of the MBA project and loans from the microcredit program I formalized my business with the local authorities and made some improvements to the restaurant premises. Additionally, marketing and design students volunteered to work on the logo, color, menu, etc. of the business. I re-opened my restaurant in mid-June 2015. The changes to the restaurant led to sizeable increases in sales (+300% on some days). Because of the good results in 2016, I enrolled in a gastronomy course in a FUNDAP center and I continued with the second year of the MBA project.
Nowadays, I am the president of my village bank called “Ferrocarril de los Altos” and on April 15, 2016, I participated in a culinary contest in Quetzaltenango where I got 3rd place. I continue to work with FUNDAP and looking for opportunities to improve my restaurant. I intend to finish my gastronomy course and keep supporting my daughter Carmen for her to finish University. Furthermore, I aim to keep generating jobs and follow my dreams.”