Rodrigue, a Palmis Mikwofinans Sosyal beneficiary in Haiti
Rodrigue created Pha Pha Pha, a workshop for recycling plastic bags into coloured baskets. He is supported over the long term by Palmis Mikwofinans Sosyal, a social microfinance programme of Entrepreneurs du Monde, created in 2003 in Haiti after the earthquakes that hit the country. Rodrigue has obtained several loans (including a first one of 110 euros), and training courses, which have enabled him to create and sustain his business.
He is now responsible for a group of beneficiaries. His activity is developing well and he is now passing on his knowledge to young people who want to learn the trade.
“I am Rodrigue Romelus. I now have a workshop I called Pha Pha Pha, which recycles plastic paper into baskets of all colours. One day, a friend came by with a basket like this near me. I asked him to train me and he helped me. From then on I started looking for these papers and I wanted to develop my activity.
I approached Palmis Mikwofinans Sosyal, a social microfinance program of Entrepreneurs of the World. Everything was destroyed during the earthquake and Palmis helped me to relaunch my business and expand it with loans and training. The program gave me a first loan of 10,000 gourdes (110€). I have had a total of 14 loans so far.
Palmis is a good partner. We meet in groups to attend training and repay loans. I am a member of the group called Etoile, created after the earthquake. Thanks to my activity, I was invited to form a new group in the area. I was a member and after 4 meetings, I became the president of the group.
These young people you see live in the area, they are interested in the activity and I trained them. I have already trained about 40 to 50 young people, but they have all left. These two young people are the only ones who stayed to work with me in the workshop. »
