They Dreamed a Dream
Like many others, I have been thinking a lot lately of Susan Boyle and her stunning singing debut on Britain’s Got Talent. When asked why she hadn’t already become a professional success at the age of 47, she replied that she had never had the opportunity, but hoped that would change with her appearance. While the audience and judges signaled that appeared unlikely, she quickly proved otherwise.
Susan Boyle’s unlikely success reminded me of Sheli and Nargiza, two ACCION USA clients in Queens, New York. They, too, seemed to have the odds stacked against them when they set out to open an Internet café in their neighborhood. Aside from facing the prospect of entering a male-dominated business community, Sheli and Nargiza lacked the credit and savings they needed to secure a traditional bank loan.
A microloan from ACCION USA enabled Sheli and Nargiza to purchase equipment and inventory so that they could open the doors of AromaNet Café, which now serves up delicious kosher cakes and sandwiches, as well as Italian and Israeli coffees. Like many microentrepreneurs, Sheli and Nargiza have become employers themselves – with six staff on hand. (On average, each ACCION USA microloan creates 1.7 jobs.)
Susan Boyle got her chance to prove herself. Shouldn’t we give additional aspiring small business owners like Sheli and Nargiza a chance by giving them access to the credit and financial tools they need to achieve success? So in the spirit of viral YouTube sensations, I invite you to view the inspirational video below. It tells the story of AromaNet Café’s opening – with a little help from ACCION USA!
August 20th, 2011 at 10:33 pm
Greetings from New Farm. Thanks for the useful content. I’m doing a project at college and your stuff was quite useful. Thanks for sharing