Micamericas

Oct 15, 2008

Fine herbs

Lidio Guanes - Award for Excellence in Local Entrepreneurship in Paraguay

Lidio Guanes and his wife Jenny turned a small street business into a model of tenacity and responsibility.

By Diego Fonseca

It was Wednesday, October 8, 2008, and the air conditioning at the South American Soccer Confederation Convention Center was stuck on full-blast. The temperature was 50 degrees and everyone was shivering at the opening ceremony of the XI Inter-American Forum on Microenterprise. Then Lidio Guanes stepped up to the microphone and the 33-year-old Paraguayan, serious and shy, warmed the hearts of the 1,300 people in attendance A few minutes earlier, Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno, and Paraguay’s President Fernando Lugo had honored Guanes for his entrepreneurial commitment. Guanes began by profusely thanking his family and employees, but his voice quickly broke as he, and everyone in the room, was overcome by emotion.

Lidio Guanes took a deep breath and tried to resume, but he stopped again without saying a single word. Still overwhelmed, he looked down without speaking, and the audience stood up and gave him a standing ovation. Guanes gave in. He folded the sheet of paper with his speech and put it under his arm, returned the applause, and with deep gratitude said, “thank you.” Without further ado, he walked back to hug his wife, friends, and employees.

Lidio Guanes is a grateful man. The award ceremony is an unforgettable memory for the Inter-American Forum on Microenterprise, but it is a milestone in the life of this former waiter and salesman, who was sleeping on the sidewalks of Asuncion less than ten years before receiving the IDB award.

The story of Lidio Guanes and his wife, Jenny (32), a soft-spoken woman with a perpetual smile on her face, is a story of hard work and determination. When Guanes was still working as a waiter, Jenny was selling medicinal herbs on Silvio Pettirossi Street, near Market 4, the main supply center in Asuncion. Shortly after they married, Guanes left the restaurant and focused on helping Jenny increase sales of her medicinal herbs. “We are always looking for other ways of doing things because the important thing is to make an effort. Everything depends on that,” says Guanes. “For us, our customers are the bosses and they need service, just like my customers when I was a waiter.”

In four years, they expanded the family business of traditional herbs to include “hot herbs,” which are used in  tea and hot beverages known as mate. But as their business grew, the Guanes did not have sufficient financing. They still depended on predatory lenders with daily interest rates as high as  20 percent, although the Multiactive Cooperative Market No. 4, located in the municipal market next to the Guanes’ street stall, charged lower rates.

Eventually the Guanes joined the cooperative and got backing to rent an unoccupied stall in the market. The owner even helped set up the family’s herb shop, and they left the profiteers behind and began to grow. Located in the heart of Market 4, the Guanes’ family business has become a recognized focal point at the traditional produce plaza in Asuncion.

Wholesalers and retailers stock up on packets of rosehips, sen, chamomile, linden, hollyhock and cangarosa or sage, anise, burrito and boldo. Syrups and creams, extracts, and supplements  such as ginkgo biloba, acai, valerian and ginseng are also widely in demand. There is also a large market for catuaba, a natural substance from the Amazon, which not only regulates and calms the central nervous system, but is considered an aphrodisiac.

Nevertheless, it was not easy for the Guanes to establish their herb shop in Market 4. Edith Perez, manager of the branch that handles the family’s account, recalls that when Guanes, a friendly, communicative and charismatic man,  applied for credit to secure the current space, he was reaching far beyond the scope of his business at that time, based only on Jenny’s street stall.

The cooperative did not turn him down, but they requested further analysis and verification, and ultimately relied on the Guanes' excellent credit history. Lidio says that thanks to the cooperative, which in 2009 loaned $4 million in microcredit to entrepreneurs like him, he and Jenny could finance the development of the family business.  “He feels a strong commitment to the institution and we feel profound respect for his management,” says Perez.

Presently, due to the financing, the Guanes have been able to expand their business and invest in the neighborhood around the market. They bought a piece of land and  now own a house and an apartment,  where the couple live with their two children. The herbal shop currently  employs 13 people.

Ownership of the store, still under lease, is the next goal of the Guanes. Their small business has become a hub of bustling activity. The family opens the shop at 4:00 a.m. to meet with retailers from Asuncion and Buenos Aires, and to receive deliveries of fresh and dried herbs from local farmers. Most of the goods are packaged and displayed on orderly shelves in the clean and bright  shop, which is known for its constant flow of customers.

The day that Lidio Guanes learned about the IDB award for local entrepreneurship, he did not believe it. A team from the cooperative came to his shop and explained the details of the award, but he did not take it seriously; he thought that the Bank had chosen him by lottery. Once the team convinced him that the award was based strictly on merit –  the vision, efforts, and good management of his business – Guanes was thrilled and said he was happy to know that someone had noticed the sacrifices his family had made. A few months later, standing on the stage in front of the XI Forum, he conveyed the same sense of wonder with more than a thousand people, full of emotion and hardly able to express his thanks.

Award's Finalists(*)

- Casa Crisdor

- María del Rosario Mora

- La Caacupeña

- LR Joyas

- Chipería María Ana

- Elvira y Joaquín Bogado

- Alberto y Clotilde Ozuna

(*) The finalists were selected between the local microenterpreneur in the host county of the FOROMIC.

The Inter-American Development Bank is not responsible for the editorial content; the views expressed in the article are those of the author.

Also available in: Español