Ann Lagrada

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Ann Lagrada by Hagdan sa Pag-uswag Foundation, Inc. (HSPFI) in Philippines. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the 4 months of this loan, Hagdan sa Pag-uswag Foundation, Inc. (HSPFI) will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

We found Ms. Ann Lagrada at her home, and settled into a relatively long and animated chat as we discovered that, apart from her fish vending business (which she used the disbursed loan on - purchasing fish that she will re-sell), Ann and her husband also catches and sells sea cucumbers that gets exported to Korea. Although I've eaten sea cucumbers in Chinese dishes, I had never seen a live one before - so I was quite excited to learn more about Ann's business during our visit.

Ann explained that her husband dives at night to catch the sea cucumbers. There are places in the Philippines where sea cucumbers are protected, she added, but there are currently no restrictions on harvesting sea cucumbers in Camiguin. After her husband returns with the catch, she’ll leave the sea cucumbers in small basins until they spew out any leftover sand and innards, then boil them for 30 minutes and dry. Her husband catches between 5 to 17 sea cucumbers a day.

Every two weeks Ann and her husband sells about 2 kilograms of dried sea cucumbers to a Filipino agent at a rate of $1,500 pesos/kilogram. She said that the agent will then export the dried product to Korea, as Koreans like to eat sea cucumbers - especially with noodles.

Ann said that this loan has really helped bring in more income for her family, and extends her thanks for receiving this loan.

To read a behind-the-scenes account of Ann's interview and to see some sea cucumber slicing in action, visit the Kiva Fellows Blog! http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2009/11/06/the-most-bizarre-client-interview-part-2-of-2/

To learn more about the partner MFI that's supporting this entrepreneur, visit HSPFI's Kiva Field Partner page (http://bit.ly/gG7z7). You can also support HSPFI through lending (http://bit.ly/1CCiG3), or by joining the HSPFI lending team (http://www.kiva.org/team/hspfi)!