Micro-Enterprise Development in Malta

Last week I really started to work. It sort of came up as a surprise, since I just went that day to talk to one of the Brazilian missionaries about the project, and to get to know the community better. But as we talked and I mentioned that the next step would be to meet with the women to find out their skills and interests, she said "Well, how about 3 o'clock?" I sputtered a bit, kidded her 'Boy, you don't waste any time!' and then accepted.

While we met with the women, which went well and I even spoke long strings in Portuguese, one idea came out that everybody glommed on to. They want to start a lanchonete, which is like a snack bar/diner. (They want not just a lanchonete actually, but an evangelical lanchonete, which is a whole different story.) Anyway, this wasn't an idea I had had yet, but their enthusiasm was important and so I listened and gave the idea the benefit of the doubt. We decided to meet the next day, and I told them to come with the costs of the equipment we'd need, and rent, as well as prices of ingredients and the things we would sell.

The next day we got all this onto paper, and I brought a calculator to do the analysis. (Thank you, finance and accounting teachers!) The start-up costs would be heavy. But the real deal-breaker was when I told them the minimum amount of daily sales in order to breakeven (and I didn't even include paying for their labor, which is the whole point of the enterprise!), and they said that was twice what was reasonable to expect. So I think that idea just won't be feasible. If I was around here permanently, I might give it a try, because I don't really believe their low expectations for sales, and I think we could change that around. But if they can't see it, I don't think the needed sales would happen.

But I think this week was a good experience still. I got to watch the group interact, and get to know individuals a little better than at our first meeting. I found out who was the leader, and now I know I have to sell her on the vision of what businesses actually will work, so she can help lead the group that way. I had the opportunity to see that some members never talked or seemed excited, and I'll need to follow up on this because I expect they feel disenfranchised or just hopeless.

So next week we'll try again. I hope the ladies won't feel too disappointed that we can't do a lanchonete. It was a fun idea, after all.