Business Overview
Mr. Mario Ismael Pineda’s plantain chip business or Tajaditas business began with the urgent need for increased financial stability. He was unable to find a stable job that provided a reliable income due in part to the high prevalence of seasonal work in Suyapa. Having two kids to feed, Mario decided to start Tajaditas de Platano La Bendicion. He believed in the potential success of this business because of his superior products and the lack of competitive market.
Tajaditas de Plantano La Bendicion - Suyapa, Honduras
Economic Challenge
The Tajaditas de Platano La Bendicion has identified various economic difficulties that it faces as a small microenterprise which are as followed:
- Seasonal Employment: A major cash crop in the community of Suyapa is sugar cane, but due to its seasonal nature, it causes fluctuation in employment rates. Therefore, during the off-season, the lack of economic cash flow causes major disruption to other small microenterprises in the area.
- Loan Capability: Due to the local Caja Rural being in the primary stages of creation, it lacks the capacity to fulfill a substantial loan for small microenterprises such as Mrs. Maricela Cardona’s pulperia
The Business
Mario’s Tajaditas business is completely run out of his own kitchen. Both him and his wife have a schedule in which 
they make the plantain chips on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and occasionally Sundays each week, ensuring that there products are always fresh. Mario utilizes large gathering places within the community of Suyapa in order to sell his product. Places consist of schools, churches, etc. The business has proven to be a stable source of income for Mario and his family. Nevertheless, Mario would love to be able to increase his production and look for other neighboring communities to sell his product.
Competitive Advantage
Tajaditas de Platano La Bendicion has a couple of competitive advantages that could greatly contribute to the overall growth and success of Mr. Pineda’s microenterprise. The main advantage is the lack of competitive market in Suyapa. As of now, Mario Pineda’s Tajadita business and homemade plantain chips, is an unprecedented business and homemade product in the community, this allows him to have free reign over the market. On top of that, being the first business of its kind has also given him time to perfect the quality of his plantains, which have been reported to have excellent quality. With the above listed advantages, Mario has a great opportunity to even extend his business outside Suyapa to neighboring communities and even nearby cities.
Obstacles
Although with many competitive advantages to his business, Mario has identified a couple of obstacles that have the ability to impede its growth. As with many entrepreneurs of rural communities, Mario doesn’t keep record of his cash flow on a daily basis. Lower education attainability levels is quite prevalent among rural community members due to the debilitating distance to secondary education, the need for increased income and lack of financial means to access higher education. With this being said, Mr. Pineda despite his immense entrepreneurial success, was not able to seek higher education which effects his beliefs on the importance of bookkeeping for his business. Albeit certain struggles, this is where Global Brigades partners with these business to exchange information and share sustainable tools to aid these entrepreneurs in business growth. Global Business Brigades work with entrepreneurs, like Mario, to bolster that tracking cash flow enforces seeing the greater picture and progresses their business to be more substantive.
Additional obstacles that Mario has identified are as followed. Mario reports that the packaging of his products may have a negative impact on product sales due to the perceived quality by his customers. And lastly, like many small microenterprises, Mario lacks the sufficient capital to continue the growth of his Tajadita and has concerns with taking out loans because her does not want to take on a personal debt from a regular bank. As of now, the Caja Rural is not at a capacity, in Suyapa, to foster loans at subsidized interested rates because it is in the primary stages of conception. In due time, this may become a greater opportunity for Mario and his business but unfortunately as of now is still an obstacle.
Next Steps
The tasks thatTajaditas de Plantano La Bendicion has prioritized are:
Page Last Updated:April 14, 2020