Four Years Later, Enette’s Business Is Helping Build Her Family’s Future
Four years after graduating from Fonkoze Foundation’s Chemen Lavi Miyò (CLM) program, Enette no longer walks her neighborhood carrying goods for sale in a plastic basin balanced on her head. Today, customers come to her.
The front room of her home in Wo Vène, a community near Bonbadopolis in Haiti’s Northwest, has become a neighborhood shop stocked with food, beverages, and household essentials. The woman who once bought local rum on credit by the gallon now purchases it by the barrel, supplying both customers and other small merchants in her community.
“I really like commerce,” she says with a smile.
That simple statement reflects years of determination, careful planning, and steady reinvestment.
Building a Business One Step at a Time
When Enette joined CLM in 2021, she and her husband, Kesner, were doing everything they could to provide for their five children.
Kesner found occasional work in agriculture or producing charcoal. Enette sold local rum by the shot, but she had only 650 gourds of working capital—too little to purchase a full gallon outright. Every refill meant borrowing from her supplier.
“There were times we went two, three, even four days without putting a pot on the stove,” she recalls.
Even during those difficult years, the couple continued sending their children to school whenever they could, often falling behind on tuition or relying on purchases made on credit to keep their family going.
An Investment That Changed Everything
As part of the CLM program, Enette received coaching, participated in a Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA), and began receiving cash stipends designed to help families stabilize while building sustainable livelihoods.
One early decision would shape everything that followed.
“I bought food for my family with 1,000 gourds,” she says, “and invested the other 2,000 into my business.”
With that investment, she expanded beyond selling rum. She added cold drinks, carefully reinvesting every profit back into her business. As her earnings grew, so did her inventory. A larger cooler allowed her to sell more beverages. Later, she added beer, which quickly became one of her strongest sellers.
Each small investment created the opportunity for the next.
From Street Vendor to Neighborhood Shop
When it came time to receive livelihood assets through CLM, Enette chose two investments: goats and additional business capital.
The goats became an important financial safety net. Over the years, she has sold them to cover school fees and other major household expenses while maintaining a small herd.
Her business, however, became the family’s primary engine of growth.
Using additional capital, she traveled to Gonayiv to purchase food and hygiene products wholesale. At first, she carried everything through her neighborhood in a plastic wash basin balanced on her head, bringing a small grocery store directly to her customers.
As demand increased, so did her inventory.
Eventually, the basin gave way to a display stand in front of her home. Today, neighbors know they can find what they need without leaving the community.
“Now everyone in the neighborhood buys from me,” she says.
Her original rum business grew alongside the store. Instead of purchasing rum by the gallon, she now buys it by the barrel. Some customers purchase it for celebrations, while other small merchants buy from her to resell in their own communities.
In many ways, she has become the supplier she once depended on.
Investing in the Future
Today, Enette estimates her business capital has grown to more than 50,000 gourds.
Her oldest child recently completed his final year of high school in Gonayiv, and two more children will soon continue their education there. The family is preparing to replace the woven walls of their home with cinder blocks, purchasing construction materials little by little as the business allows.
She has also invested business profits in livestock, including a sow that is expected to give birth soon. If the piglets thrive, she plans to sell them and reinvest the proceeds into expanding her business even further.
Just as importantly, Enette continues to save. During CLM, she joined one Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA), where members save together and can borrow from the group’s shared fund to invest in their businesses or respond to household needs. Since graduating, she has joined two additional groups, strengthening her family’s financial security while continuing to build for the future.
A Story of Sustainable Progress
Enette’s story reflects what happens when determined entrepreneurs gain access to the tools they need to grow.
Across Haiti, many women already operate small businesses in the informal economy, selling goods and services that help sustain their families and communities. What often stands in the way of growth is not a lack of ambition, but limited access to working capital, savings opportunities, coaching, and business assets.
Through CLM, Fonkoze helps women build on the businesses they already know, providing the support they need to create lasting economic opportunity.
For Enette, that opportunity has meant more than a successful business.
It means her children are staying in school. Her family no longer worries about missing meals. She is building a stronger home, growing her savings, and creating opportunities that reach beyond her own household.
Four years after graduation, her journey continues—not because someone built a business for her, but because she had the opportunity to build it herself.