In the following video and slideshow, we interview Colleen Dyble, who returned to the US in late 2011 after working for two years in Peru with ECLOF, a Five Talents partner. During that same time, Colleen also served as a Five Talents Fellow.

The video focuses on the "entrepreneurial culture" of Peru and how women and men set up survival businesses in order to provide for their families.

"Most of our clients already have some sort of business by the time that we meet them," said Colleen. "A lot of people do what they see their neighbors doing. Some are savvy enough to understand that there's a gap in the market that needs to be filled – [like] ice cream in the summer. Others start something because it's what their mother did or their grandmother did. They just have learned the trade over the years."

Five Talents in Rural Peru: An Interview About Microfinance and Poverty from Five Talents on Vimeo.

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To find out more about our program in Peru, click here. To make a donation towards our work in Peru, click here.