In El Salvador, Carmen Torrejo works with her husband, Rafael. Five years ago, she transformed her old Singer sewing machine and a loan of $50 from her community bank into a small business. A talented seamstress, she was able make her monthly payments with the required interest and savings. Soon she focused exclusively on making aprons, taking them to larger markets in towns a bus ride away.

As sales increased, Rafael started helping Carmen more and more with her business. At the dinner table one night, with calculator in hand, they realized that he could join the business on a full-time basis. Rafael's first move as a new microentrepreneur was to follow in his wife's footsteps and join the community bank.

As partners, they were able to divide the duties of running the business. While Carmen concentrated on designing and supervising apron production, Rafael took on the responsibilities of buying fabric and thread, maintaining and fixing sewing machines, taking orders, and delivering goods. Today the Torrejos are producing record numbers of aprons with their six electric sewing machines and five employees.

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