NEWS

Computer Access Through Microcredit

Paula Campos, of Santiago, Chile, recently divorced her alcoholic husband. Paula has three children she supports by selling cakes and pastries to her friends, relatives, and neighbors. After the divorce, Paula received a microcredit loan from Chile's national bank, Bancoestado to buy pans and other materials to expand her business. Once the business started to grow, Paula then needed a computer to keep track of orders, create receipts, and search the Internet for new recipes.

Thanks to InterConnection.org, a Seattle non-profit, and Bancoestado, Paula was able to purchase an affordable computer. InterConnection.org partnered with Bancoestado to offer the country's first microloan for a computer program. 

In March 2009, InterConnection.org opened a distribution center in Santiago. The computers provided by InterConnection.org are refurbished in Seattle and shipped to Chile. Software licenses for the computers are attained through Microsoft's Authorized Refurbisher program and all computers include valid versions of Windows XP and Office 2003 in Spanish along with other computer skills software.  Paula’s cake business is thriving and she hopes to hire someone to help with all the orders.  Paula was the first recipient of a computer from the Bancoestado microcredit for computer program and there will no doubt be many more micro business owners who will take advantage of this program.

The program is being piloted in Santiago's Peñalolén neighborhood where the neighborhood's Municipal Center for Entrepreneurship is distributing the computers. Peñalolén is known for being a digitally connected community where the neighborhood's mayor promoted the program.

InterConnection.org’s plans for computer reuse and distribution in Chile go beyond its microcredit for computers program. In 2010 they plan to open a computer refurbishment center in Peñalolén where they will teach people like Paula how to repair and upgrade
computers while also providing the community with a way to properly recycle computers and other electronics once they can no longer be used.  InterConnection.org provides refurbished computers to schools, non‐profits, and low‐income individuals around the world. Paula’s story is just one of many.