|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
   |
CARSA: SELLING TO THE POOREST OF THE POOR (int'l edition)Iris Rosa Mendoza Panduri, 51, beams at her brick house in San Juan de Miraflores, a village in the desert south of Lima. She has been working on her home for five years, paying about $100 a month on loans totaling nearly $4,000. After building the first story, she borrowed to pay for a second floor. Now that the roof is done, she says, ''I want to add finishing touches.'' That means Mendoza, a single mother of six, will be heading to Grupo Carsa for credit once again. Carsa has built a booming business serving lower-income residents of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia. The company, owned by Peru's Lucioni family, offers home mortgages and runs a network of 150 stores, including mobile outlets, selling appliances on credit. Although rates are sky high--from 45% to 110% annually on loans averaging $500--customers clamor for Carsa's service because they cannot qualify for bank loans. Carsa lends without collateral or proof of income, says Chief Financial Officer Pablo Bustamante Pardo. Yet few default. ''For these people it is difficult to get credit, so they behave correctly,'' he says. A tiny company for three decades, Carsa took off after Peru's President Alberto Fujimori began stabilizing the economy in 1990. Carsa CEO Guido Lucioni Chirinos shed nonstrategic businesses and hired managers such as Bustamante. The moves touched off a boom in sales. Over the past five years, the company has averaged 35% annual growth. Sales totaled $433 million in 1996 and could hit $1 billion by 2000, the company says. Carsa has $285 million in loans outstanding to 360,000 clients. Carsa is one of the region's most successful marketers to the rising consumer class. But the Lucionis have bigger plans. They aim to issue stock in Lima and New York next year. The group is also adding independent directors to its board. Says Bustamante: ''We must open the company to be able to grow.'' That could ensure many more happy customers like Peru's Iris Mendoza.
By Patti Lane in Lima
|
Updated Oct. 16, 1997 by bwwebmaster
Copyright 1997, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use