Almost 30 years ago, María Cristina Estrada established her business with a tiny venue located at a small marketplace in Nicaragua. Starting with 6 pineapples, 6 melons, 50 bananas and 6 watermelons she dreamed of someday growing her business into a large store. In order to do so, she acquired loans from Financiera FAMA, a microfinance institution that had operations near her business. Maria was able to establish a good credit history with FAMA. She was repaying the loans on time, which made for a very successful long-term relationship between the two.