Few banks give their clients dispensation to sell oranges in the car park, but then few banks lend money to itinerant fruit sellers. Banco Adopem, or ‘the women’s bank’ as it is more commonly known, is a microfinance lender and becoming one of the Dominican Republic’s best-known institutions. It is not, however, a typical bank.
“It’s good having a fruit seller client in the yard,” says bank president Mercedes Canalda. “If I let him do business here, we can collect his repayments easily and I know he is not going to abscond. He’s one of my best clients.”
