Meet Reina Romero

Reina started her business twelve years ago. Before this, she worked in a multinational company and she, along with her husband, provided for their family's needs. On one occasion a lady from church invited her and a group of friends to learn how to make piñatas, and “Since I learned I like it so much, I decided to start a piñata business,” Reina commented with excitement as she shared her story.

"I began making piñatas during my free time in my house. As I worked more on the piñatas' design and developed my creativity and ability, I could design more piñatas. However, since my house is small, the porch was the only place where I had room for them. People walking by admired the piñatas on the porch and started buying them.

Then I set a goal for myself to have the necessary inventory to exhibit and display them in a business venue. Since demand for them was increasing, I had to call my friends from the piñata course so that they could help me sell more. I was not able to hire other staff and my time was not enough.

The business continued growing so I decided to devote myself full time to it, in part due to the higher income I was bringing home.

Finally, I was able to reach the point of increasing my inventory of piñatas.  I was ready to display my product and rented a place to sell them. I also decided to add more complimentary products for parties and baby showers as well as clothes, cosmetics  and seasonal items for holidays (Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Valentine's, and others)."

Reina received a loan with Diaconia to diversify her inventory even more, and be able to fulfill all of her customers needs. Also, she has found in Diaconia the opportunity to give to beneficiary programs and to volunteer as a piñata trainer.

Conoce a Reina Romero

       Reina inicio su negocio hace doce años. Anteriormente trabajaba en una empresa multinacional, y junto a su esposo proveían para los gastos del hogar.  En una ocasión una hermana de la iglesia le invito a ella y a un grupo de amigas a aprender a elaborar piñatas y “Desde que aprendí  me gusto tanto, que me propuse a emprender un negocio de este rubro” comenta Reina al compartir su historia. 

"Inicie haciendo piñatas de moda en mi casa durante mis tiempos libres. A medida que elaboraba mas y desarrollaba mi creatividad y habilidad, podía diseñar muchas mas piñatas" comparte Reina. Sin embargo, ya que su casa era pequeña, el porche era el único lugar donde podía elaborarlas. Estando ahí, la gente que pasaba por allí admiraba el producto y empezó a ganar clientela, ya que al verla diseñarlas, le compraban.

Luego, se propuso como meta hacer las piñatas necesarias para buscar un local y exhibirlas para su venta. Al incrementar su demanda, tuvo que llamar a sus amigas del curso de piñatas para que ellas elaboraran también el producto. Ella no podía pagar personal y tampoco daba a basto con su tiempo.   

El negocio fue creciendo poco a poco que decidió dedicarse a el tiempo completo. Además gracias a el podía traer un ingreso mayor a casa. Luego, incremento su inventario a tal punto que necesitaba un local para exhibirlo. Entonces Reina decidió agregar otros productos complementarios como todo para: fiestas, baby showers, productos misceláneos (ropa dama, caballeros, niños, bebe, cosméticos) y detalles de temporada (dia del padre, madre, san Valentín y ocasiones). 

A Quiet Revolution

Our bi-annual global gathering is called Marketplace Revolution, which refers to the transformative movement we are pursuing. This is not a loud and violent revolution.  It’s a collection of personal commitments from Christian business people to live out their calling to business, dig deeper into God’s desire for how they should do that, and connect with other leaders to figure out how to help other business people do the same. While this ‘revolution’ isn’t normally front page news, it’s most definitely captivating and the impact is remarkable.

In one of my last letters I highlighted some key puzzle pieces the Lord seemed to be knitting together in Cuenca, Ecuador to promote exactly this type of impact.  Since that time, those pieces have come together, begun to bear fruit, and are driving us on to exciting new possibilities.

Our Ecuador affiliate is now formally partnered with Cuenca Partners – a group of local business people committed to helping small businesses in their Church and community thrive. Not only that, but they are adamant about holding one another accountable to doing business in a way that glorifies God by bearing witness to His love and purpose.

Recently this partnership recruited and trained a group of 52 local business mentors. As business people, all of them are committed  to using who they are and what they have in service to their community. A result of this offering of service is the planned launch of a second business course in January. Cuenca Partners expects 60 people to attend. Mentors will be paired with  participants that request guidance in implementing course principles. 

Originally, this partnership focused exclusively on small businesses.  However, in the last few weeks via meetings with the local Chamber of Commerce, Cuenca Partners identified the need for high level mentoring and training for medium and large businesses in the community. As a result, we are working to design a strategy to engage and serve those people as well.

Our shared desire through these activities is to raise up a community of business people committed to seeking and living out God’s full calling for their lives. This begins through training and mentoring, but it reaches further. As this network grows, our prayer is that barriers between large and small, rich and poor, connected and isolated would dissolve and vanish, forming a community rooted in Christ-like service. By nature, that will be a community characterized by jobs that truly afford opportunity, growth, and dignity – a community that is increasingly able to meet its own basic needs and help others do the same.

Patricio Hurtado - Pizza Nostra

After years working in a nonprofit organization, Patricio took a step of faith toward his dream of running his own business.  With constant guidance and mentoring from Carlos a leader in the Cuenca Partners affiliate, Patricio learned business skills, evaluated the market for pizzerias, tried countless sauces, dough recipes, and ingredients, and finally open the doors of a pizzeria in a residential area that lacked restaurant options.  He had invested over five months of planning, and his business was already growing when we visited--a mere two months after the restaurant's grand opening.

 When we arrived, Carlos headed back behind the counter to help Patricio, his wife, and their two workers finishing up appetizers of veggies and buffalo wings.  Pizza and lasagna soon followed, the latter being a new option Patricio is adding to the menu.  While the restaurant is still in its initial stages, Patricio has large plans for its growth.  Eventually he would like to make Pizza Nostra a franchise with locations all over Cuenca and beyond.  He is already training a nephew who hopes to eventually run a restaurant, and Patricio is taking steps to differentiate his product, such as offering a seafood pizza with shrimp, crab, and fish.  From talking with customers, Patricio knows that there are small improvements to make, but he is on the right track.  He already has many repeat customers, and with Carlos' continued mentoring he looks forward to implementing daily improvements in the business.

Nostra Pizza en Cuenca

Después de trabajar durante varios años en una fundación, Patricio tomó un paso de fe hacia su sueño de emprender su propio negocio.  Con el consejo constante de Carlos, un líder del afiliado local Cuenca Partners, Patricio aprendió principios de negocios; hizo un sondeo del mercado para pizzerías; probo salsas, masas e ingredientes; y por fin abrió una pizzería en un sector residencial con pocos restaurantes.  Había invertido más de cinco meses de planificación, y cuando visitamos su local - apenas dos meses después de la apertura--el negocio ya estaba creciendo.

Al momento en que llegamos, Patricio, su esposa y dos empleados estaban preparando las entradas de verduras y alitas.  Después sirvieron pizza y lasaña, la cual es una adición nueva al menú.  Aunque el restaurante está en la fase inicial, Patricio tiene grandes planes para hacerlo crecer.  En el futuro, espera hacer una franquicia de locales de Pizza Nostra en toda la ciudad y a otras provincias.  Ya está capacitando a un sobrino para que en el futuro pueda encabezar otro local y ha tomado pasos para diferenciar su producto, ofreciendo una pizza de mariscos.  Hablando con sus clientes, Patricio se ha enterado de los pequeños cambios que puede hacer, pero sabe que todo está mejorando.  Ya tiene algunos clientes fieles y con el apoyo continuo de Carlos, espera seguir implementando mejorias constantes en el negocio.