A Home Business
PARAGUAY – In 2024, Diaconía, HOPE International’s partner in Paraguay, asked the entrepreneurs they serve a simple question: What do you need most?
The answer was surprising. Instead of pointing to business loans or training, clients repeated again and again that they needed access to capital to build or improve their homes. In Paraguay, it’s common for homes to be made from temporary materials and lack the space or stability to safely support family life and a growing business.
Diaconía—rooted in their desire to share the Gospel by meeting the practical needs of the people they serve—listened. And by August 2025, they were ready to respond.
They launched a new housing loan product that offered entrepreneurs financing for construction, renovation, and even land purchase. In a few months, Diaconía disbursed 13 housing loans, placing more than $42,000 (U.S.) directly into the hands of entrepreneurs ready to improve their family homes.
A home Business: Antonia’s story
For more than 40 years, Antonia worked as a seamstress. Her skills and resilience supported her family through the hard times they faced together—the loss of her partner, serious illness, and times when work disappeared altogether. While they had enough, getting ahead felt impossible.
“I believe that thanks to God I did not fall apart through all the hardships I went through,” she reflects.
It was during one of those difficult periods, shortly after losing her partner, that a friend invited her to join a Diaconía group. At the time, more than a decade ago, Antonia was searching for a way to rebuild. Her friend’s invitation became a turning point.
With her first loans from Diaconía, Antonia bought fabric and sold handmade sheets in her neighborhood. Later, she invested in an industrial sewing machine, allowing her to take on more work and grow her income. But alongside the financial opportunities, she found something more: the support of a Diaconía chaplain and a community of women who prayed together and reminded each other to hold on to hope.
When the new housing loan became available, Antonia saw an opportunity to set up her business—and home—for flexible growth.
She used the loan to build a storefront in front of her home. The place where she lived and raised her children became more: a place to sell, to create, and to dream again. Today, she works there alongside her daughter, building toward a shared vision of a family-run business that can sustain them both.
Using Her Success to Live Generously
Her neighbors have taken notice, too. “Many people ask me how I did it. … I always tell them it was through Diaconía,” she said. Now, others in her community are exploring similar possibilities. Several women in her microfinance group are planning to build their own shops. Others are improving their homes or investing in their businesses.
Even as she works to grow her own business, Antonia looks beyond herself. She often prepares meals for children in her neighborhood—sometimes feeding dozens at a time. She’s part of a large prayer group that serves people who fall ill in the community. She even hosts her Diaconía loan group inside her renovated home.
Antonia’s shop is still a work in progress. She plans to fill it with handmade goods produced alongside her daughter. “My dream is to fill the shop with what we make here and turn it into a family business,” she shares.
