With the pandemic forcing her business to close, Luz María has taken to selling catalogue products and using online banking.

As the daughter of a stylist, Luz María Moncayo grew up with a passion for all things beauty, which is what led her to start up her own business as a nail technician. 

When covid-19 hit Mexico just over a year ago, it forced her to shut up shop. To provide for her family, she began seeing her regular clients at home; however, at the height of the pandemic, this put her and her daughter’s health at risk. 

That was when her idea to sell products out of a catalogue became the perfect stand-in to get her back on her feet. When her clients told her they needed certain products, the entrepreneur in her couldn’t help but respond with an “I’ll get it for you”.    

Luz María met an agent from micro-loan programme Tuiio who told her how to get a loan that would help get her new venture off the ground. He also taught her how to use the mobile app. She learned how to track her account activity and balance in real time, get more funds, review payment services, order transfers and submit queries from the comfort of her home. Online banking enabled this micro-entrepreneur to get back to work and set about growing her business.  
 

Her drive, coupled with help from Tuiio, means Luz María can now look forward to a bright future loaded with opportunity.

Santander Micro Finance, finance for all. 
 

^{In November 2020, Santander México won International Finance Magazine’s “Best Financial Inclusion Bank” award for the Tuiio initiative, which serves over 197,000 customers, 92% of whom are women. Since launching in 2017, Tuiio has granted over 388,000 loans worth EUR 107 million (2.591 billion pesos) to customers.}

^{Santander Finance for All is Banco Santander's programme to promote financial inclusion. We help society prosper in the countries where we operate through access to basic financial products and services (even in remote areas) to support people at risk of exclusion so they can thrive in their work, and through the promotion of financial education. It boosts our commitment to financially empowering 10 million people by 2025 through Tuiio in Mexico, Prospera in Brazil and Uruguay, Superdigital in Brazil, Mexico and Chile (these last two are expanding in Latin America), and other initiatives.}