Mr. Nguyen Duy Duoc and his spouse, Mrs. Dinh Thi Tam residing at Hamlet 1B, Phuoc Hoa Commune, Phu Giao District built up VND-billion business establishment after 15 years of efforts and credit loans. Poverty is around Mr. Duoc told us that he moved from Ha Nam Province to Binh Duong Province in 1985 and chose Phuoc Hoa as the land of settlement and earning. With all the money from his homeland, he and his spouse bought a humble land lot in the village where they built a make-shift house to shelter from the weather. They worked as manual laborers to make ends meet. By 1986, they applied to work for Phuoc Hoa Rubber Corporation where they earn VND 200,000 monthly. They kept trying on with more work but failed to escape poverty in almost 10-year time. Mr. Nguyen Duy Duoc stands for photography beside his van – the breadwinner When the loans matter “We have tried and failed to escape poverty plenty of times,” said Duoc while retelling the story of his life and family. By 1997 when the people’s credit fund was established, they ventured to borrow VND 3 million in instalments to start up their own business. After finalizing the initial loans, they continued with another loan of VND 5 million to establish fish sales at Phuoc Hoa Market. Their household business grew and by 2003, they ventured to invest into 1 ha of rubber trees from the credit loans of VND 80 million. Duoc kept on with his motobike taxi job before quitting in 2006 to save more time for his household business of fish sales and rubber tree tapping. By 2007, they could build up their own house at the cost of nearly VND 400 million. Showing us his two motobikes bought from credit loans, Duoc said: “They are tired now for a long time carrying over 200kg a day. I keep them as memory to hard times”. By now, he has bought a van to carry goods of fish sales and rubber latex which help them earn over VND 1 million a day. “The loans make me today,” Duoc said while asserting the effectiveness of people’s credit loan model, “however, we should try and try,” he added. Reported by Hoai Phuong-Doan Huan – Translated by Vi Bao