When Force d’Entraide Nationale pour le Développement (FENAD) decided to start the business in 2010, it did not have financial and technical resources. Identified in the context of an Urban Community-Driven Development Project (PRODEPUR) in 2012, FENAD put up more than ten percent of the equity capital and received US$20,000 in funding. Thanks to technical and administrative training, workers and senior staff improved both the product and the management of the company.

With 40 workers from the community, 50 indirect workers, 1,500 blocks sold daily, and up to 150,000 gourdes (+/- US$3,200) in monthly profit, a true success story for a company that started out with 10 workers and sold at most 150 blocks daily.

Today, in addition to being self-sustaining, FENAD has also bought its own land. "We worked hard; we paid one million gourdes (+/- US$21,000), using the profit we made," explains proudly Chevelin Nicolas Manager at FENAD.

On Jean-Georges street in Delmas 32, residents chat in front of a house under construction. "this house and many others were built with blocks from the factory," says Wisner Mettelus, Salesperson.

This factory is the only one that sells blocks of this quality in this area of 46,000 residents. In the past, members of the community had to travel far to get these products. Now they have a nearby full-service facility—FENAD makes sure it provides training so that they have the basic skills to supervise the work done by the foremen who build their homes.

In addition, these blocks have passed the tests administered by the Ministry of Public Works.

Learn more about PRODEPUR :

FENAD is only one of the 400 completed subprojects funded by PRODEPUR, a project jointly financed by the World Bank (US$15.7 million) and the Caribbean Development Bank (US$5 million). In 2014, the World Bank provided US$7.5 million in additional financing.

This program a as helped improve the living conditions of more than 270,000 persons by supporting existing community initiatives to expand access to water, electricity, and sanitation services; it has also helped improved neighborhoods by constructing public spaces and rehabilitating roads and corridors, thus connecting residents to health centers, schools, and other services in nearby communities.

HL/ HaitiLibre