Walter Melendres is a ceramist and was born in 1960 in the municipality of Jesús de Machaca in the department of La Paz in Bolivia. As a child, he often watched his father and grandfather pottering clay pots and other objects to earn a living. As he had no toys, he began moulding donkeys, sheep and other small animals out of clay at a young age. “I was already skilful at the age of six and had reached an artistic level by the time I was twelve,” he says.
Hoping that his craftsmanship would help him to become a successful and independent ceramist, he eventually moved to the city of La Paz. To realise his dream, he needed start-up capital. However, his talent alone was not enough to obtain a loan from a conventional bank.
He was advised to turn to the Banco FIE co-operative bank. Banco FIE was founded in 1985 and was one of the first microcredit institutions in Bolivia. Today, the co-operative bank serves almost 250,000 borrowers. Walter Melendres received start-up capital from Banco FIE for his ceramics workshop and the opportunity to take part in an international trade fair in Germany, where he was able to present his products and even gain international visibility.
Since then, he has remained loyal to Banco FIE, where his talent was recognised from the outset. Today, in the 38th anniversary year of the co-operative bank, Walter Melendres is one of its most prominent customers. Thanks to the continued support of the microfinance institution, he has become an internationally recognised ceramic artist whose works are now even exported to the United States and Europe.
Walter Melendres gives further exciting insights into his story in a video.
*Loans to the microfinance institution via the IIV Mikrofinanzfonds since 2020.
