ST. LOUIS • As the sun begins to set and commuters head toward home, Daphne Ingram loads up the cart customers have dubbed "Walmart on wheels."

Loaded with body oils, air fresheners, T-shirts, socks and costume jewelry, Ingram takes her mobile business to Fairground Park, where she most frequently sells her wares.

Her street preacher style is both aggressive and charming, her strong Jamaican accent piercing the air. She mixes her selling with spreading God's word. She says her faith is what has made her business possible. The two should not be mutually exclusive, she said.

Ingram loves being a street vendor. She has hustled since she was a child, proudly announcing that she never asked for a dime from her mom growing up as one of 18 children on the island country.

But even the best salesmen hit a lull, like Ingram did last year. The customers in the park and those at the busy Central West End MetroLink station were not buying as much. Ingram heard about a loan program offered to immigrant and refugee women entrepreneurs.

She was able to borrow the maximum $1,000 at no interest as long as she paid it back in one year. And she, like other women who received loans through the International Institute, had to agree to meet monthly to share their business experiences.

"We can encourage each other and give each other ideas," Ingram said.

The Peer Lending Circle, as it is officially known, serves as a support group, of sorts. Members can help keep spirits up when business is down, Ingram said.

The monthly meetings are usually held at Georgette Djona's house, where she runs a day care. She was the first to pay back her loan. She could stop participating in the meetings but sees them as too important to give up.

"It keeps us going. We tell each other: 'Don't give up when there is some obstacle,'" said Djona, who is Congolese.

A staff member from the Institute oversees the meetings. And the agency helps the women create business plans, financial projections and marketing materials, such as business cards and fliers. The United Way of Greater St. Louis provided the grant for the program.

Many women immigrants and refugees delay getting a job or starting a career, focusing on raising their children. It's common for refugee women to arrive in the U.S. as widows, with little education and few job skills.

Creating a micro loan program can provide seed money or help a business expand, said Kathleen Delpha, senior vice president of finance and business development services for the International Institute. Perhaps most importantly, she said, the loan allows the women to establish credit, crucial for borrowing money from a bank, she said.

Five women have received loans from the new program so far. All but Ingram are African. Women who are interested in participating in the program are encouraged to attend the meetings to learn from and support the members. When a loan is repaid, the money is made available to another woman.

Ingram, 53, used her loan to replace her broken cart and to purchase more merchandise and a computer. She hopes to create a website to promote her business. For a woman who began with $40 to start her business three years ago, the loan was a huge boost.

Ingram is saving for a van so she can more easily haul her cart and merchandise. Currently, she relies on public transportation.

Ingram says she will eventually have a storefront for her business, officially licensed with the city as Nixnox. But she will hire someone to man it, focusing her energies on selling from a cart.

"I like to move around, meet different people," Ingram said. "Sitting in one place, waiting for people to come in would be like suffocating."