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| Article Content | In developing countries in particular, a key to improving economic stability is empowering women as entrepreneurs. To that end, microfinance has emerged as a solution that helps women to provide for their families. Microloans are small loans, as little as $25, with which a woman in a developing nation can obtain the goods or products necessary to start a business. For example, a woman might purchase a pair of chickens, and from those she can sell the eggs and raise chicks to develop a flock.
There are organizations which solicit donations from the public; these donations are then used to help women to start businesses and become financially self-sufficient with microloans, or through innovative sponsorship programs. For example, Women for Women administers a program where interested women can sponsor a woman who has survived a conflict in a country such as the Congo, Rwanda or Bosnia and Herzegovina. The sponsorship program lasts for one year and a monthly donation of $27 makes it possible for recipients to send their children to school, start a business, and buy food and clothes. The funding also is used to provide vocational training to sponsorship recipients. Sponsors can send letters to their “sisters” via the organization’s website. Kiva is an microlending organization through which individuals can donate funds to help aspiring women entrepreneurs achieve their financial goals. Profiles are posted that explain where a woman lives and what her business venture entails. You can see how much money is needed for her to start her business and make a $25 donation that will help her to start her business. Visitors to Kiva’s website have the option of supporting individuals or groups. Through these and other inventive programs, women can achieve financial independence, free themselves from poverty and provide their children with educational opportunities that can break the cycle of poverty for future generations. |