Training and networking schemes tied-in with microfinance enable women microentrepreneurs to earn their way to self-reliance
Microfinance is exactly what it sounds like but it involves bits of money probably even smaller than you’d think. In some developing countries a microloan could be as small as $25. That $25 loan could be enough for a woman to buy seeds, start a garden, sell the produce, pay back the loan, buy supplies for her family and buy more seeds this time without a loan, enabling her to break out from a cycle of poverty. This loan does so much more than break the cycle of poverty for this one woman; it allows her to earn her respect in her family and her community. This opportunity allows her to break others’ view of her as just a child bearer and makes them see her as a resourceful entrepreneur. Organizations like Grameen Bank only loan to women so women alone can qualify for loans, not their husbands and this bolsters women’s status in their communities. Now that their husbands can see their wives are able to provide for them, themselves, their children they are more likely to listen to t...
