Poverty crushes the
human spirit. Three billion people — one half of the
world’s population — live on less than $2 per day and are
unable to meet their basic human needs. Malnutrition,
lack of health care, substandard housing, and illiteracy
breeds desperation, disease, and daily suffering. Poverty
traps future generations in a vicious cycle without hope
or opportunity.
We believe that by helping the world's poor become
micro-entrepreneurs and through the use of micro-finance
and micro-credit loans, poverty as we know it can
virtually be eliminated within one generation. And with
the elimination of poverty comes hope, health, and the
strengthening of poor families.
The most common tool to help micro-entrepreneurs is a
micro-credit loan — usually less than $100. These tiny
loans are enough for hardworking micro-entrepreneurs to
start or expand small businesses such as basket weaving,
raising chickens, or buying wholesale products to sell at
the market.
Income from these businesses provides better food,
housing, health care, and education for entire families.
And most importantly, the additional income provides hope
for a better future.
The success of these programs has proven that it is
possible to make both a social impact and a profit. In
fact, micro-entrepreneurs — street vendors, laborers, and
artisans — who have been written off as unbankable in the
past, make excellent customers when they have access to
financial products and resources that match their
needs.