WWB CLIENTS

Why poor women?

Women's World Banking provides financial services to poor women entrepreneurs to enable them to grow their businesses and lift their families out of poverty. Among our 23 million clients are women like Hellen Kabutha, who runs a fishing business in Kenya, Anastasia Ndanu, who owns a petrol station (also in Kenya) and Sumitra who makes bottle caps in India. As you will see from these three examples, poor women who receive financial services have proven themselves to be highly credit-worthy. Necessity has made them careful strategists who plan for the future, courageous risk-takers with an eye for economic opportunities and hard workers who put their families' welfare first.

Small amounts of business credit, provided to one hard-working woman, can transform many lives. In societies throughout the world, women like these are responsible for their families' well-being. When women earn money, they invest their earnings in improving the lives of their children and families — in better food, clothing, shelter, health care and educational opportunities. When women earn, everyone benefits.

Traditionally, mainstream banks have not considered poor women to be credit-worthy. That is why the microfinance institutions in Women's World Banking's global network are today extending personalized financial services to poor women, enabling them and their families not only to survive, but to thrive.

The financial independence that comes with access to small-business credit increases women's self-confidence and enables them to develop their skills, empowering them. Consequently, they gain respect and improved status in their families and communities, even in societies where their status has traditionally been low. They become decision-makers, role-models and political actors and are less vulnerable to violence and injustice.