Microfinance does not require previous experience or loans to the same extent as a small-business loan, so it's easier for women to enter the micro sector.
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Because microfinance is so manageable in terms of the size of the loan, people have made it the cornerstone to lifting women out of poverty.
In 1989, I started the National Association of Business Women. We incorporated microfinance and different job training for women. We did a survey, with USAID, that found women lacked training, credit and information.
Making loans and fighting poverty are normally two of the least glamorous pursuits around, but put the two together and you have an economic innovation that has become not just popular but downright chic. The innovation - microfinance - involves making small loans to poor entrepreneurs, usually in developing countries.
We developed microfinance to fight loan sharks - I was telling people don't go to loan sharks - not trying to take advantage and make money for myself. I would be a junior loan shark if I did... It is not a panacea.
If women had better access to the financial system - even so much as a basic deposit account at a bank - it would be a major step in the direction of greater wealth and greater economic empowerment.
I have always wondered why more women did not look into owning their own funds. Granted, it is a high stress, high risk business, but it also offers high rewards and control.
In one month, the Small Business Administration does $1 billion of loans and guarantees for businesses; many of those are women-owned businesses.
The invention of the micro-loan was a big surprise to me. Who would have guessed loans of less than $20 made to poor people in undeveloped countries could create thriving local economies? And, even more surprisingly, that they more reliably pay off their debts than the wealthy of the world.
In China, a lot of the opening up of private entrepreneurship is happening because women are starting businesses, small businesses, faster than men.
Women are trying to have it all but are trying to regain control over their time. That's why many women are busting out of the traditional workforce and starting their own businesses.
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