Opportunity International Australia Blog

Sometimes in our work we’re asked if what we do can really change anything when there is so much need out there. There’s so much poverty in the world – why bother? Can anything we do really make a difference?

Perhaps the only answer to that question is this: it makes a difference to the one. It made a difference to Melba from the Philippines, who is pictured on this year’s cover with her five-year-old daughter Renalyn. A small loan has enabled Melba to start a cooking business, and the income she is earning means that Renalyn is now in school.

To read Opportunity International Australia’s 2011 Annual Review, please click here.

On 13 April, Opportunity International Australia will be celebrating World Entrepreneurship Day.

While you might not hear about them in the glossy pages of the ‘rich lists’, there are entrepreneurs living in developing countries doing incredible things for their communities.

Opportunity sees this entrepreneurial potential everyday in its clients throughout Indonesia, India and the Philippines. People like Ambotuo (pictured below) who use their small businesses to not only improve the lives of their  family members, but also make a significant impact on reducing poverty in their communities.

After taking out a small loan from Opportunity’s microfinance partner in Indonesia, TLM, Ambotuo’s dried-fish selling business grew. He even had to employ three people from his village to support the demand for the fish– enabling another three families to benefit from a new income and work their way out of poverty, too.

A small loan can enable someone living in poverty to turn their business idea in to a reality and give them the tools they need to provide for their family. With an average small loan size of $200, it doesn’t take much to give someone a start.

If you would like to provide an opportunity to an entrepreneur living in a developing country, please donate today.

With an average small loan size of $200, entrepreneurs living in poverty like Ambotuo can rewrite their family’s future, all they need is an opportunity.

I have been in India for the last two days hosting a small group of donors from Australia to show them the appalling living conditions in the slums of Delhi and how they can enable the people living here to have a better life.

I want to share with you the life of one woman that we met today in Seemapuri, in north-east Delhi. To meet her, we had to walk down a narrow, claustrophobic alley way, stepping over raw sewerage in the drains, ducking regularly to avoid the live electrical wires crossing overhead. I had to breathe through my mouth to avoid smelling the stench. As I walked, it struck me that this was one of the most appalling slums I had ever seen.

After a few minutes of waiting, we were ushered into a small room to meet some women who are microfinance clients. One of the clients we met was Samhita (middle front).

Samhita is 19, a year younger than my daughter. She was enthusiastic, smart and engaging. She explained to us that she completed year 9 at school, married at 16 and has two children. She and her husband migrated from the east of India to find work in Delhi – her husband still hasn’t found employment. Their home is two small rooms, each about 2.5 by 4 meters, with just a door and no windows.

Samhita has an ambition to educate herself further and to educate her children. She wants to have a better life. She started a business 18 months ago and has taken two small microfinance loans. Her current loan is about 19,000 rupees (A$380). With this loan, she has set up a recycling business where she collects recyclable waste such as plastic and glass bottles, to then sell. She collects the waste from a rubbish tip which is literally outside her back door (See photo below).

Her business generates an income of about 3,000 to 4,000 rupees (A$60-80) per month, and she’s saving money to she send her children to school and continue her own education. She also tells me that she is a dancer and loves music.

Despite the appalling living and working conditions that surrounded her, Samhita was full of hope. She told us that without the help of her small loans, she could not have started her business. In fact, she is now asking for a larger loan so she can expand her business and increase her family’s income even more.

In Delhi today, there are more than 300 people like Samhita ready to receive a loan. A donation of just $200 can help someone like Samhita set up a business and enable them to provide a secure future for their family.

Meeting Samhita, I’m reminded just how much of a difference you can make through microfinance..

Stephen Robertson
Donor Relations Director
Opportunity International Australia
www.opportunity.org.au