nurture potential

May 9th, 2012

Timotea, Peru

Using her loan to:
purchase more livestock.

How she’s nurturing another’s potential:
She is ensuring her children are receiving an education and provided for so they can pursue a better life.

Srey, Cambodia

Using her loan to:
purchase more land for agriculture

How she’s nurturing another’s potential:
Provides school tuition for her children and hopes to expand her home to accommodate caring for her parents.

Nurture Potential with Kiva

joinFITE, powered by Kiva, aims to create Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship for women and mother’s worldwide.

On May 13, 80 countries around the world will celebrate the same thing: Moms. They nurture our potential and give us the courage to dream big. So do teachers, mentors and friends. This makes the month of May the perfect time to honor life’s nurturers by helping others around the world build brighter futures for themselves and their families.

Kiva is a nonprofit organization that connects people through lending to alleviate poverty. It gives everyday people the opportunity to provide small loans that thousands of people around the world need to realize their dreams.

Here’s how you can get involved:

  • Lend to a woman and watch the ripple effect. Women make up 75% of the extreme poor, but invest 80% of their income in their children.
  • Thank the nurturers in your life by giving them a Kiva Card — $25 to lend to any borrower they choose to help them realize their potential. Visit
    kiva.org/gifts.

When you send a Kiva Card to those who have helped you along the way, you are helping them support women and families around the world. They’ll get to choose a specific borrower to support and get updates as they succeed and repay. To date, Kiva lenders have helped fund over $300M in loans in 60+ countries with a 98.9%
payback rate.

Kiva loans have proven to be a significant resource for women in particular. Since 2005, Kiva has connected lenders to more than 600,000 women around the world, many who are hard at work shaping the next generation. And, by partnering with organizations that offer maternal health and education services on top of our loans, Kiva helps lenders make an even bigger impact on women and mothers’ lives.

So don’t just celebrate Mother’s Day on May 13th. Dedicate all of May to honoring mothers and nurturers worldwide by introducing the people in their life to Kiva and the power of micro-lending. It truly is the gift that keeps giving.

give a beautiful gift to the mothers in your life, empower other mothers around the world

April 27th, 2012

Prosperity Candle LogoLooking for a meaningful gift for Mother’s Day? Now you can give a gift that gives back many times over. Prosperity Candles creates beautiful gifts that also help moms around the world to rebuild their lives. Each gift arrives with the name and photograph of the woman who made it, enabling you to connect with her directly through the Prosperity Candle website.

Take a look at their gift guide for ideas! Be sure to choose joinFITE in the “How did you hear about us?” section during check-out.

Scrapbook Image

#tagURit

April 26th, 2012

In March, joinFITE played the World’s Largest game of TAG, a social media game that invited people to “share” a joinFITE social media message and TAG a friend. For each message, $1 was contributed towards funding a loan for a woman entrepreneur.

In total we were able to empower more than 150 women entrepreneurs like Phalla, a wife and mother of three residing in the Takeo Province of Cambodia, who will use her loan to purchase a generator to run an electricity business for her village.

meet some of the joinFITE entrepreneurs


               
               

Subuhiya is a savvy Israeli businesswoman! She is using her loan to diversify the stock at her bookstore. After seeing a drop in sales she has decided to expand the items she offers to include gifts and hopefully soon school uniforms.
— at Israel.

Elizabeth is an entrepreneur from the USA. She started her janitorial services business while working full-time. She has 2 employees and provides services for commercial buildings. Elizabeth plans to hire more workers as her business grows, and is using her loan to do so.
— at United States of America.


               
               

Estrella is a single mother from Peru, she has 2 children. Having overcome many obstacles with her husband, Estrella is a hard-working woman dedicated to supporting her family. She has operated a butcher shop where she raises livestock and then sells the meat in market. She’s using her loan to purchase more livestock.
— in Peru.


               
               

A loan of $1,125 USD helped Estefani to buy lights for her own photography studio. She is a single woman who also supports her mother and brother. After receving her education in graphic design she started her own photography business, shooting publicity photographs for national companies.


               
               

Reum is a married mother of 2 children in Kampot Province, Cambodia. Selling groceries she earns around USD 5 per day. Her husband is a rice farmer who earns about USD 2 per day. Reum is using her loan of USD 500 to purchase more groceries to resell. This purchase would enable her to generate more profit to support the family. Her goal is to ensure her children earn a Bachelor’s degree.
— at Cambodia.


               
               

Safaa is a 42-year-old mother of two from northern Israel. She is a certified nursery school teacher with additional training and certification in young childhood education and care. Safaa needed this loan to build the reinforced safe room for her daycare facility that social services requires. She hopes to expand her business by offering mother-child services.
— at Israel.


               
               

Rose is an entrepreneur from South Sudan. She is using her loan to purchase food items to stock her stall. After 7 successful years in business she is also able to employ a member of her community. Rose uses her income in part to keep 3 of her children enrolled in school.
— in South Sudan.


               
               

Harlince is an entrepreneur from Indonesia. Her business is raising livestock that she then resells. She is married with one child of her own, and also cares for 3 other dependents. Her income helps ensure that all of her children are enrolled in school.
— at Indonesia.


               
               

So Meng, 28, is married and resides with her husband and one child in Cambodia. They both work in a garment factory earning USD 8 per day. She is using her loan to expand her family’s residence, with the hopes of starting a business raising livestock for resale.
— at Cambodia.


               
               

Oanh is married with 2 children and the leader of the 08.01.05 Đông Vệ solidarity group, which consists of 9 members. Oanh runs a business selling porcelain products. She is using her loan to purchase more porcelain products to resell. Her goal is to ensure her children are able to get good jobs.


               
               

Socorro is an entrepreneur from Peru, a country where women entrepreneurs out number men. She is using her loan to stock her clothing retail business. She is a truly hard working woman, with not 1 but 3 jobs! In addition to her clothing business she also retails beauty items, and is employed as a houseworker.
— in Peru.


               
               

Maria Helena is a single mother of 2 from Nicaragua. She has been able to expand her clothing sales business from door to door, to now having her own shop. She is using her loan to purchase more stock.
— at Nicaragua.

Meet more of the entrepreneurs joinFITE has empowered with a loan

joinFITE at the united nations

April 25th, 2012

Thursday, March 8, 2012 marked the 101st International Women’s Day (IWD). Dermalogica Founder Jane Wurwand, in partnership with the Business Civic Leadership Center, had the opportunity to share her story and her mission to empower women globally when she appeared on a panel at the United Nations to discuss Financial Inclusion for Women.

The panel discussion highlighted the innovative ways Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, international organizations and NGOs are enhancing financial inclusion of women around the world.

Panelists included Pam Flaherty, CEO of Citi Foundation, Nadereh Chamlou, Senior Advisor for World Bank, and Thomas Stelzer, Assistant Secretary-General UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

See how joinFITE celebrated IWD globally by clicking here!

United Nations

April 11th, 2012