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Women represent 70% of the world's poor and experience the most extreme working conditions on the planet (crazy).
Share this experience of the working challenges poor women face to give money to a woman in need.
We'll give you $25 to help a woman start a business to better her life. The best part — it's free!
DS: You're thirsty from working in the fields in Kenya. Would u rather A) drink the murky water your employer provides? or B) go thirsty & risk dehydration?
MEMBER: A
DS: Woah, only 59% of drinking water is actually safe — you could get a waterborne disease that puts you out of work for days (yikes!)
What's the deal with global poverty and women? Get the rundown:
A whopping 1.3 billion people live on less than $1 a day.
Women work two-thirds of the world's working hours, produce half of the world's food, but earn only 10% of the world's income and own less than 1% of the world's property. They make up 50% of the world's population, but represent 70% of the world's poor (that ain't right).
By participating you'll do two things: 1) help others understand the crazy working conditions poor women face and 2) select a female entrepreneur to receive a $25 Kiva loan. This loan can change her life and her community — that's more than cool, we think that's pretty awesome.
Amazing women around the world get these loans. Meet some of them below!
Mrs. Battsetseg is 27 years old and lives with her husband and one year old son in the Bayanhoshuu area of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Battsetseg and her husband started selling children's clothing from a rental counter at the local market in 2010. A loan would help them buy a plot of land and build their own small house from their business profits.
Michelle is a 36 year old resident of Manila, Philippines. She is married to Noel, a vendor. She operates a retail business offering different products such as towels and bags. Her regular customers are her neighbors and the local community. A loan would help her buy more inventory like backpacks, shoulder bags, clutch bags, bath towels, hand towels, face towels, and scarves needed in her business. Michelle hopes that her business will grow and dreams that her children will finish their studies.
Shahida is a 49 year old business owner who has operated a milk sales business for many years. Shahida owns a buffalo and sells the milk and butter that she makes to many of her neighbors. She is the mother of four children, who all attend school. She strives to provide her children with a beautiful life, a good education, food, and clothing. A loan would help her purchase another buffalo so that she can sell milk to more people in her community.
Fatuma is married and has one child. She owns a house that has electricity but no piped water. She has operated a charcoal-selling business for the past year. She sells from home to her neighbors, but faces the major challenge of the high cost of transportation in her business. She dreams of incorporating firewood into her existing business in the near future. A loan would help her purchase five sacks of charcoal for resale in her business.
Rosa is a 21 year old mother of two children. She sells fruits and vegetables that she and her parents grow, as well as cakes, enchiladas, candies, popsicles, chicken sandwiches, and soft drinks at the snack stand of a school. She wants to increase the variety of products even more, offering products like "pupusas" (thick corn tortillas stuffed with beans, cheese, or meat). A loan will help her buy supplies and allow her to create different food items and improve the infrastructure of her stand, to protect her merchandise when it rains. She also hopes to expand her stand and grow it into a large store with basic products so that her customers don't have to travel so far.
Share the text experience about the crazy work conditions poor women face with six friends, and you’ll qualify for a $3,000 scholarship. Once you share, you’ll be sent to Kiva.org’s website to select a female entrepreneur to receive a $25 loan (it’s free to you). If you help select a woman to receive this loan, you will DOUBLE your chances of winning!
Pssh of course! We’ve partnered with Kiva.org, who are supplying the loans from amazing lenders that want to help you make an impact. All you have to do is share the text experience that shows the working conditions poor women face, and you get to give away the money to a woman in need. It's no cost to you. How fun is spending someone else’s cash? We’re guessing more fun than spending your own (but that’s just us).
Because they rock. But seriously, women are disproportionately affected by poverty. Women will also invest 80% of their resources into their children when given the tools, so by investing in a woman, you’ll not only change her life, you’ll change the world.
Share the experience: This text experience puts a twist on the "would you rather" classic. Your friends will receive pairs of tough work situations a poor woman faces, and will be prompted to text back what would they do if they were facing these challenges. This text experience is based in one of five countries: Pakistan, El Salvador, Mongolia, Kenya, and the Philippines. Why these countries? They have some of the toughest working conditions for poor women. You’ll also get to try the experience yourself.
Unlock a Loan: We’ve partnered with Kiva.org to help you give this money away.. Once you share this text message experience, you’ll be connected to Kiva.org’s website to unlock a loan for a woman launching or running her own small business. You’ll see a list of amazing women to choose who the loan goes to. We have over $600,000 dollars in loans to give, which will help 25,000 women around the world. The best part — it’s totally free to you! You’ll receive updates on how the loan is being used and what impact it has.
These women aren’t able to borrow large amounts of money, so even small amounts are able to dramatically help them achieve their goals and help them lift themselves from poverty. Each $25 loan is combined with a few others to give a woman a loan that ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.
There’s two ways to qualify:
If you do both actions, you’ll double your chances of winning the scholarship!
