Wednesday 11 March 2009

50 years of poppadoms: A microfinance success story

If you thought that microfinance was a relatively new concept associated only with Kiva.org and Grameen, here's a story of seven women who, with an 80 rupee loan (currently $1.50 USD or $2.00 CAD), some initiative and lots of hard work, created a business cooperative called Lijjat Papads that now employs 45,000 women in India.

The original BBC story is here.

That original 80 rupee loan (about $2.00 CDN today) is a tiny amount of money that has had an amazing positive influence on the lives of thousands of people.

As we sit in our first world homes, grousing about the economic downturn and market crises and the like, let's take a step back for a moment and consider the amount of good that can be done with few resources...