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Let's Hear it for Asian Women

09/18/2008 2:23 pm

Yes, you can be a player in giving women economic empowerment

This simple news release vibrates with possibilities for some lucky Indian women!

July 21, 2008 – Mumbai-based Dena Bank has signed an MOU with the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) for operating the Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) Scheme for women as a lending agency.

The irony of calling the scheme TREAD may have been lost on the bank behind this initiative. I have images of thousands of sari-clad women filing the streets and shouting “Don’t tread on me!” Ok, likely not, given their centuries’ old culture.

The lucky women selected for this program will get something more powerful than protest -- the chance to take care of themselves. They will get training, information and counseling, but most critical, grants and loans for women entrepreneurs.

The micro lending movement is making a difference all over the planet. I have amazing images of a village visit in Northeast Thailand where women have learned to create, manage and market their weaving. They can now look a bargain-happy tourist in the eye and say with a smile. “This is the price!”

This women’s collective has improved the water supply to their village, built a clinic for a visiting nurse and bought a school bus to get their children to the nearest school. You can support Thailand’s village women through an amazing organization called Thaicraft (www.thaicraft.org) and globally at originalgood.com by purchasing their FairTrade products.

Some clicks and pocket change can make a difference

I sponsor women entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia with pocket change through an excellent micro-lending organization called KIVA. Find out more

You get to pick the region of the world and select your entrepreneurs. A local group monitors your choices. The entrepreneurs pay the loan back in full and that “small change” contribution goes on to help other entrepreneurs.

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