What we do
The MicroLoan Foundation transforms the lives of some of the poorest women in Africa.
We work with women across Malawi, Zambia and Namibia, helping women to help themselves, changing their lives for the better.
We provide them with small loans and essential business training so they can start up their own business, working themselves out of poverty and live independent of aid.
Why did we get involved with Lake of Stars?
From the charity’s perspective, letting more people know about our work at MicroLoan – our different approach – is absolutely vital for our growth. Lake of Stars help us reach young people who care about helping Africa develop and helping Africans become self-sufficient, away from aid hand outs. Being able to take people out to our projects, so they can see first hand how our ‘bottom-up’ approach working in action often inspires them to spread the word.
Lake of Stars have generously chosen MiroLoan has an adopted charity over the years. We hope this continues.
Being associated with the event over the last few years has meant we have really benefited from all the positive press about Lake of Stars. The nature of the festival means that people who wouldn’t ordinarily come and find us online do so because of our partnership and exposure on publicity materials.
How important do you feel culture and the arts is in overall development mix?
Our work at MicroLoan is all about creating sustainable communities. Empowering women to start their own small businesses doesn’t just benefit them, it benefits everyone around them that they serve. For example, our solar power entrepreneurs http://www.microloanfoundation.org.uk/Case_Studies/solar_women have brought much needed electricity to their village which really does improve the standard of living.
Just as access to commodities is essential to the community, so are the arts. In our work, we find the best stories come out of the closest communities. Arts and culture help bring communities together and this really is the first step on the ladder away from poverty.
It’s easy for anyone that visits Malawi to see, that music, arts and community culture are an unbelievably strong force for good.
What some of the women we help say:
‘MicroLoan enables us to be self-reliant and not just on the receiving end of aid like goalkeepers’
‘We can now go into a bank freely and without embarrassment’
‘Before I started with MicroLoan, my family had only one meal a day and the children were often hungry. Now I can afford it, they usually eat three meals a day’
‘I enjoy being a member of my group and I have learnt a lot from other women about how to run a business’
You can hear from some of the women we help here http://www.microloanfoundation.org.uk/Case_Studies/Video
