CREATING CAPITAL - WOMEN + $$ By Candice Daquin
by Candice Daquin
CREATING CAPITAL - WOMEN + $$
By Candice Daquin
At Girlphyte we are passionate about the exciting changes we’re finding increasingly evident in the improving financial position of women around the world. The Girlphyte philosophy encompasses this tree of development, with four identifiable changes that influence women today in a positive way for their lives, those are:
1. Now is the time for women. We’re breaking the glass ceiling, becoming the "new business dollar," in terms of our worth, and gaining control of our lives more than ever.
2. Women define success as a "tree" rather than a "ladder" our decisions are multifaceted and take into account the quality of our personal and professional lives, we are not moving through the world in a linear fashion, we have roots!
3. If we control our finances we have control over our positions economically and we can shape that economy rather than being passive consumers of it.
4. Inheritance enables women to pass down their success to future generations, safe-guarding the hard work of our families to broaden our horizons.
With these shifts in economic structure for women worldwide and especially in North America, organizations like Women´s World Banking (WWB) exist to act in partnership with formerly disenfranchised women to better facilitate their dreams and ambitions.
| "Gone are the days of the "exclusive boys-club" now women are making their own clubs and they’re altering the face of the business world forever." |
Organizations that did not have an opportunity to exist can now facilitate loans and finances for women, who traditionally had no way of securing such loans. With a "Micro-Loan" an entrepreneurial-minded woman can take her dream into reality and organizations such as WWB help to micro-finance institutions to better enable this process. Those typically female-led institutions are able to grow and function more effectively with this intake of financial backing.
Micro-finance institutions assist people without other means by transforming entrepreneurial enterprises into self-sustaining businesses through access to investment capital, financial information and other services including savings and health insurance. Many poverty-challenged people, the majority female, support their families through entrepreneurial enterprises. Without the credit and financial information needed to turn their enterprises into self-sustaining businesses, these hardworking women remain trapped in a frustrating cycle of underemployment. The concept of micro-loans targeted at women has demonstrated that when given access to credit and other financial services, low-income entrepreneurs are resourceful, dynamic and bankable economic agents.
Based in New York City WWB works hand-in-hand with its networked members and affiliates to help them develop business strategies, strengthen their organizations, expand customer bases and deliver innovative products and services that meet the needs of low-income clients.
| "The wide array of carefully targeted, professional services that WWB provides to strengthen its member organizations is unique in the microfinance industry. |
Also unique are the personal relationships and guidance that WWB offers to small, grassroots organizations and women´s groups as they grow in size, and as some become fully-fledged banks." Employees of WWB are recognized experts in banking, finance, business, law, community organizing or women´s economic participation.
| "While women continue to work hard to maintain their foothold in the business-world, the doors opening to them are expanding because finally they can access financial backing sources that are reliable and have integrity." |
In turn, this ensures that a fledgling business has a better chance of success than previously unsecured-loan-systems. In addition, the emphasis on networking and support encourages women to work together to build organizations rather than remain fragmented, much as the Girlphyte "tree-model" advocates the necessity of empowering one another and working cooperatively to strengthen ones final resources. Organizations like WWB increase the over-all odds that female entrepreneurs will have a viable voice in today’s business climate. www.swwb.org
01.05.2008
Print Version»
Tell a Friend»
All articles » Subscribe»
