Empowering Women Entrepreneurs Worldwide

Empowering Women Entrepreneurs Worldwide is an exciting photography exhibition that highlights the work of  Lendwithcare.org, an initiative of leading aid and development charity CARE International UK, which empowers entrepreneurs to work their way out of poverty with dignity through the provision of micro-lending and business skills training. This project visually illustrates how microfinance can provide lasting social and economic impact and change through aesthetically stunning photo essays. This exhibition is part of CARE’s wider #March4Women campaign which is a month of action for gender equality.

The exhibition is free and held at the Oxo Tower Gallery in London until Sunday March 11th where you will have the chance to view and purchase the framed photographs on display. All those who lend through Lendwithcare.org at the exhibition will be entered into a competition to win a beautiful framed print. The exhibition has been made possible by the support of global law firm, Hogan Lovells, and gallery@oxo is owned and managed by Coin Street Community Builders www.coinstreet.org.

The photographs on display have been commissioned and curated by arts social enterprise FotoDocument, and feature inspiring women from five of the countries Lendwithcare.org operate in, by five talented emerging and established documentary photographers who each produced a compelling and cohesive photo essay which demonstrates the positive impact of micro lending: Ana Caroline de Lima in Ecuador, Cynthia Matonhodze in Zimbabwe, Shaista Chishty in Pakistan, Veejay Villafranca in the Philippines, and Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi in Zambia.

The project is also a collaboration with RubyMoon, who lends 100% of its net profits to women entrepreneurs in twelve developing nations through Lendwithcare.org, as a means of empowering women and their families. Microfinance is a sustainable solution to alleviating poverty, creating a virtuous cycle of investment and income. Women are disproportionately affected by poverty yet are key to development in poorer nations. Studies have shown women are the change agents of the family: they invest in businesses to generate income and spend a greater proportion of this income on the welfare of their families and communities – improving housing, nutrition and children’s education. Microfinance lending can be particularly effective when directed at women: empowering them to plan a stable future, which is why RubyMoon chooses to invest with them. Once loans are repaid, RubyMoon reinvests the loans to other women entrepreneurs, enabling the growth of the company and the support of multiple women across the globe. In honour of the Empowering Women Entrepreneurs Worldwide photography project, RubyMoon has designed an innovative new collection, GymToSwim, which can be worn both as workout attire and swimwear.

 

Mariah Colbourne

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