“Who has my money helped?”: Our recent LendWithCare successes

As you may know, RubyMoon is actually a not-for-profit organisation. The money we generate from sales of our swimwear goes entirely to women entrepreneurs in developing countries as loans to help them either start or grow their businesses, as a means of helping them to help themselves. When the loans come back, we can then put them towards producing more swimwear or re-loan the money to others who need it.

We focus on women, as they are seen as the ‘change agents’ of the family –meaning they are the ones who are more likely to use the money for the good of their family. Women spend a larger proportion of their income on improving the health, nutrition and education of their families, particularly their children. Women are also usually the most vulnerable within society – most of the world’s poor are women – and to give women the empowerment that comes with a step towards financial independence is particularly important to us at RubyMoon.

To date, RubyMoon has made over 200 loans, helping 483 entrepreneurs and 1535 of their family members. We use the microfinance platform, LendWithCare, through which to make our loans.

Watch their introductory video here to learn about how they work.

We are delighted to announce that this spring/summer, we have been able to make 20 new loans! One of our most recent investments went to Care Group Twitezimbere, a savings and loans group in Rwanda whose name translates as “Let Us Move Forward”. The group of 30 individuals had requested a loan with which to buy sheep, goats and crop seeds for farming. RubyMoon frequently donates to agricultural businesses – in a lot of developing nations, farming is one of the most promising means of gaining a profit. In Africa alone, agriculture could become a trillion-dollar industry by 2030, so long as access to electricity, new technologies and suitable land can be obtained. As such, this group were one of many that we thought could really benefit from a small loan. Each of the group members has an average of five children – and they want the money to improve the lives of their children rather than themselves. The money raised from their farm is going to be used to pay for the children’s school fees, as well as health insurance for the whole family, so that the next generation can lead more enriched lives.

 

Your sales of our RubyMoon swimwear have not only allowed us to change the lives of this group and their families, but also 19 other business groups just like them! Thanks to you, businesswomen across the globe are becoming empowered and able to keep a stable income, something which we often overlook in the Western world, but is completely liberating for women like these.

So a massive thank you to all of our recent customers for enabling this positive social change to be brought about!

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