Madison, WI — Madison Breakfast Rotary Club Foundation has made a grant to WorldWise Microfinance (WMF) that will help support a new program in Malawi, where 70 percent of the population lives in extreme poverty.
Club president Bruce Harville saluted WMF for launching the Malawi program that will focus on “small loans, primarily to women in and around the community of Lilongwe.” Rotary also made small grants to several other Dane County nonprofits at the awards ceremony.
WMF board member Brad Paul, who accepted the grant alongside president Tom Eggert, characterized the Rotary recognition as a demonstration that “ideas and passion are worth backing.” He added: “I once heard a CEO confidently describe their work as a “science,” and it struck me as backwards. Models in search of an application rarely serve a cause well. But when imagination, trust, and human judgment stay at the center, real change becomes possible.”
The Malawi program, like all WMF programs across Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean, provides very small loans to women who launch or expand personal businesses, or as Paul puts it, “so their idea might become a livelihood.
ABOUT WORLDWISE MICROFINANCE
WorldWise Microfinance is a Madison, Wisconsin-based nonprofit committed to helping individuals develop economic self-sufficiency through small loans. Operating around the world, WorldWise Microfinance provides individuals (primarily women) who lack access to the traditional banking system with small loans. These loans help individuals lift their families from poverty by starting and running small businesses. Started as a class project at UW-Madison in 2010 with just $3000, WMF now has loan programs in the Philippines, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and Malawi, and has funded more than $600,000 in loans.
For more information about WorldWise Microfinance and its ongoing work, visit www.worldwisemicrofinance.org.
CONTACT
Tom Eggert, Founder and President
makingloans@worldwisemicrofinance.org
608-279-8608
About Worldwise Microfinance
WorldWise Microfinance is a Madison, Wisconsin–based nonprofit dedicated to empowering women and their families to break the cycle of extreme poverty through accessible, affordable, locally based microloans. These loans help individuals lift their families from poverty by starting and running small businesses. What started as a class project at UW-Madison now has loan programs in the Philippines, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda, and has funded over $500,000 in loans.
For more information about WorldWise Microfinance and its ongoing work, visit www.worldwisemicrofinance.org.