In today’s world, the most impoverished of people unfortunately face incredible barriers to even the most basic of financial services. The poorest tend to live in rural areas, far from any traditional bank.

They do not own property, thus they do not have the collateral necessary to secure a loan, nor do they have any formal education or employment history to prove their skill, successes and reliability. Some are illiterate and wouldn’t even be able to sign their name. The list continues on and on.

The result of all these barriers is that the only access to financial aid comes in the form of exploitation by local moneylenders; who, we can all agree, are looking to help themselves, not their communities on the whole. Microloans effectively eliminate these barriers, providing the means for change.