Welcome to Women's Microfinance Initiative
Watch Video of WMI 2011 Independent Banking ProgramWMI's mission is to establish village-level loan hubs, administered by local women, to provide capital, training and support to rural women in the lowest income brackets in East Africa so that they can engage in income producing activities.
WMI HOLIDAY TRIBUTE LIST
In this holiday season, hundreds of WMI Holiday Tribute Cards have been sent out by WMI supporters worldwide as a way to give a meaningful gift that helps a woman work her way out of poverty and as a way to increase WMI's visibility.
Goal:
Quick Links:
 History and Culture of Buyobo, including the Impact of the WMI Loan Program
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MEET MARGARET
MEET ALICE
MEET MORE WMI BORROWERS
Kamida's story starts eight years ago when she ran a café in the border town of Busia, Uganda , where her husband is from. However, business in Busia was a failure. Being a foreigner to the town, she was alienated by the community...
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WMI Blog »
Combined Federal Giving Campaign
WMI's goal is to help women build assets so that they can stabilize
their income, raise their standard of living and reorient themselves
and their families. WMI's small loans bring big changes to impoverished
women, who use the money to build small businesses. With pro bono legal
assistance from the law firm of Baker & McKenzie in New York, WMI issued
its first microloans in January 2008. As of October 2011, WMI has issued over 4,000 loans to women in more than 250 villages. Focusing its current efforts in rural Uganda and Kenya,
the WMI loan program is run entirely by local village women. WMI has developed a unique economic model to transition women to bank loans and the formal economy in 24-months. Loan funds are recycled so that the program becomes self-sustaining.
WMI 2011 - The Year in Pictures