My family’s home was always a street corner away from a Favela. Growing up as a Brazilian I was always invested in the economics of poverty in Latin America and wanting to create a change through taking action. 

Looking through data, maps, and most importantly talking to people in poverty in rural communities I saw how it was not that people were incapable of maintaining financial health or that they didn't “work hard enough”, but rather the massively underdeveloped banking system in Latin America.

I treated the women in poverty in my community in Brazil as if they were family. Calling them, talking to them, inviting them to my home. I did whatever I could to learn the real roots of poverty in these communities, especially for women. I listened to them, and when I came home I knew I was excited to do something about it and I knew I could create space for other youth to be changemakers with me too. I made connections that led me to realize how poverty was systemically trapping women in rural areas if they had no financial resources. That's when I came up with One Loan Fund!

More than 120 million people are unbanked in Latin-America, a majority of these people are in rural areas and are women who have no access to financial resources like loans and credit, which are needed to build opportunity and financial health.

Latin-America is an area that has struggled with famously low opportunity. So much so that millions flee and dangerously migrate to the United States every year in search of a better life. Many women turn to drug operations and gang violence assistance, and are forced to send their kids to child labour to pay bills. The root cause of low opportunity in the region is an underdeveloped banking system for the rural poor.

Low access to financial resources leads to people not being able to access loans, or credit–financial tools fundamental to participating in a developed society and necessary to build economic opportunity and incite mobility out of poverty. Furthermore it is women, like the ones I work with, who face the most obstacles towards financial inclusion due to gender norms, despite the fact that they are the best agents of development given that they play key roles in curbing child labour, increase school attendance, and maintain household health.

One element that has been important for me is designing a solution that creates space for other youth to be changemakers too. That's why I have designed One Loan Fund as a solution that makes use of youth organizing to fund microloans for rural women in poverty in Latin-America. 

We work with field partners and local community organizations to locate rural women, unbanked, in Latin-America who would benefit from a micro-loan and then mobilize to fund a micro loan for them. We select women who are most trusted by our field partner and have good-intentions. We organize our team of global youth from multiple countries to fundraise for our women. We work with small businesses, communities, corporations, and schools to fundraise microloans.

After funding micro loans, borrowers  use funds to buy resources like seeds, sewing machines, farming tools, food stalls, baking resources, animals, store stock, fabric, fertilizer, and more. They then use these resources to open up garment services, farms, food stalls, stores, and more. After opening up services in their communities, they have a supportive long term source of income that enables them to pay back the loan and sustain themselves out of poverty many years afterwards. Take for example Martha, a Colombian woman who we helped transform a 300$ loan to start a garment stall who has since raised her income by 180%+.

My team of youth changemakers is one of the ways that I set up my project for success. They are youth from all over the world who are leaders in their communities, are not afraid to take initiative, and are strong project coordinators who can raise funds with small businesses, corporations, schools, and more. We have a team of 30 close-knit people who treat One Loan Fund as a core extracurricular that they are dedicated to work on every day. We have established structured meeting times, policies, and support systems that maintain our ethics, weekly progress, and crush goals. 

In order to ensure a growing, ethical, and trusted network where fundraised loans truly make an impact I have developed deep connections with farming cooperatives, partnered with local community outposts that our team meets with regularly, and work with governments to collaborate with field partners who are able to identify trusted people and help us navigate authentic relationships. Through this we have grown a network of over 300+ women connected to financial resources, we seek to expand into Haiti and reach 600 women.

We value being research-based in our approaches. We have run our research studies and closely stay up to date with the latest research on microloans in order to understand how to adapt and evolve our approach in order to make it most effective with local shifts and market changes.

One Loan Fund allows me to create the space to get other youth involved in the changemaking process. We enable youth to start their own fundraisers, advocacy opportunities, and truly transform into changemakers in the fight for financial inclusion globally. People like Sagar, a junior who is working to raise money through organizing discussion events and advocacy platforms for unbanked women in Latin America; Jeffrey a freshman who is working to educate his school community by fundraising in his high school; or Harini who is working with corporations and small businesses in Illinois to help mobilize the private sector are all examples of amazing youth collaborators I work with to create change.

Furthermore we are deep inspirers of the people we help. Our resources enable our women to become development leaders. The women we help take charge of their financial resources, building gender equality and breaking stereotypes in rural isolated communities. They are able to use their funds for good beyond their own benefit; take for example Lourdes, a farmer who we helped grow their farming business who now works to employ other women in her community. They are leaders of social change by affording to take their children out of child labour, have the funds to vaccinate their children. Together, One Loan Fund helps women rewrite the financial health future of rural Latin America.