12 People We Met in 2024

India: Overcoming Barriers to Business

The Government of India’s flagship program, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), is mobilizing poor and vulnerable people, particularly women, into self-help groups (SHGs) to help them access small loans. These loans go a long way: Just ask S. Sudha, who joined a SHG in her village years ago. With training and a loan from her SHG, she purchased a spice grinder and began selling spices in her village. Expanding her business, Sudha Spices, required more money, but "I faced many hurdles initially when I went to banks for loans,” she remembers. “They were hesitant to give me a loan because I am a tribal woman who lives in a reserve forest.”  Now, with support from financial institutions that serve this “missing middle” tier of borrowers—people whose businesses are too big for microloans, but too small for traditional bank loans—she runs a spice shop and sells products online. Collaborations between the Government of India, the World Bank, the Tamil Nadu state government, and IFC have helped Indian women entrepreneurs like her achieve their dreams. Since 2011, the World Bank’s investment of $750 million covering 13 states has helped DAY-NRLM mobilize more than 100 million rural women into more than 9 million self-help groups across India. IFC, in collaboration with the World Bank, has complemented this effort with a gender advisory program that helps borrowers in self-help groups graduate to individual loans from financial institutions. 

Fiji: Accessing Clean, Convenient Water  

When Leba Sekoula places a pot of chicken and cassava soup on a stove to heat for her children's lunch, she remembers how cumbersome the cooking process was before a water tank was installed outside her home in Vatani, Fiji. In the past, she had to walk to the village center at dawn, joining other women waiting to receive water from a community tank. Now she prepares the dish with boiled rainwater harvested from a large water tank just steps from the stove. “[Before], we spent the whole day fetching water,” says Leba.  “Now, we stay with our family, or earn money.” Fijians like Leba have access to convenient, clean drinking water following the 2017 issuance of the country’s first-ever sovereign green bond, which was supported by IFC. Proceeds of the green bond are now helping improve access to clean water for more than 42,000 people like Leba in 120 of Fiji’s rural communities.  The impact on public health across the villages’ nearly 200 residents was immediate, says Leba, who is also a community health worker. “Before the water tanks came into our village, plenty of us got fevers and skin diseases, like scabies in children and ringworm in elders,” she says. “But when the water came into the village, our skin got brighter and cleaner.”

Rwanda: Innovating with Battery-powered Motorbikes

Before becoming an e-moto driver, 22-year-old Numukobwa Dative was unemployed and broke, relying on a family member to pay her bills. Then she came across an intriguing job possibility: driving a battery-powered electric motorbike taxi for Ampersand, a Kigali, Rwanda-based startup.  Ampersand--Africa’s first electric vehicle and EV energy company--manufactures its own lithium-iron-phosphate battery, a distinctive yellow box that sits at the base of each motorcycle. IFC invested in Ampersand through the Africa Go Green Fund, and the company has grown its fleet in Rwanda to more than 4,000 vehicles sold, 424 employees, and 33 charging stations. Moto taxi drivers like Numukobwa see a 35 percent increase in income per week since they are not paying to fill and maintain a traditional motorcycle. Her goal no longer seems out of reach. “I hope to own a house, bought from the money I’ve saved from this motorcycle,” she says. “I want to have a beautiful family and have kids who are appreciative of my work as a taxi motorcyclist. They’ll see that I did something unique, something different from other young women.”

Mongolia: Greening Cashmere Production

At a small cashmere factory on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, the whirring of weaving equipment and churning of washing machines signals that a shipment of cashmere has arrived. Namkhaijamts Erdenebat, the 36-year-old CEO, and his mother Davaasuren Ayursed, who founded the company, work from small offices next to the main factory floor. The two recently made a big decision: they’re expanding the company and drawing up plans for a larger, more modern factory with energy-efficient equipment. Green loans from Khan Bank, Mongolia’s largest commercial financial institution, are supporting the company through this transition. Khan Bank, with IFC support, introduced the country’s first green bond in 2023 to promote a sustainable economy, and proceeds from the green bond have funded about 100 loans for climate-friendly projects such as this one. The five-year bond helps Khan Bank grow its climate portfolio and strengthens Mongolia’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 22.7 percent by 2030. Namkhaijamts is enthusiastic about the next phase, and has used the most recent green loan from Khan Bank to purchase energy-efficient weaving equipment that cuts energy consumption per unit of clothing by 21 percent. “As the CEO, and as a Mongolian, I worry about climate change. We all have to do our best to reduce CO2 emissions,” he says.  

Türkiye: Confronting Climate Change 

As Ali Hıdır Köseoğlu watches ferries crisscross the Bay of Izmir, climate change is on his mind. Ali, who at the time was the General Manager of Izmir's Water and Sewerage Administration (IZSU), oversaw the city's relationship with its bay. Adapting to a changing environment is a challenge, he says, noting that the city of Izmir has been impacted by rapid urbanization and water stresses, both of which have been exacerbated by climate change. The growth of the city overwhelmed the bay, which became polluted and known for an unpleasant smell. A long-term partnership with IFC has helped to address water quality issues, improve water and wastewater services, and had a positive impact on the area's wildlife and biodiversity. In 2021, this partnership helped the city address the critical challenges that existed around water supply and wastewater services, including the development of a drinking water treatment plant in Foça. This support was unique because it provided the first long-term local currency loan to a municipality in Türkiye. This first-of-a-kind loan provided price protection by eliminating currency risks for IZSU, creating an international loan tailored to local conditions. 

Madagascar: Delivering Microcredit

Patricia Rakotonirina’s food stall opens every day at 6:00 a.m. She wakes up even earlier to prepare the rice soup, samosas, meat, and potato balls that her customers love, and she continues serving food until late in the evening.  The best part, she says, is being her own boss. “I decided in 2010 to start this business because it was hard to find work.  I used the little money I had to open the shop,” she says. To grow the business, Patricia and her husband turned to  Première Agence de Microfinance (PAMF), a deposit and credit institution licensed by the Central Bank of Madagascar, for a microcredit loan. “Completing my loan application was easy. The customer advisers explained things in stages,” because, as she admitted, “nobody understands everything the first time.” Microcredit has been a powerful tool for her and other entrepreneurs in Madagascar because it requires little to no collateral or banking history.  IFC’s Base of the Pyramid Platform, supported by the blended finance and local currency facilities of the International Development Association’s Private Sector Window (IDA PSW), helps financial service providers like PAMF deliver funding to small businesses, women entrepreneurs, and informal enterprises. Delivered in local currency, the microloans protect borrowers by reducing the risk of default in the event of currency fluctuations and contributes to more sustainable development. IFC’s collaboration with local financial institutions in Madagascar is expected to expand access to an additional 140,000 micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises by the end of 2027.

Pakistan: Supporting Women Entrepreneurs

When Halima Iqbal sought funding for Oraan, a startup that provides Pakistani women with accessible financial services, she knew it wouldn’t be easy. She vividly remembers “biases and skepticism from potential investors and stakeholders who doubted our ability to scale and sustain business.” But when she discovered  i2i Ventures, Pakistan’s first female-led venture capital fund, she knew she had found a real partner. i2i Ventures is part of IFC’s  Startup Catalyst Program, which invests in incubators, accelerators, and seed funds supporting innovative early-stage startups in underserved markets. The partnership has boosted Oraan and fills a much-needed market gap. “The focus on gender diversity and inclusion, and targeted support for women-led businesses, is what makes them truly unique,” Halima says.