When Scott Brown, former President and CEO of VisionFund International, learned about iZōsh® International, he called the news “incredible.” As iZōsh International President Robin Phillips discussed the launch with him, he recalled a few stories specifically about the impact of women investing in women.
One memory was about a woman in India who, “when i asked how the loan made a difference in her life, said, ‘Sir, a year ago I would have been locked behind my door. I would have never had the courage to sit and talk with you, would never have been helped by all these women, and would never have been able to help other women.’ Our loan groups and loans lift women up and allow them to support one another both in family and business.”
Scott also told Robin about women behind the military border in northern Sri Lanka who were all widows of Tamil Tigers. “They were ashen, missing limbs and lacked hope. 50 miles away in a village outside the military line I met with a women’s group who where dancing, children laughing and their businesses thriving. They trained women and told us when a women was ready to get a loan and there were no defaults.”
He went on to say that “just as our women clients help one another, surely your women members are helping one another far beyond the joint giving and building up of women in poverty. We do not need to look very far at all to find pain and I have no doubt, iZōsh International is having an impact in the US AND in the developing countries you are working in.”