Empowering Widows - Widow Empowerment - Empowerment and Inspiration

49. Micro-Loans Without Predators: Reading the Terms Before You Sign The offer arrives when you are desperate, which is exactly when you are least able to read it. Money today, small weekly instalments, no collateral, a signature at the bottom. She signs, and later discovers the real cost was three times what the agent suggested. Micro-loans are not inherently predatory. In 1976 Muhammad Yunus lent the equivalent of $27 to forty-two women in a Bangladeshi village, and every penny was repaid. That idea has since reached millions of people banks had written off. But the same instrument can strip a business in a season. The difference is not the size of the loan. It is whether the borrower understood the terms before signing, which is a skill, and one that is learnable in an afternoon. The number that matters is not the interest rate Lenders quote a monthly rate because it sounds small. Two per cent a month sounds manageable; it is roughly twenty-seven per cent a year on a reducin...

48. Small Business Grants for Widows: Where They Are and How to Win One The message arrives on WhatsApp with a logo, a deadline and a promise of funding for widows. She sends her details, then a registration fee, then a second fee for "processing", and then nothing, because the grant never existed. That is the first thing to understand about this subject. Real grants are rarely advertised to strangers on messaging apps, and no legitimate funder charges you to apply.  The schemes that do exist are mostly organised, documented and boring; which is exactly why they are winnable by the women willing to do the paperwork. Where the money actually sits Four places, and it is worth knowing the difference before you spend a week applying. Foundations and NGOs running widow-specific programmes. These range from training-plus-grant schemes run by national women's organisations to international foundations working through local partners. They are usually the most accessible,...