Author: Inez Murray, 2006

These case studies supplement WWB’s gender study published in 2006, The Capacity of Poor Women to Grow Their Businesses in the Dominican Republic.

Four Santo Domingo-based clients of ADOPEM, the Dominican Association for the Development of Women, are featured in the study. The three women clients and one male client serve to highlight key points made in the report, such as the possibility of rising out of poverty with hard work; the importance of family support to a woman’s business; the larger income and flexibility afforded by one’s own business as compared to a factory job; the benefits of business diversification; the rewards of planning for retirement; the potential for using money to make money; and the satisfaction women can derive from turning their gender-based skills into a profitable business. These four ADOPEM clients may not be seeking to grow their businesses per se; yet they each demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit in making the most out of what they have.

These cases illustrate that when financial services for poor women are targeted to address gender inequities the ability of these women to lift their families out of poverty is unstoppable.