Our Mission
We are focused on changing the world by empowering women with financial security.
Brighter Together directly funds programs for micro-savings and business development groups through the Women Empowered program. Since 2017, we have sponsored over 48,000 women with business skills, financial literacy and leadership development in some of the world’s most impoverished countries —and that number continues to grow!
Below are just a few of the stories of inspiration.
Meet Theresa
Theresa already has experience with a business of raising livestock and growing and selling vegetables. However, she needed more skills to grow her business. Yet she has had many difficulties and challenging circumstances that created barriers in her small business.
Prior to joining Women Empowered, one of Teresa’s daughters had been sick with cancer, requiring a lot of support.
These medical visits require frequent travels to Guatemala City ( 6–8-hour ride) to undergo various examinations due to her illness. In the last few years, Teresa and her family have faced several health difficulties which have required a big investment for them. Teresa has also recently undergone surgery, causing emotional and financial stress. Medical visits, expenses, and emotional burden is a barrier to her venture.
Additionally, the limited space on their land presents a barrier to continued growth and the family did not have appropriate land for planting because the land is very arid and most of it is rock where it is not possible to plant. One great advantage Teresa does have is access to water.
In 2021, Theresa was able to join as a WE member in the Advanced Business Skills course. By working in her group Teresa developed a business plan and expanded her crops with hydroponic production of lettuce, improving production costs and growing her business and income.
After Teresa joined the Advanced Business Skills course, her husband Don showed interest in learning and helping Teresa with her business. She and her husband, Don, enrolled together in the Male Partner Engagement course -part of the WE education program. This has strengthened their relationship and Don has been a very important support for Teresa. He works full time 5 days a week, and helps his wife achieve her business goals!
Meet Migulina
Miguelina is a Women Empowered (WE) participant from Guatemala. Through the WE advanced business course, Miguelina learned why it was important to give her handcrafted pine needle based company a proper name. This raised her company’s value by identifying it in the market and branding her goods to distinguish them from others. After 10 years in business, Miguelina named her company, ‘Renacer,’ which means ‘to be reborn.’ She re-launched her business successfully and continues to receive valuable support from the Women Empowered program.
Miguelina not only elevated herself as a business woman by committing to learning and trying new approaches in her business, she also advocated for local women and girls to have the educational business and life skills classes offered in her community. She is working toward growing her business to hire other women to help them become economically independent. With her new business plan in place, Miguelina is well on her way!
Meet Alma
Alma is a member of the Women of Hope and Change Women Empowered (WE) group in Guatemala City.
She is 35 and a wife and mother of three beautiful children. Alma has always been a wonderful cook with a knack for creative, delicious recipes. She took some classes from the municipality to improve her skills but did not know how to generate income from the food she was cooking and sharing with her neighbors. She also represented her community block in the local government, playing a supportive role to the men who made up the majority of the committee.
After she joined WE and engaged other women in her community to join with her, change started to happen. Participating in the WE program, learning communication, business and public speaking skills, Alma found her voice. She took on a leadership role and motivated her peers. Now women are the majority of the committee that had been previously dominated by men. Alma’s WE group started catering initially by accident.
A few group members ran into issues paying back their loans, so they decided as a group to make and sell tamales and use the profits to cover the loans. The tamales were so successful that they not only covered the loans, they were able to distribute earning to all the members, which led them to a great business opportunity. They began advertising their services in their community
and grew enough to register their business and rent a space dedicated to their cooking. Today, they continue selling tamales and bringing in income for their families, and they work together to make decisions to invest money back into the community.
