WE BELIEVE IN MOTHERS
by The BOMA Project
UPDATE: BOMA’s crowd-funding campaign reached
its $15,000 goal in less than ten days! Inspired by this accomplishment—including
gifts from more than 145 people around the world—a motivated BOMA believer has
offered a match:
If we can raise another $10,000 by May 29, this generous
donor will contribute $15,000.
That’s $40,000 total—enough
to provide a start-up grant and basic business-skills training to 480 women
who support more than 2,400 children in one of the poorest, hardest
places in the world.
It's an exponential impact ... but we can only reach this goal with your help! To learn more about BOMA and our first crowd-funding campaign, read on ...
Each business supports three women, and each woman supports an average of five children. 1 business = 3 women + 15 children. That's 18 people who will graduate from extreme poverty for every business you help us launch in the arid lands of Africa. Every dollar you give helps us to launch more sustainable businesses in one of the poorest, hardest places on the planet.
* All donors will be acknowledged on the BOMA Website after the campaign ends on June 3. We'll be in touch by e-mail at that time with information about your prize, and to ask whether you'd like to list your donation in honor of your mother (or any mother!).
To read more about the BOMA story, scroll down...
Since then, we have launched 1,380 small business across a region the size of New England, lifting more than 28,000 women and children out of extreme poverty. Our goal is to reach 100,000 women and children in the next five years.
BOMA's Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP) is an innovative two-year poverty-graduation program that gives women a cash grant (to start the business), sustained training in business skills and savings, and hands-on mentoring by local BOMA Village Mentors. Women use the income to pay for food, school fees and medical care for their families. They also build up savings, so they can survive drought, cope with emergencies, and pave the way for a generation of change.
Does REAP work? Yes. At three years--a full year after program graduation and the end of the mentoring period--97 percent of businesses are still in operation, generating income and savings. In a region where few other organizations are will to take a risk, BOMA is proving that the world's poorest women can become self-reliant, successful entrepreneurs.
Donors may experience problems using some versions of Internet Explorer. If you are having difficulty donating, please switch your Web browser to Chrome, Firefox or Safari. We can also take your donation over the phone. Call us Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at (347) 425-1257 or e-mail [email protected] and we'll gladly help.