After working for years as a missionary and for evangelical aid agencies, I found a home in a non-religious organization called Rotary International. Through my local Rotary club in Bainbridge Island, WA, I help facilitate village savings and loan (VSL) projects that empower impoverished entrepreneurs and farmers and often include training in agricultural production and entrepreneurship. Seventy-five to eighty percent of beneficiaries are women. We are currently doing projects in Tanzania and Uganda and partner with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like Aga Khan Foundation. Our club has helped create and train 298 VSL groups.

Below, is a typical cash-based VSL group. In current projects, we are beginning to digitize VSL groups to eliminate risk from cash by utilizing cell phone banking!