Hong Guling, China

Microfinance empowers Hong to build her business and keep her family out of the cold.

Hong Guiling has been able to invest in better seeds, tools and fertilizers with the three loans—totaling RMB 500 (US$73)—she’s taken out with Chifeng Zhaowuda, a microfinance institution in China. These purchases have produced substantially more crops for the family. Profits from the sale of these crops provided Hong with enough income to move her family from the old leaky mud house they’ve lived in for 20 years to a new, concrete, four-bedroom home. She’s also been able to afford a bed with a hearth underneath that keeps the family warm in the winter when temperatures can dip well below 0 degrees Celsius. Although she has led her family to accomplish a great deal, Hong has set her sights on a new opportunity—buying fish at wholesale prices and reselling them to locals during the winter. And she plans to take out a larger loan to make her dream a reality.