Joyce Wafukho, is a perfect example of how microfinance really makes a difference. Joyce is a businesswoman in Lugari (western Kenya) who started with a microloan of $730 and has turned it into a construction business worth more than $26,000. Her business, Lugari Hardware Agencies and Construction Enterprises, currently employs 25 people and builds schools and public buildings. Joyce did this with loans from the Kenya Women’s Finance Trust (KWFT).

The KWFT is one of Kenya’s premier microfinance institutions. It has 208,000 borrowers and $121 million in assets. It works to empower women to change their lives by offering female entrepreneurs credit to expand their business and savings accounts to protect their gains. KWFT moved into new territory recently with an insurance plan for its clients, which covers health care and funeral expenses—two of the largest unplanned expenses for people living in the developing world.

The Kenya Women’s Finance Trust is part of a large, rapidly growing microfinance sector in Kenya. According to MIX Market, a well-respected source of information on the microfinance sector, Kenyan microfinance institutions have more than $1.3 billion in assets and support almost a million borrowers.

These borrowers are creating businesses, employing workers, and paying taxes. In Joyce’s words, “In terms of poverty alleviation in the country I have done my best. I generate income for many families and I also pay taxes to the government.”

If you’re interested in learning more about Joyce and how you could invest in the Kenya Women’s Finance Trust through MicroPlace, a social business that enables investment in microfinance institutions from around the globe and provides both a financial return along with a great social return—helping people help themselves out of poverty, please follow this link.

The author is an RPCV ’99 from Niger where he started a group-led savings bank in his village. He is currently an MBA student at the University of Washington and a marketing intern at MicroPlace.