My
work straight out of college (Scripps, 1964) was in the financial field and in
1976 I formed my own firm, the first creative agency to focus on packaging institutional
money management firms. Over thirty
years, we were associated with some of the great launches in the business.
During
this time I met a woman who at age 60 on a trek in Nepal was stunned by the
deep poverty and decided to return the next year to help. I did pro-bono marketing for her and the seed
was planted to follow suit.
One
day, in my late 50s, after resettling to New Hampshire from my home state
California, the idea came whole: go to Africa, find a village and start a
microlending program. In 2003, three
months after my 60th birthday, with a handful of contacts, I flew to
the capital of Ghana, checked into a hotel and the next morning called my top
prospect. He answered, “We’ve been waiting
for you – we have a village. We’ll pick you up tomorrow.”
That
was the beginning of WomensTrust. My
founding role ended nine years later in 2012 with a dedicated staff of local
people on the ground in Pokuase and a capable board of directors in the U.S. The
mission had expanded to include education for girls, a program that continues
today with our top scholarship students going all the way to college.
In
international development terms, we were a model for “going bottom up” and
today I’m assembling lessons learned for others to follow as they put their own
stake in the ground. We are growing in numbers, motivated by passion to do
something personally to make our world more equitable, more safe and more
connected. It is not difficult to make
the case for the work we do.
Dana Dakin danadakin.com | dd@danadakin.com
Founder, WomensTrust.org
Director, Dakin Partners LLC
Purpose Prize Fellow 2008
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