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An entrepreneur helping others.
He seems to have dedicated many years to making a difference.
Congratulations.
The Senior Australian of the Year 2008 is David Bussau AM from NSW. Thirty years ago David went to Bali to help rebuild rural areas devastated by an earthquake and found that traditional development solutions still left poor families trapped in poverty. He realised poor people wanted work because with jobs they could start to solve many of their other problems. His solution was to offer small business loans - a hand up instead of a hand out. David established the non-profit Maranatha Trust to fulfil his dream of helping the poor help themselves.
In 1979 he joined forces with a like-minded counterpart in the USA to form Opportunity International. Today, Opportunity International has 1.25 million loans to people in 23 countries. Averaging $220 per loan and a total of $500 million, the organisation creates a job every 30 seconds of the day.
http://www.australianoftheyear.gov.au/pages/page397.asp
He seems to have dedicated many years to making a difference.
Congratulations.
The Senior Australian of the Year 2008 is David Bussau AM from NSW. Thirty years ago David went to Bali to help rebuild rural areas devastated by an earthquake and found that traditional development solutions still left poor families trapped in poverty. He realised poor people wanted work because with jobs they could start to solve many of their other problems. His solution was to offer small business loans - a hand up instead of a hand out. David established the non-profit Maranatha Trust to fulfil his dream of helping the poor help themselves.
In 1979 he joined forces with a like-minded counterpart in the USA to form Opportunity International. Today, Opportunity International has 1.25 million loans to people in 23 countries. Averaging $220 per loan and a total of $500 million, the organisation creates a job every 30 seconds of the day.
http://www.australianoftheyear.gov.au/pages/page397.asp