You may have noticed my tweeting about FITE or using the hastag #joinFITE on Twitter a few weeks ago. So, just what is FITE? Why join it?

FITE, or Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship is a global empowerment platform powered by Kiva.org, the nonprofit leader in microfinance, that is designed to foster Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship for women in the developing world. Their mission is to provide women entrepreneurs access to small loans that will help them start or grow a business; and to help educate the public at large about the benefits of empowering women entrepreneurs so that they “can hold up their half of the sky.”

As women living in a robust, developed country such as Australia, it isn’t difficult for women entrepreneurs to apply for a financial loan from the bank to help fund our small businesses. But for women living in developing countries like South Africa, they may never be able to get a loan simply because they are women. The gender bias is so strong against them that the banks would not even consider lending the money they need to run a small business (never mind even depending on financial help from their husbands or family). I’m not even talking about opening a retail shop like the fancy ones we have in Australia. Often these women run a small shop in a tiny shack of 3 walls and a ceiling, selling home-cooked food by the roadside, sewing simple clothing to sell, etc. They aren’t even looking to borrow tens of thousands of dollars to fund their business, but say, a mere $200 to $500 which could help them immensely but aren’t even able to loan from the bank. It’s incredibly sad and frustrating that in this day and age, there are still parts of the world who do not believe women are a solid investment. Even more to discover that more than 70% of people who live below the poverty line are women.

Dermalogica is the founding partner for FITE, and has invested all the research and development to make FITE possible. From supporting creation of the platform, to being the first partner to create a retail connection with its FITE products, to rallying its tribe of over 100,000 successful women entrepreneurs worldwide to join FITE, Dermalogica has helped make the vision of FITE a reality.

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending an event hosted by Dermalogica in which we were introduced to FITE. In between nibblies and having our faces mapped, we were presented with the facts and figures of FITE and what we could do to help support the cause.

Here’s what you and I could do to help. Dermalogica has included redeemable codes (which I will explain more in a bit) in five of their bestselling products:
– Total Eye Care
– Skin Hydrating Booster
– PreCleanse
– Intensive Eye Repair
– Daily Microfoliant

We were very kindly given two of Dermalogica’s bestselling products, the Daily Microfoliant and the Skin Hydrating Booster. I purchased the PreCleanse and Total Eye Care.

As you can see in the pictures, these products have separate sleeves to the original packaging. The idea is to remove the slip, open it up, and redeem the code that is in each sleeve. Every code redeemed donates $1 to fund microloans for women entrepreneurs in developing countries. When you purchase any of these products, please do not simply chuck these sleeves away before redeeming the codes because you will be literally throwing away money which can help towards funding these women in their small businesses.

This is how you redeem the codes. Simply go to JoinFITE.org and click on Redeem Code.

At the bottom right of the page, you will have the option of crediting your FITE team. It’s entire optional, of course, but fellow beauty blogger Bellelumiere has created the Australian Beauty Bloggers team if you would like to join us 🙂

Other than redeeming these codes, you can also help by donating $25 to fund a microloan. I made a small donation, and it was worthwhile knowing that the money was being used to help these amazing women. My $25 may not seem like much; I received emails from FITE telling me that my microloan has helped Ms A, Ms B, etc from country X and Y, and it was incredibly rewarding.

These women are not asking for a handout, just a bit of help to kickstart their financial independence. When they’ve made back the amount of money they took as a microloan in their business, the money will be given back and passed on to the next woman who needs it, and so on. I think it’s really worth supporting our fellow sisters across the world.

For more information, please go to JoinFITE.org. You too can make a difference in someone’s life 🙂