Maria’s Story
At the time Lee met Maria, her life was not going very well. Her ex-husband was making no child support payments. She was working at a dead-end factory job and the factory was moving to Mexico. Maria was illiterate and an ethnic minority female, she worried that finding a new job would be difficult, or maybe impossible. This upset her, for she hated the idea of welfare, wanting very much to be a positive role model for her child.
Lee told Maria that GEDS would teach her how to start and build her own business. Maria was at first hesitant, not sure that it was possible, but she did agree to give it a try.GEDS found an opportunity for her in the media field; GEDS provided the training, ventured capital and some marketing support to get her started. These, combined with Maria's own hard work, was all that she needed to build her own successful business.
It took Maria seven years to become a millionaire. Another four years to make her second million and her companies are continuing to expand. Obviously, getting Maria out of poverty was good for her and her child. The real question is, “How does her success impact the world?”
First: Maria had always been a compassionate person but when she was poor and struggling to survive, she had little time or money to help others. Now that she is rich, her love and compassion gets expressed every day and in many different ways. Poor children, the elderly, and the sick are aided because Maria has greatly increased her charitable giving.
Second: Entrepreneurs like Maria create more new jobs than Governments do and even big businesses combined. Jobs are the only way out of poverty for most poor people. Charity and welfare keep the poor alive but these do not help them get out of poverty. This is not enough for if you only keep more and more poor people alive without getting them out of poverty, the result will be poorer living and more suffering.
Third: Young people trapped in poverty are given new hope because Maria shows them, that crime is not the only way out of poverty, for America is still the land of opportunity!
Fourth: The environment wins because Maria has dumped her old car and purchased a new low pollution automobile. Her new home has lots of insulation, double glazed windows, and a high efficiency furnace. Her factory has a large solar collector that provides heat and hot water.
Fifth: The world as a whole benefits because every day Maria’s factories turn raw materials into new wealth, making the world richer. She has not become rich by taking wealth away from others. Maria has gotten rich by creating new wealth.
Sixth: Even the government is helped because Maria is now paying substantial taxes, instead of teetering on the brink of the welfare abyss.
Clearly, Maria’s success is helping to create a world that works. So what did it cost to help a poor, illiterate, mother become a Millionaire? Nothing! In fact it was better than that for Maria has paid back the money we loaned her, with interest. So now, the not-for-profit GEDS has more money to help others start new businesses.
Maria demonstrates that it is possible to help people with little or no money to become successful millionaires. For the first time in human history, we have an affordable way to reduce poverty.
