03.09.22
Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc., a global leader in beauty and wellness, has donated nearly $100,000 from the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation to MCE Social Capital in conjunction with International Women's Day.
MCE is a nonprofit impact investing firm that generates economic opportunities throughout the developing world. With a focus on investing in women and environment and climate action, MCE unlocks capital to empower families living in poverty to build a better future for themselves.
"Nu Skin's mission has always been focused on empowering people to improve lives, a focus that we share with MCE Social Capital," said Ruth Todd, Nu Skin senior vice president and vice chair of the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation. "As a company with thousands of entrepreneurial women, we love opportunities to help empower other female entrepreneurs throughout the world. We are thrilled to support MCE in its efforts to provide microloans to women, particularly in rural areas of developing countries, who do not otherwise have easy access to financial services."
In late 2021, Nu Skin and one of its device manufacturing partners made a donation for each sale of ageLOC LumiSpa, the company's top-selling product in its award-winning line of beauty device systems, during that time. Those funds went to the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation and were then donated to MCE.
The company’s International Women's Day celebrations also include an employee service project to support local STEM programs, as well as a company-wide listen and learn event to facilitate discussion around breaking gender bias. Since its inception in 2006, MCE has invested in more than 140 enterprises to benefit more than 9 million people, 73% of which are women. Nu Skin's support will help the organization reach more small businesses in the agriculture value chain, including those that create sustainable jobs in rural economies, increase the income of smallholder farmers and strengthen climate resilience.
Many women have benefitted from funding made possible by MCE. Margarita, a smallholder pitahaya farmer and client of Sol Organica, a certified B-Corporation in Nicaragua that seeks to improve the livelihoods of tropical fruit farmers and promote the use of organic farming practices. Together, they successfully planted more than 2 million native trees on farms.
Melba, a client of Finamiga, is a mother of three and micro-entrepreneur with her own food cart in Cali, Colombia. Another beneficiary, Teresa, has been a client of CrediCampo for more than a decade. She is a smallholder farmer in El Salvador who used her first loan to purchase a motor mill to process her family's corn harvest. She has since increased her family's income and made needed improvements to their home.
To date, MCE has deployed more than $242 million in debt financing with a 98.5% repayment rate. For more information, go here.