Aviacode & Mentors International: Transforming Lives Together
Mentors International helps impoverished entrepreneurs in developing countries with a hand up, not a handout. After decades of humanitarian giving that, for the most part, has brought the world’s poor into a state of dependency rather than self-sufficiency, Mentors has embraced the proposition that micro-finance is a sustainable way to lift families from poverty. The Mentors program includes microcredit, business training, and mentoring as the means to accomplish their work. Microcredit is the extension of very small business loans at affordable interest rates. With these loans, people work their way out of poverty as they build businesses and generate steady incomes. As their incomes increase, they are able to feed their children nutritious foods, buy books and school uniforms, and pay tuition for better schools. Many eventually hire additional employees in their growing businesses, creating jobs and providing income to more families. With 50,000 current clients in the Philippines and Latin American countries, Mentors has helped over 2.5 million people since 1990. A 97-percent repayment rate of loans assures this program will continue to grow and help extremely poor families rise out of poverty.
A Message About Giving
David Jensen, President & CEO
As a citizen of the United States and as the CEO of a successful healthcare company, I feel incredibly blessed. The opportunities for education and the financial resources so many of us enjoy in the United States is without equal in the world. In spite of our current economic challenges, we are still prosperous beyond any other nation on earth. I feel that with great blessings, come great responsibilities and so I feel compelled to help lift, serve and strengthen others who are in need. This is why I am so happy to be able to contribute toward the mission of Mentors International of providing others a hand up, not a handout. I’ve come to know Mentors International and the individuals who run it. They are of the highest integrity. I encourage you to take time to read a few of the stories of how small donations have such a big impact on the lives of others. I invite and encourage our employees, friends and customers to adopt a sense of service to others and to find a way to contribute to this most worthy cause.