A helping hand out of poverty

Almost half the population of the world – more than 3 billion people – lives on less than €2 per day, and about 25,000 children die each day because of poverty. Hand in Hand aims to eliminate poverty by creating jobs, while simultaneously tackling child labour. Health, education and environment are also important pillars of its work.

Major focus of Hand in Hand's activities is based around female entrepreneurship. Women are mobilized in so called Self Help Groups where they pool their savings, learn how to read and write and receive training in entrepreneurship and bookkeeping. After the training they are linked to microfinance for investing in new or existing family businesses.

The bulk of the Hand in Hands’ activities is based around female entrepreneurship. Groups of women pool their savings and then obtain microfinance for investing in new or existing family businesses. They also receive training in reading, writing and bookkeeping.

So far Hand in Hand has helped to start more than 370 000 companies in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu alone, where also 13 000 children have been assisted out of factory labour and into schools.   

Hand in Hand is a charitable trust in India and has now spread its enterprise creation programme to other countries.

The Volvo Group sponsors the initiative, and our CEO, Leif Johansson, is an ambassador -  “As an entrepreneur, I like Hand in Hand’s focus on entrepreneurship as a way out of poverty,” he says.