Esther Ocloo

Ghanaian entrepreneur and founder of the first women's cooperative in West Africa, paving the way for microfinance in developing nations.

Esther Ocloo (1920-2002) was a Ghanaian entrepreneur and pioneer of microfinance who revolutionized economic opportunities for women in West Africa. Starting with a loan of £30 in 1942, she founded the Vita Foods Company, producing jams and marmalades using local ingredients. By the 1960s, her business employed over 200 women and became a model for women's economic empowerment. In 1975, she co-founded the Women's World Banking initiative, which evolved into a global microfinance network. Ocloo's advocacy led to the creation of the Ghana Women's League, training over 10,000 women in business skills between 1980-2000. Her 1980 publication Women and Entrepreneurship in Africa remains a seminal text on grassroots economic development. Ocloo's work inspired the Microcredit Summit Campaign, which has since provided over $100 billion in loans to low-income entrepreneurs. She received the Right Livelihood Award in 1985 and the UNDP Gender Award in 1997. Though she passed away in 2002, her legacy continues through the Esther Ocloo School of Entrepreneurship in Accra, which trains women in agribusiness and financial management. Her innovations in cooperative financing and women's economic empowerment laid foundational principles for modern microfinance institutions like Grameen Bank.