Editor’s note: This is part of a series of interviews between expert panelists for the Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls. 

Lisa Mensah works to make sure business owners who “don’t get a fair shake” can get the capital they need to grow. She’s the president and CEO of the Opportunity Finance Network(OFN), which provides capital, advocacy, and capacity building to community development financial institutions (CDFIs). Driven by a mission to serve rural, urban and Native communities underserved by mainstream finance, CDFIs lend to small businesses and community developers who build thriving communities. 

Lisa brings her experience working at the crux of finance and advocacy to the Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls. As one of our expert panelists, she helps us decide what organizations will receive funding from Google.org to help women and girls reach their full economic potential. I recently sat down with her to learn more about her path to OFN and why supporting women-led businesses is crucial. 

What got you started on your path? 

I’m from a bi-racial, bi-cultural family, and lived in Ghana as a young kid. I always thought I would do something in international relations. 

While I was getting my master’s degree, I was most interested in helping refugees and women in developing countries. But I felt I was missing out on powerful conversations — often led by men — on how nations develop. These conversations were frequently about money. So, my path pointed me to the financial industry, where I could be involved in strategic decision-making that would ultimately affect issues surrounding women. 

I began my career in commercial banking at Citibank. From there I moved to the Ford Foundation where I used my banking knowledge to help the Foundation build its program in microfinance and development finance. That’s where I fell in love with CDFIs, and I’ve worked with them ever since. Life’s twists pointed me to my true north, which is a combination of finance and advocating for change for people in poverty. 

What sparked your interest in inclusion for women in finance?

From an early time, I was interested in the economy at the grassroots. That’s usually the economy that women inhabit. I wanted to understand: Who is really feeding everyone? Who is keeping kids healthy? Who is providing income to families? Women across the world, often in informal employment, were leading this.

Poverty in the U.S. is a phenomenon that is quite gendered, often women-led households are lower income. By getting involved in development finance, I was able to see who controls the money and found that women-led enterprises and activities were being left out. 

How have CDFIs been transformative for female-led businesses?

Female and minority entrepreneurs have a harder time accessing affordable bank financing than their male counterparts. This is where CDFIs shine: where others see risk, we see opportunity. CDFIs take time to understand our clients and tailor products for them. This played out again and again during the pandemic when CDFIs provided great relief to women-owned small businesses.

Why did you get involved with the Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls?

The Google.org Impact Challenge will surface leaders that are flying under the radar in their countries and areas of work. We'll resource them to operate at a new level, like a venture capitalist finding the next big company. There aren’t enough philanthropic dollars for all the ideas that are out there in the world, but Google.org’s intention is to find efforts that are benefitting women and girls and support them at scale. That’s powerful, and I’m really pleased to be a part of it. 

Pretend you have a megaphone to reach every little girl around the world. What’s your message for them?

Your dreams are yours and they are real. They’re in you for a reason. You’ve got your contribution to make to this world — don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. And even if your path changes, like mine did, you’ll find your way. Along your journey, look for your cheerleaders and helpers — find the people who believe in you and will support you in your dreams and ambitions.

Jacquelline’s Corner

It’s back to school season again, and the pandemic continues to affect teachers, families and students — especially those already lacking educational resources. Despite the challenges and unknowns, nonprofits working in education continue to push forward and innovate to support learning. It’s clear that the ability to pivot is a common strength necessary for these times, and as funders and supporters we must ensure organizations have the space to adapt priorities and meet learners where they are. 

Over the course of the pandemic, through our Distance Learning Fund, we’ve supported organizations — like INCO and TalkingPoints which you’ll read more about below — that pivoted to provide training and support to teachers learning how to educate remotely, delivered high-quality digital learning opportunities for students, and also created the resources needed to keep learning happening in an equitable way.

In the face of ongoing and overlapping challenges — the pandemic, climate change, racial injustices — I’m continually inspired by the new approaches that our grantees like these, and others, take to help the world’s young learners as they enter another year of education. 

In case you missed it 

Our hearts go out to all those affected by the crisis in Afghanistan. To help, Google and Googlers are providing more than $4M in support to organizations on the front lines aiding those who are particularly impacted — women, refugees and journalists. 

Hear from one of our grantees: INCO

Hei-Yue Pang is the APAC Lead at INCO, a global organization working to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy through forward-looking education and support to entrepreneurs.

With millions of children across the world kept out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic, INCO launched the INCO Education Accelerator in April 2020 — with the support of a $2.5M grant from Google.org and our Distance Learning Fund. The accelerator supports education nonprofits across Europe and Asia and creates equitable access to education for children, especially those from under-resourced families. With technical assistance from distance learning experts and Google volunteers, the nonprofits multiplied their impact and collectively provided uninterrupted access to education for over 360,000 students — nearly 28 times more students than before their accelerator program. 

A few words with a Google.org Fellow: TalkingPoints

Fiona Yeung is UX Designer at Google who is participating in a Google.org Fellowship with TalkingPoints, an AI-powered multilingual platform that helps teachers and families stay connected via text message and an easy-to-use-mobile app.

Editor’s note: This the third in a four-part series of interviews between expert panelists for the Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls.Today’s interviewer, Kate Garvey, is the co-founder of Project Everyone, which aims to make progress in achieving the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. 

Amika George is a 21-year-old activist who, after learning about the lack of awareness around period poverty, started a movement in the UK that turned into a tidal wave of change. She went on to write a book about the lessons she learned from that experience…all before graduating from university.  

Her commitment to this issue made her the perfect fit to be an expert panelist for the Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls. Along with 27 other incredible women, Amika and I have the honor of helping select the grantees — nonprofits and social enterprises that are leading the way to a better future for women and girls — who will be announced later this year.

Until then, here’s my conversation with Amika George.

What drove you to become an activist? 

At first I didn’t identify as an activist because I didn’t know what it meant and it felt like a loaded term. But the issue of period poverty — when people who menstruate can’t afford period products — made me think more critically about activism. I started Free Periods in 2017 after learning about girls in the UK who miss a week of school every month as a result of period poverty. I was shocked and upset by the reality of it.

Free Periods began online as a petition and branched out to organizing protests and events. Our efforts led to a legal case that required schools to provide free menstrual products. Now we can confidently say that every student in England can get the products they need.

What is one lesson about activism that you would pass on?

For many marginalized people, or even people who aren’t old enough to vote, activism is how you can have an impact in a productive way. For young people, the issues we’re most scared of — structural racism, the climate crisis, widening gender inequality — aren’t always prioritized or reported on. You need your own way to have an impact and shape our future.

What’s next for you?

My generation is realizing that it’s more productive and effective when you focus on one thing. I often get asked, “What about the climate crisis, is that what you’re going to focus on next? Are you going to address poverty as a whole?” But no one individual can end poverty or the climate crisis. You can choose one small thing, find your niche and focus on that. And frameworks like the UN’s Global Goals are useful — they’re the roadmap to a better world. You can take the one thing you’re working on and see how it links to one of the Goals.

There must have been low moments or moments when things went wrong. What advice do you have to deal withthat?

I learned too late that you can’t do things on your own. There wasn’t a huge amount of public discussion about period poverty before Free Periods, and it gave me a platform to reach people. But I was still only 17. 

There’s a whole chapter in my book on mental health and how it wasn’t sustainable for me to carry the movement on my own. It’s difficult not to take things personally, but when you have a community you can find strength when everyone is working hard and committed to the cause. 

Any final words of wisdom for the grantees of the Impact Challenge, and those fighting for women’s economic empowerment?

Be creative, especially right now. In lockdown, our lives changed in a drastic way and we had to think differently. We couldn’t have protests or speak face to face, and we continue that creativity going forward. Creativity is an essential part of activism.

When you hear Shakira’s name (or when her catchy lyrics inevitably get stuck in your head), you may think of her as an international pop sensation, Latin American icon or stunning performer. But there’s a fourth characteristic to add to that list: philanthropist and advocate for education.

Shakira has been a champion of this work for over 20 years, dating back to the creation of her charitable organization Fundacion Pies Descalzos, which expands access to education in Colombia and Latin America. And now, she’s bringing her passion for philanthropy to the Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls. Shakira joins 28 other incredible women as expert panelists who will help us determine which organizations will receive a grant to continue their work supporting economic empowerment for women and girls.

We grabbed the mic to ask Shakira a few questions about why this cause is so important to her. Put on your favorite Shakira hit, and read on. 

Your amazing philanthropic work has focused on education for kids. What is the biggest barrier that young girls face in getting a quality education?

Girls are too often vulnerable to gender-based violence, relied upon to care for others in the household, or lack access to basic facilities like running water or proper bathrooms that would allow them to attend school during menstruation. The irony is that investing in girls’ education has one of the best returns on investment that a society could ask for, and it creates real economic impact. If every girl completed 12 years of education, their lifetime earnings could increase by $15 trillion to $30 trillion. It’s not only about lifting girls up — lifting them up will do the same for entire communities. 

Why did you get involved with the Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls?

I think there’s no limit to what girls can achieve, and companies like Google can lead the way for girls —  particularly in fields where there is still a noticeable disparity such as STEM disciplines. 

When you envision a more equitable world for women and girls, what do you see?

I want to see a world where girls have the same amount of choices and opportunities at their disposal as boys. I want to see more women leaders, and policies made for women by women that acknowledge both the needs of women and their unique perspectives and ways of contributing to society at large. 

What’s one message that you would give to every woman around the world?

Don’t take no for an answer.

If there was a playlist for empowerment for women and girls, what song would you put on it?

Beyonce “Run the World (Girls)”

I was born in a small town in the South of France to an Algerian dad and a Vietnamese mom. Like many kids from immigrant families, I took school seriously because I saw success in the classroom as a way to fit in. 

I was incredibly lucky to have teachers in high school who spent extra hours after school pushing me and surfaced opportunities I wouldn’t have heard of otherwise. Without them, I probably would have settled for less. Instead I’m the first in my family to go to university. The helping hand I got from them growing up is what motivates me today to find opportunities to give back — and thanks to Google there’s plenty of ways for me to give back at work. 

Giving back at Google

I’ve been at Google for five years, and currently work in strategy and operations in London. Last year, I learned about the Google.org Fellowship, where Googlers could spend up to 6 months working full-time, pro bono for a nonprofit. When I saw that Generation — an organization with the mission to prepare and place people into life-changing careers — was one of the nonprofits looking for Fellows, I knew I wanted to participate.

Generation focuses on providing training and support to underserved jobseekers from diverse and low-income backgrounds. They’ve found that with the right skills, non-traditional candidates can be a boon for employers — in fact 84% of employers say that graduates from Generation programs outperform their peers. 

However, innate biases still exist in recruitment that overlook talented and qualified people from nontraditional backgrounds. In France, for example, the first filters recruiters apply when looking for job candidates is often where someone went to school and their degree. Working with Generation, we wanted to figure out how to surface alternative applicants in order to give them a chance to be seen and considered.

Three other Fellows and I worked with the Generation team to design a “reverse job board” that advertised the candidate rather than the job. This would help ensure each jobseeker was seen as a top-notch candidate, rather than an alternative choice. We then conducted employer research for feedback. The Generation team springboarded off that work to build the portal, which launched as a pilot in Spain in March 2021. As the tool becomes more sophisticated and more jobseeker profiles are added, Generation plans to launch it globally. 

Keeping the culture of giving back going

My fellowship with Generation ended when COVID-19 grew into a global pandemic. I was shocked by the scale of the crisis and knew I wanted to do anything I could to help. In April 2020, I volunteered to lead Google.org’s UK COVID taskforce to help businesses and charities impacted by the pandemic. We brought together Googlers across the UK who wanted to help, and spent more than 2,700 hours volunteering across 100 projects for 50 charities. 

To keep that spirit of giving back going beyond the pandemic, I created an employee group called Giving Back UK to encourage Googlers to spend time volunteering. This year for GoogleServe, our company-wide volunteering campaign that takes place every summer, I’ve helped create more than 500 volunteering opportunities. As for me, I’ll be spending my time working with Hatch, a nonprofit organization that supports entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups to develop the skills and knowledge they need to grow their businesses. 

Being able to bring a positive impact to others is incredibly rewarding — and I love being able to encourage others to do the same.