I have learned over the many years I’ve worked in the financial world, people are generous by nature. If given the opportunity and an accountable, reliable source, instinctively human beings desire to help one another given the right avenues to do so. Interestingly, the same drive, appeal, and yearning compelled me to enter the world of micro financing and all its intricate realms of opportunity.  It all begins with the education of those who want to give and those who want to receive.

At Club-Asteria, we know the importance of teaching entrepreneurial skills from the very basic philosophies of growth and development to the more complex details of financial stability and strategic business planning. To equip someone financially and then depart is wasting an opportunity to teach them to expand and develop at a level that not only affects them but their community, their children, and the lives of future generations.

Recently, I worked with a single mother of three, Rogelia, in the Philippines. Rogelia’s husband had died several years prior to our meeting her. She and her three sons lived in one of the poorest areas of the Philippines, scraping by on what little money she could make sewing. As a girl, Rogelia worked with her father in the fishing business and she believed that she could teach her sons all that she had learned from her father. With the current government’s encouragement of growth in the fishing industry and the duty-free shipping of equipment into the area, Rogelia dreamed of recreating the life she knew with her father but she did not have the educational confidence or the financial ability to move forward and start a business.

Club-Asteria strives to empower individuals and communities through entrepreneurial education by focusing on their talents and capabilities and enlisting the aide of donor contributions to launch and sustain their businesses. We understand the depth of need globally and the dire predicaments people find themselves living daily. We encounter the seemingly hopeless and endless fate of poverty every day; however, when Club-Asteria can contribute to benefit a family then the cycle of poverty is broken and change is put into action.  It is all about transforming one individual’s and one family’s future at a time.

Rogelia attended our entrepreneurial educational workshop in her village. Today, she and her three sons own two fishing vessels and employ four other men in the community. Rogelia manages the home office assuring distribution and care of the fish caught daily. For her it is not just about the dream or a return to a childhood memory, for Rogelia, it is about teaching her sons a trade and the discipline it takes to earn a respectful living. When I asked her how her father might feel about what she is doing, she smiled shyly and whispered, “Honor… I have brought him honor.”

Learning good financial habits and gaining the confidence to create opportunities to build businesses that work is one of many missions of Club-Asteria. If we can support one person in a business successfully, the trickle down effect is enormous in the present day community and the future. I have seen first hand the impact of change through entrepreneurial education and the hope it brings to families throughout the world.  Rogelia and her sons live it daily.

Tags: human beings, growth and development, entrepreneurial education, overwhelming task, single mother, entrepreneurial skills, financial opportunity

Hi, I’m Andrea Lucas, Managing Director of Club-Asteria. Club-Asteria is an online global membership organization that provides education, business opportunities, e-commerce and innovative programs to empower our members.  Please visit our site at www.club-asteria.com to learn about our programs and services and our goals for the future and read about our philanthropic activities in the News.

I have now started the series of blogs so I can share my views and experiences with all of my family and friends and the extended community of people that are interested in global affairs.

Everything in my life that I have lived through – both good and bad, has brought me to this moment in time.  I now have the ability to contribute to some of society’s most critical and pressing issues – the plight of hundreds of millions of people that still live in poverty despite the advances in our social network and technology.  Human beings just like you and I who don’t enjoy the simple advantages of clean drinking water, reliable electricity, adequate shelter, the simplest of health care, food and education.

As I have traveled the world in my position in the financial community I have experienced first- hand this injustice and tragedy of humanity.  My life today is dedicated to not only sharing the plight of these undeserved people of the world but more importantly to serve as a catalyst of change to truly benefit their individual lives.  I hope that you will enjoy reading about my many experiences and the people I meet and can lend support to.

My blogs will touch on a variety of subjects, from e-commerce to financial support to philanthropic assistance to most importantly, education that can benefit each of the individuals and families that we are seeking to help.

Tags: managing director, moment in time, clean drinking water, philanthropic assistance, adequate shelter, asteria club, education business opportunities