AGENCY
The capacity for people to make their own choices.

Vali rewriting her story
David Bussau back in Bali
Joyful Finance –bringing joy and purpose to business

The capacity for people to make their own choices.
Vali rewriting her story
David Bussau back in Bali
Joyful Finance –bringing joy and purpose to business
I’m just back from visiting the spiritual and historical home of Opportunity International Australia. It’s a village called Blimbingsari and it’s in the far west of Bali, in Indonesia, close to where you cross over to Java.
This is the village that our founder, David Bussau, travelled to in 1976 to help rebuild their church damaged in an earthquake. And it’s where David made his first ‘micro loan’ to a gentleman named Ketut. It was there where Opportunity International Australia began.
David went on to make thousands of loans to those living in poverty and Opportunity grew rapidly. As I stood inside that rebuilt church with David and Ketut, it was humbling to think that one man started a worldwide movement from that place. Today, tens of millions of people have benefited from his inspiring vision of microenterprise development.
And yes, Ketut used the loan to buy a sewing machine. But guess who did all the hard work? His wife, Putu! I made sure that due recognition and honour was given to Putu as well.
We intend to erect a memorial plaque in the church grounds honouring both David’s work as well as the founding of Opportunity. I do hope you can visit one day!
With blessings and gratitude,
Scott Walters Chief Executive Officer Opportunity International Australia
When we support mothers globally, it’s truly magic what can happen next — they’re the backbone of their families and communities, and can drive real change.
On the Friday before Mother’s Day this year, Opportunity International Australia hosted a special Mother’s Day Breakfast in Perth to raise money for women and families living in poverty.
The guest speaker was Bourby Webster, musician and former Western Australian of the Year (Arts and Culture). Bourby founded the Perth Symphony Orchestra and is currently the Director of Creative Activation and Public Engagement for Edith Cowan University.
While enjoying a beautiful breakfast at Fraser’s in Kings Park and the wonderful views of Perth, the 80 guests were treated to a talk on creativity from Bourby, as well as Bethan Winn on MC duties, with Ezereve Eggleston providing musical entertainment. All proceeds from ticket sales help mothers leave poverty behind through small loans, training and other support. What a way to spend a Friday morning!
Thank you to everyone who attended and supported the event, including sponsors, Access Analytic and James Bryant at Lead Different. Altogether, $4,810 was raised!
On 18 June, Opportunity hosted another online TransformHER event featuring two trailblazing women, Rabia Siddique and Suzzanne Laidlaw. These two passionate Opportunity supporters from Western Australia are leading and inspiring transformation in their professional journeys.
Rabia is an international human rights lawyer, former British Army officer, and a hostage, domestic and sexual violence survivor. She is a bestselling author and a multi-awardwinning speaker, consultant, and advocate for diversity, resilience, and systemic change.
Suzzanne is an internationally accredited, award-winning business coach, renowned keynote presenter, and bestselling author, recognised as a global leader in business planning.
These amazing women told their stories and spoke about resilience and harnessing your passion and skills to drive change in the face of adversity.
If you missed the event, you can catch up online and watch the recording at opportunity.org.au
Top Image: Rabia Siddique
On 1 July, Opportunity’s Health Leader program expanded into Nepal, with the aim of reaching 1.19 million people over the next five years.
As a nation, Nepal faces many health and development challenges. About 20 per cent of people live below the national poverty line, and many struggle to access basic healthcare.
Health conditions like high blood pressure are common, with more than one in three adults affected. But worryingly, fewer than one in ten local health centres can provide services for these long-term illnesses, known as non-communicable diseases.
Climate change is making things harder. Rising temperatures are causing more heat-related illnesses and changing how diseases spread. At the same time, Nepal’s health system is already stretched thin, especially in remote regions. In rural and hard-to-reach areas, getting to a clinic or hospital can be extremely difficult, leaving many without the care they need.
Opportunity’s health education model trains and empowers women as Health Leaders to deliver community health education in their own communities, facilitate access to health services and products, and improve health.
Typically, these Health Leaders are micro and small business owners, and the program also supports Health Leaders to develop sustainable livelihoods by selling health products and services like menstrual pads, basic medications and health insurance and facilitating teleconsultations.
The program will launch in the Lumbini and Koshi Provinces initially, with plans to then expand to additional regions, working with microfinance partners, with an established presence and high levels of trust in these communities.
Below: The Health Leader program has expanded to Nepal.
In the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of Opportunity International Australia next year, founder David Bussau made a special trip back to Bali to reunite with Ketut, the first person he ever loaned a small amount of money to in order to start a business.
In 1976, David, his wife Carol and two young daughters Natasha and Rachel, moved to Blimbingsari, a small village in the west of Bali, to help rebuild a church knocked down in an earthquake.
It was while living in Blimbingsari that David met Ketut, who was one of the men working on the church building project with him. Ketut had explained to David that his family was struggling, but if he had enough money he could buy a sewing machine and his wife Putu could start a sewing business.
Instead of giving Ketut the $50 he needed, David lent him the money, thus sparking a worldwide movement of helping people lift themselves out of poverty through microfinance.
Ketut and David’s reunion was full of joy. The two old friends hadn’t seen each other in over 20 years, and they easily returned to conversation and laughter immediately.
“My wife Putu was a really capable sewer, and thanks to her, our family managed to survive,” said Ketut. “We earned money from that sewing machine, which allowed us to afford food and send our children to kindergarten.”
After a few successful years running the sewing business, Ketut saw other business opportunities.
“After seeing a friend doing well financially with his own furniture business, I realised that the furniture business was booming in Bali at the time. That made me consider switching to furniture, even though the sewing business was actually doing quite well.
“The sewing business was good, and it helped us a lot. It kept us alive and got us through tough times,” added Ketut. “Still, the spirit and feeling I had when I first received the support from Pak David stayed with me. I worked hard and tried even harder. I ran that business for several years, and now my son, Komang, has taken it over.”
Komang lives in Denpasar and is running the furniture business there. He studied at university and has a degree in computer engineering.
David visited the workshop and met Komang. Being a builder himself, David was impressed with the handiwork, and how Komang has carried on his father’s business.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the furniture business struggled, but Komang managed to stay strong and carry on.
“I’m
very impressed with Komang’s initiative and strength to start up again, and I think that’s very admirable,” said David.
David has definitely left an impression on Ketut and his family, and the whole community in Blimbingsari,
“I learned a lot from Pak David,” said Ketut. “What really stuck in my mind was his strong determination and willpower. When Pak David had a program or a goal, he would work tirelessly until it was successfully carried out. That mindset really stayed with me. There were many other things as well, such as his spirit, work ethic, and his commitment to completing any program or task he started. Those values left a deep impression on me ”
Seeing Ketut and his family almost 50 years on from that very first loan, seeing the generational change that one loan made, is inspiring. With every donation received by Opportunity, another family is being supported to make the steps out of poverty, creating a brighter future for their children.
Top: David Bussau at the chuch he built in Blimbingsari, Bali. Below left: David is reunited with Putu and Ketut, the first ever loan recipients in Bali.
Below right: Komang is running a furniture business in Denpasar, Bali, following in his father Ketut’s footsteps.
Life hasn’t been easy for Vali, who lost her husband over a decade ago.
In a small village in rural India, where few women own businesses and most live without formal employment, Vali is quietly transforming the narrative.
After losing her husband in 2013 to an illness they couldn’t afford to treat, Vali was left to raise her young children alone. As her husband was her household’s primary source of income, she had no support — and no one to turn to.
“There was no one to support me... I passed days without food. I used to stay hungry at night so my children could eat,” said Vali.
Her cows died. Her home was broken. Her children were hungry. Life, as she put it, was unbearable.
“Even my neighbours wouldn’t help. I begged for food. That’s how we survived,” Vali explained. But Vali had something that couldn’t be taken away: resilience. She knew she needed capital to start a business and through her hard work, she could provide for her family.
Through one of Opportunity International Australia’s local partners, Vali received her first small loan of Rs.20,000 (approx. A$368). She used the money to buy a cow and began selling milk. Slowly, her life began to change.
“With the milk from that one cow, I raised my children and ran my living,” she said.
She repaid that loan in 24 instalments over two years, and went on to take a second, larger loan of Rs.46,000, which she used to fund her daughter’s wedding and buy another cow.
Her third loan helped her buy a sewing machine, and soon, she was earning additional income stitching clothes for others in her village.
“The train of my life got on the tracks after the loan. Now, I fill five litres of milk in the morning and five in the evening. I run my life with that, and by sewing.”
Today, Vali owns five cows and three calves. Her children are older, and they are educated and married. She’s built her future with her own hands — and the right tools.
With 98 per cent of loans repaid and reinvested, Vali’s success is just one link in a growing chain of change. This is what financial inclusion looks like. This is the future we’re building, together.
Below left: Vali has changed her family’s future.
Below right: Vali lives on a farm outside of Ahmedabad in Gujurat, India.
Two-year-old Joy was born with a hole in his heart. His mother, Aarti, and father, Vishal, had already depleted most of their savings during the COVID-19 pandemic, as both had lost work.
Aarti gave birth in a public hospital, and Joy weighed 3kg at birth, but his weight quickly dropped to just 1kg. A two-month stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), along with the right support, helped Joy gain weight and return home to live with his family, but the medical bills wiped out their remaining savings.
Vishal works in housekeeping and Aarti works part-time cooking for four families, while also caring for Joy, newborn daughter, Raha, and their older son Manthan.
The family lives in an urban slum on the outskirts of Mumbai, a city marked by stark wealth inequality. Their small one-room home has no bathroom or toilet, and they rely on communal facilities shared with the entire slum community.
They earn enough to get by, but their ability to save is limited, and they do not have insurance to cover health emergencies. Like most low-income urban families, 100 per cent of their health costs are out of pocket.
Joy needs an open-heart operation to repair the hole in his heart — this will require two procedures, which the family had just begun saving for. However, last year, Joy contracted pneumonia, a serious infection for any child, but especially dangerous for one with complex health needs. Doctors told his parents he needed to be hospitalised immediately, or they would lose him within days. But there were no public hospital ICU beds available.
With guidance from Opportunity’s local partner, Uplift, they placed him in a nearby private hospital to keep him alive. Uplift provided an Emergency Medical Loan of Rs.35,0000 (around A$640), processing the loan within a day to cover Joy’s medical expenses.
However, Vishal needed to borrow from multiple sources to meet the total hospitalisation costs, which came to around A$4,500 for a 24-day stay.
Although the health loan from Opportunity’s local partner in India has a low interest rate and is designed to be affordable for low-income families, other lenders charge exorbitant rates, trapping families in cycles of debt. Health expenses push 1.3 billion people like Vishal and Aarti into poverty globally each year.
The predatory informal lenders that Vishal and Aarti borrowed the rest of the money from charged exploitative interest rates (up to 200 per cent) to people they know have no other option. The family are currently only able to make interest payments on these loans.
Opportunity’s local partner, Uplift, offers affordable health loans, maternity savings accounts, and health mutual insurance to low-income families living in informal urban settlements across India. The helpline run by Uplift continues to support Joy’s family as they navigate his medical challenges.
Joy is home again, being doted on by his parents and older brother, Manthan. Vishal and Aarti are doing everything they can to stay afloat financially while ensuring Joy receives the care he needs. Manthan’s school has agreed to defer fees for now, recognising the family’s financial hardship.
At times, Aarti feels overwhelmed. She often cries, worried about how she could support her child.
Vishal told her, “He is a gift from God. If God has given, he will do everything.” He encourages Aarti not to cry, saying that Joy will not have hope if they do not have hope.
Opposite: Aarti and Vishal with their children Joy, Raha and Manthan.
Thea Chadban-Smith runs an accounting practice in northwestern Sydney called Joyful Finance , helping businesses and individuals with their accounting needs. As one of Pro Purpose’s partners, Joyful Finance supports Opportunity International Australia, pledging donations through their business. Recently we sat down with Thea and asked her about her purpose and her support of Opportunity.
Why is purpose so important to you as a business in Joyful Finance?
Purpose means intentionality, and when you’re doing something for a reason and for a purpose, it actually helps you move forward, it helps you do things even when things are rough and hard.
How does supporting charities like Opportunity help you in your business?
It gives us a purpose that’s bigger than just ourselves. It’s bigger than just helping somebody get a tax return done, or helping somebody run a report. Charities like Opportunity are important because it brings us outside of ourselves and it makes us realise that even our small contribution, combined with other people who are supporting Opportunity, is big. It creates a bigger impact to an individual or a community.
And that’s inspiring, because not only are you helping them, you’re helping their community, and you’re creating generational change. And that’s super inspiring because coming from the Philippines, that could’ve been me.
I put myself in that situation, and think ‘it could have been me’. There’s circumstances where I was lucky – my parents had education, they were able to come to Australia and we didn’t have to live in poverty. Not that we did, but we were surrounded by it in the Philippines, unlike in Australia. I think it’s nice to be able to help people in those situations.
What insight would you have on the power of money to do good?
I think money is a tool and we have the option and the choice on how to use it. We can either spend lavishly on ourselves, or we could just give up a little bit and use that little bit to make a greater impact on something else. Where you spend your money, that’s where your values lie. If we say we value being generous and being kind, then you can see that through how you give or how you use your money.
Giving to Opportunity is great because when you give money and a loan, you can then recycle that money and it’s then used to help other women.
What do you like about the partnership with Opportunity through Pro Purpose?
The great thing with Pro Purpose and partnering with Opportunity is that they have really great values aligned, and that is giving for purpose and about generational and lasting change. So not only do we help them now, but the way that we help is by bringing dignity and creating lasting change.
Do you love the idea that it’s a global organisation and that women are helped to start their own businesses?
I like that Opportunity International is a global charity, it helps people in less fortunate areas be able to start their own businesses and get themselves and their family out of poverty.
How did you come up with a name for your business? Why did you call it Joyful Finance?
So I had a dream from God and he told me about it and then I didn’t want to do it. And then we struggled for a bit and then I said fine, whatever!
I started the business when I had my first child and it wasn’t even really supposed to be a business, it was just something on the side so that I wouldn’t be too bored and that I could always go back to work.
But then, when I actually started doing it, I was like, oh, I’m skilled at this, and I’m actually really great at relationships, and more people just kept coming and coming until I was like, oh, I think I have a business now!
So, it wasn’t until two or three years later that the name Joyful Finance was impressed on my heart and at first I didn’t want to call it Joyful Finance because it could be very polarising, and you know most people don’t put joy and finance together, so I was a bit unsure about it for a long time.
I had just had my second child so that’s when Joyful Finance was actually birthed. I wasn’t in a joyful season, and I want to remind people that Joyful Finance isn’t just about always happiness and fun all the time. Sometimes you can have joy in a difficult situation.
In finances, there are people who are struggling, but we can come alongside them. And even though it’s not a joyful situation, the joy could be that we’re with them and we’re just being someone who’s in their corner, or being kind to them and helping them get out of this situation.
You’re an entrepreneur and a mother. How does the flexibility of owning your own business work for you and your family?
One of the big reasons I started a business and why I want to continue running a business is just the flexibility that it allows me to be with the kids. I get to drop them off, I get to pick them up from school and whenever they have school events, I can be there. It’s been really great with that flexibility.
I wouldn’t be able to do business without the support of my family.
Below: Thea Chadban-Smith, founder of Joyful Finance.
Pahal Financial Services, one of Opportunity International Australia’s local microfinance partners in India, has always had one main goal: to improve financial inclusion for women across India.
With a presence in ten states and one union territory (UT), and over one million female borrowers, Pahal is not just providing loans — it is fostering economic independence, social empowerment and generational change.
Pahal is a word in Hindi which means ‘a new beginning’, and for so many women and their families, a small loan has been just that. Founded over a decade ago by Purvi Bhavsar, along with Co-Founder and Managing Director Kartik S Mehta, Pahal was born from a desire to create meaningful impact beyond monetary success.
“Instead of complaining all my life, I wanted to make a small effort and see how it goes in terms of solving that problem,” said Purvi, reflecting on the organisation’s origins. Today Pahal employs 3,000 people, many of whom are women.
At the heart of Pahal’s mission is empowering women economically and socially. “When a woman is more empowered, when she’s contributing not just economically but also socially, she’s respected in the society,” explained Purvi. “People would ask her about her inputs, about her problems, they would also be concerned.”
This respect translates into greater confidence and influence within their families and communities. Pahal’s impact extends beyond individual borrowers to the next generation of girls. “We are not just catering to the empowerment of a woman, but we are also playing a huge role in readying the next generation, which is going to be much more informed, more empowered, more socially acceptable,” said Purvi.
She highlights inspiring stories of transformation: “A woman who was very scared of borrowing Rs.5,000 from us 10 years back today is very confidently borrowing one lakh (Rs.100,000) to fund for her daughter’s laptop to use for school.”
This growing confidence among women entrepreneurs reflects broader shifts in aspirations and opportunities. Digital access has expanded markets, enabling women to increase their businesses and working capital needs. Pahal supports these ambitions with tailored financial products and innovative initiatives like insurance schemes for healthcare and buying cattle, helping women manage risks and emergencies better.
Pahal’s organisational culture also plays a crucial role in its success, and how they’ve supported Opportunity in reaching over six million women and families through microfinance. “The way you treat your people is the way they will treat your customers,” emphasised Purvi. By fostering respect, dignity, and support within its team, Pahal ensures that loan officers carry those values into the communities they serve.
Opportunity’s partnership with Pahal has been vital, especially during challenging times such as demonetisation in 2016, where all Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 banknotes were no longer considered legal tender in India. Purvi expresses deep gratitude for our partnership.
“Opportunity was the first partner that we had after a very difficult year… They really valued the work that we were doing and not just gave importance to the balance sheet for that particular year.”
For Purvi, leading Pahal is a source of daily inspiration and responsibility. “Reaching out to so many people is a passion,” said Purvi. “When I enter the office, I have to look very confident because 3,000 people are looking at you.” Her leadership embodies hope and resilience, driving Pahal’s ongoing mission to reach two million borrowers and transform lives.
Through this partnership, Opportunity and Pahal continue to champion financial inclusion as a powerful tool for women’s empowerment, sustainable livelihoods, and lasting social change in India.
Rise up. Make a way. End poverty.
Join the community of Australians paving the way to end global poverty.
As a Waymaker, your monthly giving will help put life-changing tools into the hands of families in need – paving the way for communities to break the poverty cycle for generations to come.
Become a monthly supporter. Visit opportunity.org.au/waymakers
Thank you for your continued generosity
It’s thanks to your support that we have been able to increase our investment in programs that create new opportunities for resilient and hard-working women and families across Asia.
Thanks to you, we have been able to protect and build more businesses, help more children attend school, reach more women and girls with anti-violence and human trafficking awareness and protection, and extend our health program by training more Health Leaders.
With deepest gratitude, and sincerest thanks from the Opportunity International Australia team.
On behalf of those we serve.
Opportunity International Australia is an Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) Member and is committed to full adherence to the ACFID Code of Conduct.
Opportunity International Australia receives support from the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).
Opportunity International Australia is a member of the Australian Disability and Development Consortium (ADDC). The ADDC is a network of agencies, organisations and individuals with an interest in disability-inclusive development within Australia and internationally.
“What Opportunity means to me is that when you’ve been given a chance, that somebody looks at you and they believe in you, and that they see potential in a situation, they can see you stepping up in life.”
Thea Chadban-Smith Joyful Finance
linkedin.com/company/OpportunityAUS