"Rather than try to combat poverty from the top-down, microenterprise fights poverty from the ground up by working directly to change the lives of those most affected by poverty.”

Bishop Simon Chiwanga – founder from Tanzania

The Origins of Five Talents

Five Talents was commended as a long-term response to the ravages of poverty that debilitate communities in developing countries at the 1998 Lambeth Conference, a global meeting of Anglican leaders in Canterbury, England.  The founders, including Anglican Church leaders, were deeply concerned by the plight of the poor and those dying of famine, AIDS/HIV and other diseases.  They wanted not only to assist, but also to guard the dignity of the poor--many of whom survive on $1 a day--by supporting them in small businesses.

Today, Five Talents continues in its mission to empower the poor by promoting innovative savings and microcredit programs, business training and spiritual development.  We are headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C., and have a sister organization, Five Talents-UK, based outside London, England. We are supported by hundreds of volunteers across the US and the UK.