The shoemaker in Turkey, the potato seller in Vietnam, and the weaver in Bolivia are among the billions of low-income entrepreneurs who make the world go round. They are also the type of people who can benefit significantly from microfinance. Every year, the Consultative Group To Assist The Poor (or CGAP) hosts a photo contest asking entrants to submit photos based around the idea of microfinance.The purpose of the contest is to give amateur and professional photographers a chance to show the different ways that poor households manage their financial lives and make their lives better through financial inclusion. Photo: South Asia Regional Winner – “Bricks Worker”, Bangladesh. A private enterprise worker is working at a brick field. These small businesses are creating new job opportunities for many poor people. (Photo by Moksumul Haque)

Labourers walk near trucks loaded with logs, which are trapped on a muddy road, near an unreserved forest in the village of Igbatoro, southwest Nigeria, August 28, 2014. Wood, a form of biomass, is the sole source of energy for hundreds of millions of Africans who lack access to modern sources of power, and logging, both legal and illegal, remains a lucrative business that has contributed to the rapid shrinking of Africa's rainforests and woodlands. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

A white whale wears a wreath at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, Japan, on October 3, 2012. (Photo by Associated Press)

In a photo taken on September 11, 2019, North Korean students pose for photos in Chonji lake, or “Heaven lake”, as they visit the crater of Mount Paektu, near Samjiyon. Mount Paektu has long been considered the spiritual birthplace of the Korean nation and is a place of pilgrimage for tens of thousands of North Koreans every year, who are trained from birth to revere their leaders. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

Rachel Hanson, 27 from Chicago, Illinois at the Bellagio Fountain Club at the Bellagio hotel and casino during the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 18, 2023. (Photo by Bridget Bennett/The Washington Post)

A demonstrator participates in a chant outside the Main Building on campus with hundreds of other students. Professors, students, and supporters of UT-Austin demonstrate on campus, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Austin. (Photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP Photo)

A little girl rubs her tired eyes during the first day at the lyceum named after Moldovan writer Gheorghe Asachi in Chisinau on September 2, 2024. (Photo by Dumitru Doru/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Balinese Hindu people take part in a cleansing ceremony called “Melasti”, in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, 25 March 2025. Melasti is a purification ritual where Balinese Hindus cleanse themselves and their sacred objects in the ocean to purify and renew spiritually, symbolizing the washing away of impurities and starting anew. It typically precedes Nyepi, the Day of Silence, marking the Balinese New Year. Balinese will celebrate Nyepi Day on 29 March 2025, during which Hindus on the island of Bali are not allowed to travel, work, light lamps, cook, or do any other activities. (Photo by Made Nagi/EPA)