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)

Women dressed in traditional attire participate in a procession to mark Gudi Padwa or the Marathi New Year in Mumbai, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)

Actress Anya Taylor-Joy is seen at NBC's “Today” show on February 04, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Professional conceptual category winner. Greetings from Mars, by Julien Mauve, France. Mauve says: “I have always wondered what it would be like to discover a totally different world ... and to photograph it for the first time as if I was Ansel Adams. So I came up with this project, which is about space exploration and discovery. But it’s also about our behavior in front of landscapes and how we create pictures that will share our personal story with the world”. (Photo by Julien Mauve)

Accordion player and broadcaster Gary Innes performing with dancer Rachel McLagan at The Ovo Hydro, Glasgow on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, to help launch, Hoolie in the Hydro, the World's Biggest Ceilidh, which will take place this December. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)

Attendants wait for visitors to the the exhibition entitled “Forging Ahead in the New Era”, showing the country's achievements during his past two terms, at the Beijing Exhibition Center in Beijing on October 12, 2022, ahead of the 20th Communist Party Congress meeting. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)

Dancers pose for photos at a park in Beijing, China, Thursday, October 14, 2021. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

At 10,582 square kilometres, the Bolivian salt flats – otherwise known as Salar de Uyuni – are the largest on the planet and contain between 50 and 70% of the world’s lithium reserves. After exploring Chile and Argentina, photographer Joel Santos decided to travel to Bolivia in January 2017 to check the salt flats off his bucket list. With an electrical storm rolling in, Joel and his two travelling companions were the only souls left on the vast flats and captured the eerie flats without a person in sight. (Photo by Joel Santos/Barcroft Images)