Empowering women entrepreneurs: Lin Lin’s story

Imagine making $4 per day. Now imagine that money has to support a family of six. For Lin Lin, a 30-year-old wife and mother in Myanmar, that was her reality. In the Coca-Cola-produced video, “Every Bottle Has a Story: Meet Ma Lin Lin from Myanmar,” Lin Lin tells her story of working in the rock mines near her village in central Myanmar. Through a partnership between the Coca-Cola Foundation and Pact, Lin Lin now owns her own business and can provide for the needs of her family.

Since 2012, the Swan Yi project has been empowering women entrepreneurs in Myanmar. The project offers training and capacity building for women on how to create a business, market their products, and save money. Through savings-led village banks, woman can access loans to start small businesses and improve their livelihoods. Lin Lin’s story is one of thousands among women in Myanmar who the project will help by 2015.