PRESS RELEASE
May 22, 2008
Kiwi using business principles to help the developing world
HE has been shot at, captured by pirates, stoned and survived two plane crashes, but this has not deterred Kiwi
entrepreneur David Bussau from continuing his mission to fight poverty in developing countries.
TEAR Fund is privileged to host David Bussau while he tours New Zealand talking about how Microenterprise works and how
it is empowering small business people in the developing world to break the poverty cycle. TEAR Fund NZ basis most of
its microenterprise programmes on David’s revolutionary microenterprise model which has seen millions released from
poverty.
Abandoned by his parents, David Bussau grew up in an orphanage in New Zealand (Masterton) before finding himself out on
the street at 15 with nothing but his wits. Despite this he managed to accumulate significant wealth though building up
and selling a whole series of businesses.
By his mid-thirties he was operating a multi-million dollar construction company in Australia. When Cyclone Tracy struck
Darwin in 1975, David took a volunteer construction team to help rebuild the city. He did such a great job that he was
later asked to go to Bali to help rebuild rural areas devastated by an earthquake.
As he applied traditional solutions (repairing bridges and roads, re-establishing water supplies, rebuilding schools) he
gradually realised that sustainable development needed more than just infrastructure. (more)
What he found there was that traditional development solutions still left poor families trapped in poverty. He concluded
that what poor people wanted is work, and that with jobs they can solve their other problems. His solution was to offer
small business loans at fair interest – a hand up instead of a hand out. About 98 per cent of the loans are repaid and
lent again to extend their business or to be lent to others to start a small business. Normally the only option is for
micro-entrepreneurs to borrow from loan sharks who charge crippling interest rates which force them into further
poverty.
David Bussau is one of the world’s most renowned pioneers of Micro-enterprise Development. According to the World Bank,
micro-enterprise has proven to be one of the most effective and sustainable ways to solve poverty. David spends most of
his life on planes and in the developing world initiating projects and providing consultancy to governments,
multinationals and other organisations. David has lived in Australia for many years and has won many awards and honours
for his work.
Most recently he was awarded the title of Australian Senior of the Year 2008. In 2003 he was awarded Ernst & Young Australian of the Year, making history as the first ever social entrepreneur to be inducted into the World
Entrepreneur of the Year Academy in Monte Carlos.
In 2000, he was chosen by Bulletin magazine “as one of Australia’s 10 most creative minds”.
David Bussau will be visiting Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Nelson. Visit www.tearfund.org.nz for dates and for
more information on Microenterprise.
ENDS