Esther Afua Ocloo
| Esther Afua Ocloo | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Esther Afua Nkulenu 18 April 1919 Peki Dzake, British Togoland |
| Died | 8 February 2002 (aged 82) Accra, Ghana |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Known for | Pioneer of microlending and campaigner for economic empowerment of women |
| Spouse(s) | Stephen |
| Children | 4 |
Esther Afua Ocloo (born Esther Afua Nkulenu, 18 April 1919 – 8 February 2002) was a Ghanaian entrepreneur and pioneer of microlending, a program of making small loans in order to stimulate businesses.
She was one of the founders of Women's World Banking in 1976, with Michaela Walsh and Ela Bhatt. Ocloo served as its first chair of trustees. She received the 1990 African Prize for Leadership and numerous other honours for her work on behalf of economic empowerment of women and families. She was a member of Unity Worldwide Ministries.
Afua Nkulenu was born in the Volta Region to George Nkulenu, a blacksmith, and his wife Georgina, a potter and farmer, both of the Ewe people. Sent by her grandmother to a Presbyterian primary school, the girl advanced to a coeducational boarding school at Peki Blengo. Because of poverty, she traveled weekly from home to the school, taking food supplies each week which she cooked for herself to avoid expenses. When she won a scholarship to Achimota School, her aunt provided her with money to travel to the school. She studied there from 1936 to 1941, when she obtained the Cambridge School Certificate.
Nkulenu was the first person to start a formal food processing business in the Gold Coast; she built up a business supplying marmalade and orange juice to Achimota School and the RWAFF. After getting her business established, she was sponsored by Achimota College to visit and study in England from 1949 to 1951. She was the first person of African ancestry to obtain a cooking diploma from the Good Housekeeping Institute in London and to take the post-graduate Food Preservation Course at Long Ashton Research Station, Department of Horticulture, Bristol University. She returned to Ghana. She had also married and started a family.
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