History

Inspired by the work of Dr. Muhammed Yunus, the father of microfinance, Lumana founder Sammie Rayner raised the funds she needed to travel to the village of Atorkor, Ghana in August of 2008. She arrived with the vision of building a microcredit program to benefit the rural community.

Working in close partnership with members of the Atorkor Development Foundation and the chief of the village, Sammie fell in love with the area and developed a pilot project serving thirty entrepreneurs that she was able to get up and running in just two months.

With impressive repayment rates of over 95% in the first six months, Sammie realized she had created a recipe for a sustainable program in Ghana and began recruiting what is now the Lumana team. With eight team members in Ghana in 2009, the organization now has a solid foundation on the ground and is excited to both expand on the existing microcredit program, as well as offer new services to clients in the future.