Esther Afua Ocloo was a Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

ian entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 and pioneer of microlending. She was born Esther Afua Nkulenu.

She was one of the founders of Women's World Banking

Women's World Banking

Women’s World Banking spcial organisation is a nonprofit organization that provides strategic support, technical assistance and information to a global network of 40 independent microfinance institutions and banks that offer credit and other financial services to low-income entrepreneurs in the...

 in 1976, with Michaela Walsh and Ela Bhatt

Ela Bhatt

Ela Ramesh Bhatt is the founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India . A lawyer by training, Bhatt is a respected leader of the international labour, cooperative, women, and micro-finance movements who has won several national and international awards.-Early life:Ela Bhatt was born in...

, and served as its first chair of trustees. She received the 1990 Africa Prize for Leadership.
Afua Nkulenu was born in the Volta Region

Volta Region

Volta Region is one of Ghana's ten administrative regions. It is to the east of Lake Volta. Its capital is Ho.-List of districts:The region has 18 districts consisting of 3 municipal and 15 ordinary districts:-Background:...

 to George Nkulenu, a blacksmith, and his wife Georgina, a potter and farmer.