Today’s Google doodle honors Esther Afua Ocloo, an entrepreneur and women’s rights activist who helped women — first in Ghana, and eventually around the world — start their own businesses.
Born in Ghana on April 18, 1919, Ocloo’s first venture in business was as a teenager, when she began selling jars of marmalade. According to Google, Ocloo learned food processing techniques during a trip to England. She worked persistently to secure financial backing and started her own company, Nkulenu Industries.
Ocloo became known as “Auntie Ocloo” after sharing what she learned about starting and running a business with the women of Ghana.
From the Google Doodle Blog:
Esther and other advisors knew that lending money to women could have a ripple effect, improving the prosperity and health of the women as well as their communities. But because they lacked collateral, low-income women were often ignored by banks. So in 1979, Esther helped found and became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Women’s World Banking, which provides millions of low-income women with the small loans needed to reach their financial goals.
Ocloo’s commitment to improving economic conditions for women earned her an invitation to the first UN World Conference on Women in 1975.
Today’s doodle leads to a search for “Esther Afua Ocloo” and includes a sharing icon to post the image on social pages or send via email. The doodle appears on Google’s US and Ghana homepages and a handful of other international pages, including Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Greece, Portugal, Sweden and Iceland.
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