The Good Update - May 2026
The Good Update - May 2026
Stories this month:
Macquarie Group Foundation’s impactful investment
Inclusive growth in action in Cambodia
Pledge your support for a Safer World For All
Stories of Impact
Bringing financial literacy to more women
Dear Good Return Supporters,
As we move through 2026, we sincerely thank you for being an essential part of the Good Return community. Your valuable support is driving the momentum we’re seeing on the ground. While it’s incredible to see the strides women entrepreneurs are making across our region, vital work remains to ensure financial inclusion for everyone. Challenges are real: for instance, financial literacy rates in Cambodia sit at just 18%.
For the women and families we support, access to this knowledge is the key pathway to confidence, independence, and a secure future. We’ve been pouring energy into supporting these inspiring women with essential training, digital tools, and focused campaigns. This hands-on approach helps them manage money with confidence, grow thriving businesses, and build resilience against challenges. We are excited to continue this journey with you, turning access into powerful opportunity, and opportunity into real, lasting change.
This need for opportunity, empowerment and stability is why we believe the world needs Australian Aid more than ever. Australian Aid is a vital investment that helps strengthen health systems, educate children, give communities the tools they need to respond to humanitarian crises, and support stability across our region. With overseas aid at risk in the federal budget in May, we need your voice. Please pledge your support to help us create a safer world for all.
Shane Nichols, CEO
Creating Scalable Impact
Earlier this year Macquarie Group Foundation invested 1 million in Good Return’s Impact Investment Fund II, expanding access to finance for women-led and underserved businesses across Asia-Pacific.
Building on the success of Good Return’s award-winning pilot fund, which catalysed 5 million in lending to over 600 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) (90% women-led), this new evergreen fund is designed to compound impact over decades. By recycling capital continuously, it is expected to unlock an estimated 50 million in finance every five years for underserved Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through partner financial service providers.
We are deeply grateful for Macquarie Group Foundation's confidence and commitment - and for their partnership in helping drive lasting, inclusive economic change across the region.
Inclusive Growth In Action
Our team in Phnom Penh launched an exciting new initiative to support micro-entrepreneurs in Cambodia’s tourism sector. In partnership with Wing Bank and The Asia Foundation, and with support from VISA under the Digitally Inclusive Commerce Ecosystem (DICE) program, we are using targeted credit guarantees to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) access finance, adopt digital payments, and participate more inclusively in the tourism economy.
Good Return’s Program Director, Benigne du Parc, shared, “This pilot reflects Good Return’s commitment to ensuring Cambodia’s tourism growth delivers real opportunities for women-led and small businesses. By enabling businesses to accept international card payments and build digital financial capability, this initiative is expected to support MSMEs, the majority women-led, and help sustain approximately 300 jobs across key tourism cities.”
A Safer World For All
The world needs Australian Aid more than ever. But overseas aid is at risk in the federal budget in May. Will you pledge your support for Australian aid? Rising fuel and food costs are hitting Australians hard. But across the world, fuel shortages and food insecurity are impacting the poorest communities the worst.
Australian Aid helps strengthen health systems, educate children, give communities the tools they need to respond to humanitarian crises, and support stability across our region.
Three quarters of Australians think Australia should maintain or increase the aid budget. Will you pledge your support and let the Government know that the world needs Australian Aid more than ever?
Your Support = Real Impact
Our award-winning Impact Investment Fund supports Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that bring jobs and income to low-income communities. We facilitate access to capital for these businesses that would otherwise not be able to access finance. For those facing a changing climate we support adaptation in agricultural activities.
We work with financial service provider partners to build their inclusive practices and services, so together we can ensure more women and other excluded groups can access economic opportunities.
$120 will fund training for 1 financial institution staff member on inclusive finance practices such as gender and disability inclusion.
$1,500 will support 1 agricultural business to assess climate risks and adapt to a changing climate.
Create Real Change For Good Today.
Stories Of Impact
Growing More Than Chillies: Ms Gunawan's Journey To Scale
Ms Gunawan (left) lives in a remote village near Garut in central Java, Indonesia. She successfully started a chilli business a few years ago, initially growing a few plants in a small plot behind her home, and then expanding to a piece of land nearby. She employs a small team of local pickers and harvesters, and sells everything they produce at the local co-op. Over time she has started receiving requests from wholesalers to grow more. Ms Ganawan is typical of many entrepreneurial women in the Asia Pacific region, whose micro-sized business grow into a small business, with potential for further growth into a medium sized business.
Strengthening Financial Capability In Our Region
Before her training in Cambodia, Channuon had limited knowledge of effective money management herself, not fully understanding how small daily habits can create significant financial change by being able to save with purpose, make financial decisions as a household, or safely manage debt. Like many in her community, she believed “saving was impossible when I was struggling to just cover my daily expenses”. Today, she has transformed her financial behaviours and, through her work as a financial capability coach, inspires countless others to do the same.
Bringing Financial Literacy To More Women
90% Boost In Confidence: Fiji Women Take Control Of Household Finances.
We recently rolled out the Consumer Awareness and Financial Empowerment (CAFE) coaching program in Fiji, delivered in partnership with the Reserve Bank of Fiji and the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).Through this initiative, we upskilled 19 coaches from Serua Province to deliver the curriculum in their communities, with women making up 98% of the learners they reached.
We compared data from before the training to several months after. The results speak for themselves:
Overall financial capability scores increased by 25%
90% of learners reported a measurable boost in their financial confidence
Financial stress dropped from 47% before coaching to just 4% feeling very/quite stressed about their finances after the training
Most importantly, women reported feeling more empowered in household financial decisions. As one learner shared, “I can comfortably speak my mind on big money decisions in my household."
Congratulations to all our learners in Fiji who are building stronger financial futures for themselves and their families!
120 New Certified Learners In Mt Hagen
A truly proud moment for Janine Aringa-Garap, Good Return’s PNG Program Coordinator, celebrating 120 graduates from our Consumer Awareness and Financial Empowerment (CAFE) program. Held in Mt Hagen, central Papua New Guinea, the graduation ceremony was a vibrant celebration of progress, determination and new opportunities.
Over the course of the 7-week CAFE coaching program, these learners didn’t just build financial skills - they took powerful steps towards their futures - including, for many, opening their very first bank accounts. With support from our team to navigate ID and paperwork, and alongside our local financial institution partner, TISA Bank,graduates are now able to put their knowledge into real, practical use.
Donate Monthly, Become a Good Friend
Our Good Friend monthly donors are committed to increasing their impact on the lives of people in the Asia Pacific region. In return, we will keep you updated with the stories of the people you have helped as they build their businesses, grow their livelihoods and head into stronger futures.