Resol was founded by two college students who saw a need and decided to fill it.

Two college students, Lizzie and Olive, living as roommates at the time, were looking for a way to give back. After connecting with friends internationally, they learned about the magnitude of the Venezuelan refugee crisis. They learned the story of a woman who had traveled to Ecuador to escape the economic crisis in Venezuela. She had owned a successful commercial bakery in Venezuela, but didn’t have the resources she needed to start the bakery again in Ecuador. Unable to find other work due to discrimination, and restricted from receiving any type of business loan — she was left without hope to provide for her small family.

Having both lived among refugees for years, and both speaking Spanish, they decided they needed to do something to help. They designed a solution that would help this woman purchase the equipment she needed in order to start her bakery again.

Pretty soon, many others caught the vision of what they were doing. Their team grew from 2 to 10 over a few months, and dozens of female Venezuelan refugees were able to receive equipment to start their businesses. Almost all of the Resol entrepreneurs’ families were sustained financially through the Covid-19 only through their businesses supported by Resol.