What does it take to start up your own business? For International Women’s Day, we speak to five women from around the world on their best business advice.

As the sole female volunteer on VSO’s rural livelihoods programme in Bangladesh, Nowrin Sultana, 26, is in demand. For the last two years, she’s been working to financially empower all-female farming groups in rural communities in the northern district of Rangpur.

In Nepal, suicide rates among young married women are very high. Devna* shares her experience of a surviving a forced marriage, and how she and her family came to be involved in a VSO project to reduce levels of violence in families in Baglung.

Kate Weaver was surprised at the many children being married off by their parents in the rural community where she was volunteering on VSO’s International Citizen Service (ICS) youth programme. She and her team decided to try and address it.

A year ago we met Shapla, a 14-year-old Bangladeshi girl who used the lessons she'd learned from VSO ICS youth volunteers to convince her dad not to marry her off to a 37-year-old man. One year on, we are delighted to report that not only in Shapla still happy at school, she wants to volunteer to inspire more girls to resist child marriage.

In Pakistan, VSO is supporting local partners to improve the police response to gender-based violence in a country that scores among the lowest countries in the world for gender equality, and where patriarchal attitudes prevent many abused women seeking and accessing justice.

British volunteer Stephanie Green spent two years in Ghana working to help Shea nut processors become financially independent businesswomen. She returned earlier this year- and was delighted to see that the women are thriving, independent of VSO support.

Education volunteer Ann reflects on her time working in Nepal on a project to promote girls' education.

Vix was a Team Leader in Bangladesh with the International Citizen Service (ICS) youth volunteering programme. Here she takes a sensitive look at the complex issues of child marriage and family loyalty in Bangladesh.