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Young Ambassador Malin Akerman at EMA Event on Opportunity Nicaragua at the Microsoft Experience
Environmentalists, Opportunity staff, and some of Hollywood’s finest came together to support entrepreneurship, microfinance and education at last week’s benefit hosted by Malin Akerman and the Environmental Media Association (EMA). The benefit raised funds for Opportunity Nicaragua’s Emprendedora School, located near Granada. Microsoft generously hosted the event at its new venue, The Microsoft Experience, and Read more…
Tagged Abbi Antablin, actress, Agriculture, Education, Emprendedora School, Geralyn Sheehan, Granada, Loans, Los Angeles, Malin Akerman, Microfinance, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Opportunity Nicaragua, Schools, Students, tourism, Women, YAO, yao-los angeles, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Meet Our Staff: A Closing Interview with AJ Renold as He Prepares to Leave Tanzania
AJ Renold, mountain trekker, pizza maker, kite surfer, manager of business development and donor relations for Opportunity International Tanzania, hails from Chicago, Ill. He joined Opportunity-US as an intern in their suburban Oak Brook headquarters in 2009. That summer, he helped plan and traveled on the first-ever Young Ambassadors Insight Trip to Tanzania. AJ quickly Read more…
Tagged Abbi Antablin, Africa, AJ Renold, Arusha, Blogging, Dar es Salaam, Financial services, Insight Trip, international staff, Meet Our Staff, MFI, Microfinance, Mount Kilimanjaro, Opportunity International, Opportunity Tanzania, Peter Olivier, Ross Nathan, Social Media, Swahili, Tanzania, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Partnering with Nicaraguan Yucca Farmers to Increase Their Profits
A pungent, unfamiliar, almost rancid but still sweet, scent hit my nostrils: freshly ground yucca meets a growling grinder. Five men man the contraption: one filling the large funnel, one jamming a large stick into the funnel to feed the yucca chunks into the grinder, one scooping the pulp out of the bottom, one shoveling Read more…
Tagged Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Asset-Based Community Development, Cargill, Clients, Community, David Kone, Ending Poverty, Farmer, Financial services, Insight Trip, Latin America, Microfinance, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Opportunity Nicaragua, starch, Technology, Training, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, yucca
First Day of School in Nicaragua
The idea seemed almost too good to be true: a self-sustainable, private high school providing academic coursework in tandem with technical classes and apprenticeship within reach of people living in rural poverty. If it could be done, it would be completely in line with Opportunity Nicaragua’s Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) model. I was sold: hook, Read more…
Tagged Agriculture, Clients, Community, David Allman, David Kone, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Geralyn Sheehan, Global Poverty, Granada, Latin America, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Opportunity Nicaragua, Poverty, Schools, Students, Training, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, Youth
