Blog Archives

Knowledge Leads to Understanding: Getting to Know Uganda

By Guest Post on July 30, 2010

Women’s Opportunity Network (WON)[/intlink] supporter and her 16-year-old nephew contributed this final post about their trip to Uganda, summing up the unforgettable people they met and places they saw on their journey. The Mighty Nile River Debby: is a beautiful country: Winston Churchill described it as “the pearl of Africa” because of its green hills, Read more…

Posted in Insight Trips, Local Staffing, Our Work, Trust Groups, What We're Reading, Where We Work, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged Africa, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Insight Trip, Kampala, Loan Officer, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Nile River, Opportunity International, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, Schools, Students, Trust Groups, Uganda, University, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON

Meet Betty Mutua of Opportunity Kenya

By Opportunity International on July 29, 2010

“Working in microfinance has transformed me. We use the word ‘transformation’ to describe our client training, but that word also describes how I feel,” says Betty Mutua, a regional manager at . Mutua began working for as a in 2001, which was also the year she got married. “I’ve been married as long as I’ve been Read more…

Posted in Loans, Local Staffing, Our Work, Where We Work, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Tagged Africa, Client Stories, Clients, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, International Visitor, Kenya, Loan Officer, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Mothers, Nairobi, Opportunity International, Opportunity Kenya, Poverty, Trust Groups, Washington D.C., Women, Women's Philanthropy, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity

Spotlight on the Annual Report: Harvesting Hope

By Opportunity International on July 28, 2010

Providing access to clients living in the world’s most geographically remote areas is an important part of what does. Reaching clients like farmer , or Jakob as he’s known, who live hours from urban areas is crucial to connecting them with financial services, access to markets for agricultural goods, and economic sustainability. Through financial services like Read more…

Posted in Loans, Local Staffing, Microinsurance, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Strategic Partners, Technology, What We're Reading, Where We Work
Tagged 2009 annual report, Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, agriculture finance, Agriculture Microfinance, annual report, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, harvesting hope, jakobo chikayiko, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Rural Outreach, Savings, Technology

Rwandan Women are Crucial to Economy — A Story on CNN.com

By Opportunity International on July 27, 2010

Check out CNN.com where Lisa Desai wrote a piece, accompanied by a video, that highlights the integral role that women play in the growing economy of Rwanda since the genocide in 1994. Today, women outnumber men in and, according to the piece, “there are more women in Rwanda’s parliament than any other country in the world. Read more…

Posted in Loans, Local Staffing, Our Mission and Vision, Our Work, Savings, Strategic Partners, Training, What We're Reading, Where We Work, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged 10000 women initiative, Africa, clementine uzabakiriho, CNN, CNN.com, Community, Education, Emerging Leaders, emerging leaders program, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Gahaya Links, Goldman Sachs, Kigali, Loan Officer, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Mothers, Opportunity International, Opportunity Rwanda, Poverty, Rwanda, Savings, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON

Be Inspired: A Traveler Meets Opportunity Uganda’s Microfinance Clients

By Guest Post on July 23, 2010

Debby Farrington, a supporter of the is visiting Uganda with her 16-year-old nephew Matt Statman. Yesterday, Matt sent us about meeting teenage students in Kampala, and today, Debby reports on their visits with Trust Group clients and some very inspiring women entrepreneurs. Today, we visited a meeting and some very special clients of Opportunity Uganda. Read more…

Posted in Insight Trips, Local Staffing, Our Work, Training, Trust Groups, Where We Work, Women's Opportunity Network, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Tagged Africa, Children, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Insight Trip, Kampala, Loan Officer, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Mothers, Opportunity International, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, Students, Trust Groups, Uganda, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, WON, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity

Spotlight on Agricultural Finance: An Interview with an Agriculture Finance Officer

By Emily Riemer on July 14, 2010

“Most of the world’s poor are smallholder farmers and their families. By targeting them, we can dramatically reduce extreme poverty and food insecurity.” -UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, addressing the Malawian parliament on May 29, 2010. Through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the MasterCard Foundation, Opportunity is now offering greater financial Read more…

Posted in Loans, Local Staffing, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Strategic Partners, Technology, Training, Where We Work
Tagged accra, Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, andrew koehler, Ban Ki-moon, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Clients, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, Farmer, Farmers, Financial Times, Ghana, Insurance, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, MasterCard Foundation, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Savings, Smallholder farmer, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, Training, Uganda, United Nations

Sending Our Condolences to the Victims of Sunday’s Bombings in Uganda

By Opportunity International on July 12, 2010

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims of the two bombings that took place late Sunday night in Kampala, Uganda. The bombings were done in a synchronized attack on large gatherings of World Cup soccer fans watching the televised final game on outdoor screens. To our knowledge, no Opportunity Uganda Read more…

Posted in Events, Local Staffing, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Children, Community, Invisible Children, Kampala, Opportunity International, Opportunity Uganda, Uganda, world cup, Youth

Supporting Youth Groups with Microloans in Tanzania

By AJ Renold on July 12, 2010

AJ Renold, Opportunity Tanzania’s multimedia YAO reporter on the ground, sends us this report about a pilot microlending program for a Tanzanian youth group. This past Friday, Opportunity Tanzania lending staff visited the NGAO Youth Group, a group supported by Youth Initiatives Tanzania (YITA), to assess their business for the capacity for a loan. This Read more…

Posted in Loans, Local Staffing, Our Work, Where We Work, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Tagged Africa, AJ Renold, Children, Clients, Community, Dar es Salaam, Education, Financial services, HIV/AIDS, Loans, Microfinance, Microloans, Opportunity International, Opportunity Tanzania, Poverty, Schools, Students, Tanzania, Training, Trust Groups, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, Youth

Harvesting Hope for Tomorrow: Women’s Role in Transforming Uganda

By Guest Post on June 25, 2010

Guest blogger and Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) member Julie Hindmarsh sends us this report while on WON’s “Mothers, Daughters and Sisters” Insight Trip to Uganda. What is your greatest challenge in farming? That was the question we posed to a group of rural farmers in Buwenda, Uganda, when we visited them on Thursday. “Transportation,” one Read more…

Posted in Insight Trips, Loans, Local Staffing, Microinsurance, Our Mission and Vision, Rural Outreach, Training, Where We Work, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged Agricultural finance, Agriculture Microfinance, Children, Daughters, Farmers, Girls, Insight Trips, International Women's Day, irrigation, Microfinance Institution, Mothers, School fee loans, School fees, Sisters, Trust Group, Uganda, Weather-index crop insurance, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON, WON Uganda Insight Trip 2010

Oak Park and River Forest Supporters Gather to Celebrate a Rich Giving History

By Sonja Egeland Kelly on June 18, 2010

Last week, a group of Opportunity supporters met together in Maryellen and Jim Betke’s home in Oak Park, Ill. Their common denominator? They are all champions of Opportunity’s microfinance work who live in Oak Park and River Forest, Ill. Over the past 12 months, 80 Opportunity supporters in the Oak Park-River Forest area have raised Read more…

Posted in Events, Local Staffing, Our Mission and Vision, Our Work
Tagged Champions, Credit Scoring, Ending Poverty, Fundraising, Illinois, Loan Officer, Loan sharks, Microfinance, Oak Park, Opportunity Ghana, River Forest, Savings

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