Blog Archives

The Father of a Community

By Stephanie Jimenez on June 14, 2013

This Father’s Day, we are celebrating Dads. Join us as we share the stories of some of our inspiring male clients, and support more fathers at opportunity.org. Meet Ssalongo, a businessman residing in Kampala, Uganda. Before becoming an Opportunity client, he earned $2 a day from a small chicken business he inherited from his grandfather. Read more…

Posted in Client Stories, Gift Cards, Loans, Our Mission and Vision, Our Motivation
Tagged Education, Kampala, Uganda

3 Ways Opportunity International Will Tackle Poverty in Mozambique This Year

By Allison Bearden on March 7, 2013

Opportunity Mozambique is providing over 57,000 impoverished clients with loans, savings and insurance to catalyze sustainable economic development across the country. In 2013, Banco Oportunidade de Moçambique (BOM) will reach more impoverished families through the following three strategies, among others: Investing in Savings Expansion with New Products and Promotions. Savings help protect low-income families against Read more…

Posted in Hunger, Loan officer, Loans, Local Staffing, Microfinance, Our Method, Our Mission and Vision, Our Motivation, Our Work, Poverty, Rural Outreach, Savings, Technology, Training, Transformation, Where We Work
Tagged Agricultural finance, Clients, Financial Access, Financial services, Mozambique, Savings

The Power of Technology to Eradicate Poverty

By Opportunity International on January 18, 2013

Technology efficiently and cheaply brings financial services to people in remote or rural areas. It breaks through barriers throughout the developing world, where people are excluded from financial services because of illiteracy, expensive transportation and geographic isolation. With the support of our strategic partners, individual donors and dedicated staff, Opportunity International leverages technology to help free people Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Biometrics, Cell phone banking, Client Stories, Loans, Local Staffing, Our Work, POS devices, Poverty, Resources, Savings, Strategic Partners, Technology, Where We Work, Women
Tagged Africa, Annie Nyangomba, ATMs, biometric fingerprint technology, Cell phone banking, Client Stories, Clients, Cloud technology, Community, Democratic Republic of Congo, DR Congo, Ending Poverty, Felicitus Mmboge, Financial services, Global Poverty, invest in technology, Kenya, Kinshasa, Leaders, Loans, local staff, Marie-Claire Ina, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, Nairobi, Opportunity International, POS devices, Poverty, Satellite bank branch, Technology

What We’re Reading: Vicki Escarra in the Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneurial Supporters Empower Communities in Nicaragua

By Opportunity International on January 11, 2013

At Opportunity International, we see our experienced, resourced entrepreneurial supporters as a major asset to the organization that has led to ground-breaking innovations in our work. Today, in the Harvard Business Review, our CEO Vicki Escarra wrote a piece entitled “Funders Can Give More than Money.” Opportunity International’s staff and supporters are a team of innovators. Read more…

Posted in Donors, Loans, Our Leadership, Our Work, Training, Transformation, What We're Reading, Where We Work
Tagged Agriculture, Asset-Based Community Development, CED, Client Stories, Clients, Community, community economic development, David Allman, David Kone, donors, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Fundraising, Geralyn Sheehan, Harvard Business Review, Harvard University, Loans, Microfinance, Mission, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Opportunity Nicaragua, Poverty, south america, Training, Vicki Escarra, what we're reading

$1.2 Million Raised, 8,000 Women Empowered in One Woman Holiday Challenge

By Opportunity International on January 10, 2013

A big thank you to the hundreds of amazing people who joined Opportunity International’s One Woman Holiday Challenge. At the end of 2012, we contributed more than $1.2 million in just 45 days to empower women in poverty! Together, we enabled over 8,000 women to grow businesses, increase their incomes, and have safe places to Read more…

Posted in Client Stories, Donors, Fundraisers, Loans, Online Giving, Our Mission and Vision, Our Work, Trust Groups, Where We Work, Women
Tagged Africa, Asia, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Donations, Education, Ghana, goals, gypsy, India, invest in women, Nicaragua, One Woman Holiday Challenge, online campaign, Opportunity International, Poverty, south america, Trust Group, Women

Six New Year’s Goals for Us All

By Emily Riemer on January 1, 2013

At Opportunity, we are putting the finishing touches on our personal resolutions and our big organizational goals for 2013. Here are six goals — both small and big — that will inspire us all. Feed more hungry people. Be nice to your mom. Learn a new skill. Educate the next generation. Be a good friend. Read more…

Posted in Agricultural Finance, Client Stories, Education, Events, Hunger, Loans, Our Work, Where We Work, Women
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, artisan, Asia, Beatrice Boaten, Chennai, Children, Clients, cocoa farmer, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Honduras, India, Loans, Mercy Senyegah, Mexico, MFI, Microfinance, Mothers, New Year, New year's resolutions, Opportunity International, photo blog, photos, Poverty, rice, rice farmer, Richmercy School, Rwanda, south america

Greater Food Security Moves Small-Scale Farmers from Subsistence to Success

By Opportunity International on December 27, 2012

Millions of sub-Saharan Africans lack access to sufficient high-quality food. Even where natural resources are ample, people suffer from chronic malnourishment due to lack of access to financing, quality seed, fertilizer and distribution channels. That’s why Opportunity International is working to increase regional food security by equipping small-scale farmers with the resources they need to Read more…

Posted in Agricultural Finance, Client Stories, Hunger, Loans, Local Staffing, Our Work, Poverty, Rural Outreach, Savings
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, fertilizer, Food security, Hunger, input suppliers, kiosks, Loans, malnourishment, Opportunity International, Poverty, Rwanda, satellite branches, Savings, seed, Smallholder farmer, subsistence farming, Uganda, value chain

What We’re Reading: Forbes, “Qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs”

By Emily Riemer on December 26, 2012

What do Richard Branson and Steve Jobs have in common with Opportunity International’s clients? Turns out, a whole lot. In a recent “Forbes” article by Patrick Hull, successful entrepreneurs are those willing to take risks and push boundaries. The article quotes Harvard Business School professor Howard Stevenson, who says, “Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity Read more…

Posted in Client Stories, Loans, Microfinance, Our Work, Poverty, What We're Reading
Tagged Blog, Blog Posts, Client Stories, Clients, Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship, Financial services, Forbes, Loans, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Poverty, steve jobs, what we're reading

An Opportunity for Scrooge & the Untapped Power of George Bailey

By Steve Nelson on December 21, 2012

Bathed in the spotlight, Ebenezer Scrooge towered above the audience, sitting atop a 10-foot-tall desk in the opening scene of “A Christmas Carol.” My eye was drawn to the sign posted in front of his shop: “Scrooge and Marley Money Lenders.” It dawned on me that Scrooge was, in reality, a tight-fisted microfinance lender who Read more…

Posted in Events, Loans, Our Mission and Vision, Our Motivation, Our Work
Tagged A Christmas Carol, Christmas, Clients, Ebenezer Scrooge, Ending Poverty, Financial services, George Bailey, Holiday, It's a Wonderful Life, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Steve Nelson

The Power of One Client, Felicitus, to Impact the Lives of Many

By Opportunity International on December 19, 2012

Felicitus Mmboge is one of the millions of Opportunity women clients who has used a small loan to seize a big opportunity, and achieve great change in her life, her family and her community. Twenty years ago, at the age of 22, Felicitus left her struggling village in Western Kenya and took a job as Read more…

Posted in Cell phone banking, Client Stories, Loan officer, Loans, Our Work, Technology, Women
Tagged Africa, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Felicitus Mmboge, Financial services, invest in women, Kenya, Loan Officer, Loans, M-PESA, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, Nairobi, One Woman Holiday Challenge, Opportunity International, Opportunity Kenya, Poverty, Technology, Women

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