Blog Archives

Outrage & Inspire – All Efforts Great and Small by Roger Thurow

By Opportunity International on March 30, 2010

Roger Thurow, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal for three decades, spoke at Opportunity International’s recent microfinance conference in Phoenix. His subsequent post, “All Efforts Great and Small,” on the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Global Food for Thought blog, discusses Opportunity’s agricultural finance program and its big impact on farmers in Africa. Read it Read more…

Posted in Loans, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Farmers, Roger Thurow, The Wall Street Journal

Strong Women: The Heart of Community in Kampala, Uganda

By Cynthia Greenwood on March 7, 2010

I woke up today, on the eve of International Women’s Day, thinking about the remarkable women clients I met on a recent trip to Kampala to visit Opportunity Uganda’s operations. For me, these women give new meaning to the words “hardworking,” “committed,” “brave,” and “strong.” Opportunity Loan Officer Charity Namutebi works out of the Read more…

Posted in Loans, Local Staffing, Our Mission and Vision, Our Motivation, Our Work, Savings, Training, Trust Groups, Where We Work, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged $2 a day, AIDS, Build businesses, Charity Namutebi, Client Stories, Community, International Women's Day, Loan Officer, Loans, Mariam Noah, Nuulu Nankya, Opportunity Uganda, Orphans, Ruth Nassimbwa, Savings, Schools, Trust Groups, Uganda, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON

International Women’s Day: What it is/why we celebrate…and more

By Ruth-Anne Renaud on March 2, 2010

Have you heard of International Women’s Day? Do you know much about the history or significance of this day? Although the official date is Monday, March 8, we will be contributing posts this week on everything from the history of International Women’s Day to how it relates to the microfinance services that Opportunity International provides Read more…

Posted in Loans, OptINnow, Our Mission and Vision, Our Work, Training, Trust Groups, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged Community, Empowerment, Family, Female entrepreneurs, Gender, Girls, Global Opportunity Quilt, India, International Women's Day, OptINnow, Sustainable development, Trust Groups, United Nations, Women, Women Leaders, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON

Yes, We Care, Kenya

By Cynthia Greenwood on February 12, 2010

Capturing the stories of our field staff and clients during our time in Uganda and Kenya inspired us, and we hope it inspires you. While we were having dinner on our final night in Kenya, Ruth-Anne Renaud gave me the idea of starting up a fundraising group at OptINnow.org. It was easy to do, and Read more…

Posted in Loans, OptINnow, Our Mission and Vision, Our Work, Where We Work, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged Build businesses, Children, Education, Ending Poverty, Families, Fundraising, Kenya, Loans, Nutrition, OptINnow, Ruth-Anne, Uganda, We Care Kenya, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON

Two Days of Discovery in Uganda

By Ruth-Anne Renaud on February 8, 2010

Cynthia Greenwood, Opportunity’s public relations specialist, and I recently traveled to Uganda and Kenya to capture the stories of Opportunity’s clients, programs, loan officers and services. We started our trip in Kampala, Uganda, where we spent two days discovering the intersections amongst our clients: a school proprietor, a Trust group, marketplace vendors, and children that Read more…

Posted in Insight Trips, Loans, Local Staffing, Microinsurance, Our Mission and Vision, Rural Outreach, Savings, Training, Trust Groups, Where We Work, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged AIDS, Banking on Education, Children, Client Stories, Clients, Education, Financial services, Kenya, Loan Officers, Loans, Savings, School, School fee loans, Training, Trust Group, Uganda, Women

The Challenge of Credit Scoring

By Sonja Egeland Kelly on January 11, 2010

A lack of a formal credit score makes risk mitigation particularly difficult and thus has the potential to reduce the effectiveness of microfinance. A lack of some type of credit information can cause microfinance institutions to make decisions that are not in the best interest of the client. In the worst case scenario, either someone Read more…

Posted in Loans, Our Work, Trust Groups
Tagged Clients, Credit Scoring, Ghana, Loan Officer, Loan repayment, Microfinance, mitigate risk, South Africa, Trust Groups

Gender Integration highlighted at USAID Administrator Confirmation Hearing

By Ruth-Anne Renaud on December 4, 2009

We are pleased to share that on Wednesday, December 2nd at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Confirmation Hearing for Dr. Rajiv Shah, the nominee for USAID Administrator, Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) posed a a question to Dr. Shah on gender integration, and specifically asked for Dr. Shah’s commitment to carry out gender integration as part Read more…

Posted in Loans, Training, Trust Groups, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged Children, Dr. Rajiv Shah, Education, Female entrepreneurs, Food Security Initiative, Foreign assistance, Gender, Gender integration, Infant-mortality rate, Microfinance, Poverty, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Ben Cardin, USAID, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, Women's rights, WON

My Life Changing Experience: What I learned from a Woman Leader

By Guest Post on December 2, 2009

The following is a guest post by Darcy St. John. The events described below took place on November 23rd, 2009. Yesterday was life-changing. I could write a book about this one part of my visit to Nicaragua, so describing it in a few paragraphs is going to be a challenge. I’ll start at the beginning. The Read more…

Posted in Loans, Local Staffing, Our Mission and Vision, Our Motivation, Trust Groups, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged Client Stories, Community, Education, How Strong Women Lead, Loan Officer, Loans, Mothers, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Opportunity Nicaragua, Poverty, Ruth-Anne, Trust Group, Women, Women Leaders, Women's Philanthropy

#MifiMon: Women and Microfinance

By Guest Post on December 2, 2009

The following is a guest post by Sheethal Shobowale, Kiva Fellow at MFIs Asociación Arariwa in Cusco, Peru and Emprender in La Paz, Bolivia starting in January. Interested in learning about microfinance? Follow our biweekly Twitter discussion group #mifimon (because Microfinance Mondays was too long for Twitter’s 140-character limit). Our aim is to host an Read more…

Posted in Loans, Our Mission and Vision, Our Work, Training, Trust Groups, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged #MifiMon, Accion, Clients, Community, Community development, Education, Entrepreneurs, Equal opportunity, Gender equality, Group lending, Healthcare, Kiva, Lending Laws, Loan Officers, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Savings, Seven Bar Foundation, Social Performance Indicators Blog, The Next 4 Billion, Training, Trust Groups, Twitter, WAM, Women, Women Advancing Microfinance, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON

World AIDS Day: Lending Hope to Africa

By Sonja Egeland Kelly on December 1, 2009

AIDS continues to devastate sub-Saharan Africa. Thirty million people have died already, leaving 14 million orphans behind. Without decisive action, millions more will die, at the rate of over 6,600 a day. This figure is likely to increase because of the 9,500 new daily infections in Africa alone. Today marks World AIDS Day. The day Read more…

Posted in Loans, Our Mission and Vision, Training, Trust Groups, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, AIDS, Crisis, Dorothy Kanjautso, Education, HIV/AIDS, Loans, Opportunity International, Orphans, Poverty, Training, Trust Groups, Women, World Aids Day

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