Microfinance Loans to Give the Poor a Working Chance - Opportunity Blog

In the News: NPR on Savings at Opportunity Malawi

By Opportunity International on November 23, 2010

The NPR website has included a story on Opportunity International’s work in bringing microsavings programs to the people of Malawi. The story featured Opportunity Malawi CEO, Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, and our pioneering work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including an example of just one of our many successful banking outlets in Malawi. As of June 2010, Opportunity Malawi had a total of 284,622 depositors, with savings accounts valued at more than $32 million.

Opportunity clients gather at the mobile banking vehicle in Mkanda, Malawi.

Opportunity clients gather at the mobile banking vehicle in Mkanda, Malawi.

The story is based on a presentation Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, CEO of Opportunity Malawi, gave last week at the 2010 Global Savings Forum, hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Aleksandr participated in  a working session that tackled the “The Challenging Economics of Small-Balance Accounts.” Opportunity’s Malawian clients have access to some of the most exciting technological innovations in microfinance, including a growing mobile phone banking network and biometric technology, as well as new advances in agricultural finance that include access to interest-bearing savings accounts.

“At Opportunity Malawi, we have six times more people saving than borrowing. People see how their neighbors’ lives have been impacted by having a secure savings account at our bank, and so they want one too,” says Kalanda.

Read the story here.

Read more on our blog about the Gates Foundation’s 2010 Global Savings Forum.

Posted in Events, Local Staffing, Our Work, Savings, Where We Work
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Comments

  • Eric Walcott

    What amazes me about the way the poor save is the dedication and commitment to savings. Even when they can only deposit $1, they regularly make deposits, providing security for the future.

  • tjvs461

    Opportunity clients continue to amaze and inspire me. They have so many struggles but they don't let that stop them! They work so hard and see the importance in savings. Blessings to Opportunity clients, Opportunity International and the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation!

  • Sbitte

    The power of one individual sharing with their community about the safety and protection biometric technology offers their savings at an Opportunity bank is priceless. And the long term impact of that savings on a community is better than any handout we could give.

  • asw

    Aleks has built OIBM into a world class bank, through serving the very poor in Malawi. It's great that he was able to share his story at the Gates Forum, and hopefully will be able to do so again in the coming years.