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Leading the Way in Agricultural Microfinance
Seventy percent of the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty (surviving on less than $1.25 per day) live in rural areas. Two years ago, Opportunity International launched the Banking on Africa campaign, a cutting-edge strategy to address rural poverty by expanding access to financial services in rural areas and to develop an agricultural finance Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Bank Building, Banking on Africa, Community, Crop insurance, Ending Poverty, Farmers, Financial services, Food security, IFAD, IFAD rural poverty report, Loans, market linkages, Markets, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Rural Outreach, Savings, Smallholder farmer, Training, Weather-index crop insurance
Servicing Rural Malawi with Expanded Microfinance Services
Opportunity Malawi is partnering with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to provide access to microfinance services, including agricultural loans, to over 25,000 people living in poverty through 2011. The $350,000 grant from IFAD’s Rural Livelihoods Support Program will help combat hunger and poverty in three rural districts in southern Malawi. In addition, IFAD has Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, agricultural loans, Agriculture, Aleksandr Kalanda, Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, IFAD, IFAD rural poverty report, Impact newsletter, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, OIBM, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Rural Outreach, Satellite bank branch, Smallholder farmer, Winter 2011 Impact
Meet Opportunity: Minnesota College Students Get to Know Microfinance
The following post was contributed by YAO core member Nolan Soltvedt. This fall, I spoke to a class at the University of Minnesota about Opportunity International’s work and about my involvement with Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO). The students were asked to write a one-page reflection paper on the topic, which gave me a great insight into a college student’s first impressions Read more…
Tagged Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Campus, campus coordinators, College, Education, Ending Poverty, Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship, Financial services, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Nonprofit, Opportunity International, Poverty, Savings, Savings account, Schools, Students, Training, Two Dollar a Day Challenge, Two Dollar Challenge, University, Weather-index crop insurance, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Opportunity Mozambique Is on a Roll with Three New Mobile Banking Vehicles
Last week, Doug Pond, head of operations for Opportunity Mozambique, announced the Mozambique Central Bank’s approval of our three newest mobile banking vehicles. Opportunity plans to deploy all three mobile banking vehicles in the coming weeks to significantly increase its outreach to families living in Mozambique’s rural villages. With the rollout of its agriculture finance Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, ATMs, banco oportunidade de mocambique, Bank Building, Banking on Africa, Clients, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, Mozambique, Opportunity International, opportunity mozambique, Poverty, Satellite bank branch, Savings, Technology
Five Million People in Five Years: Bank-Building in Africa
Last Wednesday, Opportunity staff and supporters gathered for the quarterly conference call hosted by the Board of Governors. The topic was “Bank-Building in Africa” and Opportunity’s Banking on Africa campaign, a discussion led by two of our experts in the International Business Development department: Dennis Ripley, SVP of programs, and Simona Haiduc, VP of program management. Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO) Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, ATMs, Bank Building, Banking on Africa, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Clients, Country champion team, Democratic Republic of Congo, Donations, DR Congo, Ending Poverty, Financial services, fundraisers, Fundraising, Gates Foundation, Ghana, Guest Post, Insight Trip, Kenya, Kiosk, Loans, Malawi, MasterCard Foundation, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, mobile phone banking, Mozambique, Online fundraising, Opportunity International, OptINnow, point-of-sale devices, POS devices, Poverty, Rwanda, Satellite bank branch, Savings, Smallholder farmer, South Africa, Tanzania, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, Uganda, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Andhra Pradesh: Will the Crisis Spread Throughout India?
In mid-October, the government of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh passed an ordinance severely restricting the operations of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the region. The controversial action was taken after local officials complained of wide-spread abuses in the rapidly growing for-profit microfinance sector; the MFIs have challenged the ordinance in the state’s high Read more…
Tagged Agricultural finance, Andhra Pradesh, Bank Building, Bank for the poor, CGAP, Clients, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, India, Insurance, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Opportunity India, Opportunity International, Poverty, Rural Outreach, Savings, SEEP Network, Smart Campaign, Technology, Training
What We’re Reading: “Women Find Freedom through Land Ownership”
Every Wednesday, we highlight an article, book or a blog in our “What We’re Reading” series. We feature works that are noteworthy, inspiring, educational or relevant to the work we do at Opportunity. We welcome your comments in the comment field below–tell us what you’re reading, or respond to the piece we’ve highlighted. The following Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Banking on Africa, Clients, Domestic violence, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Center for Women's Land Rights, Global Poverty, India, Investing in Women and Girls, Loans, Lydia Baldridge Meier, Malawi, MediaGlobal, MFI, Microfinance, Mothers, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Poverty Alleviation, U.N. Development Programme, Uganda, United Nations, violence, what we're reading, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON, World Bank
Double Your Business’s Impact on Global Poverty with Caterpillar’s Matching Grant
Investing in microfinance through Opportunity International is the best, most efficient way that we’ve found through all of our philanthropic investments to make progress possible in the lives of people who need our help most. – Caterpillar Foundation Vice President Will Ball Caterpillar Foundation announces an aggressive, year-end $1 million challenge grant that will enable corporations Read more…
Tagged 2010 fall microfinance conference, Africa, Agricultural finance, Caterpillar Foundation, Caterpillar Inc., Caterpillar match, China, Conference, Ending Poverty, fall microfinance conference, Financial services, Global Poverty, India, Indonesia, Mexico, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Philanthropy, Poverty, Rural banking, Rural Outreach, Savings, Technology, Will Ball, William Ball
