Blog Archives

Microinsurance Expanded through New Strategic Investors

By Emily Riemer on January 15, 2013

Opportunity International announced today that it had divested its majority stake in microinsurance organization MicroEnsure. This will bring additional capital and relationships in order to scale the successful MicroEnsure microinsurance model to serve even more clients in poverty with crop, health, life and property insurance products. New investors in MicroEnsure include International Finance Corporation (IFC), Read more…

Posted in Microinsurance, Our Leadership, Our Work, Strategic Partners, Uncategorized
Tagged Asia, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Clients, Eastern Europe, Financial Times, Gates Foundation, International finance corporation, Microensure, Microinsurance, Omidyar Network, Opportunity International, Poverty, Richard Leftley, sustainable finance award, telecommunications, Telenor Group, Vicki Escarra

$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

Serving the Whole Person with Opportunity’s Transformation Program

By Opportunity International on December 7, 2012

“It’s the dignity of it” was how one African loan client expressed herself to an off-duty staff member standing in line at an Opportunity International bank. She knew she had achieved success through the work of her own hands. Four million such stories play out each day all over the world as Opportunity strives to Read more…

Posted in Loan officer, Local Staffing, Our Method, Our Mission and Vision, Transformation, Trust Groups, What We're Reading
Tagged Africa, Asia, chief transformation officer, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Daniel Ryumugabe, Ending Poverty, Financial services, gypsies, holistic transformation, Impact, Impact newsletter, India, Loan Officer, local staff, Microfinance, Opportunity India, Opportunity International, Opportunity Rwanda, Poverty, Rwanda, spiritual transformation, Transformation, Trust Groups, Valamarthi

One Woman’s Determination to Transform her Life & her Community in Manila

By Opportunity International on November 21, 2012

Through one woman’s determination to overcome chronic poverty, she has grown to transform her life and make the future better for people in her community — especially the children in her Manila neighborhood. Opportunity International client Ana Serrano of the Philippines embodies the power of one person to impact the lives of many. Ana Serrano survived Read more…

Posted in Client Stories, Events, Fundraisers, Loans, Microfinance, Our Work, Women
Tagged Ana Serrano, Asia, Children, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, fundraisers, Loans, Manila, Microfinance, Mothers, One Woman Holiday Challenge, online campaign, Online fundraising, Opportunity International, Philippines, Poverty, The power of one, videos, Women

Today is the First-Ever United Nations International Day of the Girl

By Emily Riemer on October 11, 2012

Today marks an exciting event! It’s the first official UN International Day of the Girl Child, a day to highlight, celebrate, discuss, and advance girls’ lives and opportunities around the globe. The campaign to establish this day was led in the U.S. by School Girls Unite, and internationally by Plan International and CIDA. The Day Read more…

Posted in Client Stories, Education, Events, In the News, Insight Trips, Loans, Our Method, Our Mission and Vision, Our Work, Where We Work, Women
Tagged Asia, Ban Ki-moon, Children, Education, Education finance, Events, Girls, in the news, India, Insight Trip, International Day of the Girl, International Day of the Girl Child, Investing in Women and Girls, Malala Yousufzai, maternal mortality rates, Nike Foundation, Opportunity International, Pakistan, Send a Girl to School, Students, Un millennium development goals, United Nations

What We’re Watching: Last Chance to Watch Half the Sky Movement’s Documentary Online

By Emily Riemer on October 8, 2012

If you missed the chance to watch the tear-jerking, moving, and inspirational Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide when it aired on PBS last week, the videos expire in the next two days. Part 1 closes tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 9) and part 2 closes the following day on Wednesday. It’s a Read more…

Posted in Our Mission and Vision, Our Work, Strategic Partners, Videos, What We're Watching, Women
Tagged Africa, Asia, Cambodia, Children, economic empowerment, Education, Ending Poverty, Half the Sky Movement, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, Healthcare, India, Kenya, Loans, Microfinance, Mothers, Nicholas D. Kristof, PBS, Sheryl WuDunn, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Somaly Mam, videos, Vietnam, what we're watching, Women

What We’re Pinning: Cities Around the World

By Emily Terrell on September 7, 2012

Opportunity works in more than 20 countries around the world, and many of our clients live in urban areas. So this week, we pinned some of our favorite urban landscapes from countries that we work in. What’s your favorite city in the world?

Posted in What We're Pinning, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Asia, Colombia, Community, Ending Poverty, Kampala, Kenya, Kigali, Mexico, Nairobi, Opportunity International, photos, Pinterest, Rwanda, slums, Social Media, south america, The Philippines, Uganda, urban, what we're pinning

The Fruits of their Labor

By Opportunity International on September 3, 2012

As we celebrate our Monday off for Labor Day, most of us don’t realize it’s a national holiday started by the labor movement to honor the achievements of working people with a much-needed day of rest. Our clients are some of the hardest-working people we know and so we wanted to take a moment to Read more…

Posted in Client Stories, Events, Loan officer, Loans, Training, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Asia, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, Entrepreneurs, Financial services, Global Poverty, Holiday, labor day, Loan Officer, Loans, Microfinance, National holiday, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Philippines, Savings, south america, Tanzania, Training

Paying it Forward

By Dan Zarlenga on August 28, 2012

“I’m at a point in my life where I want to give back,” was his response. “You know, kind of pay it forward.” At the end of the training session for my alma mater’s mentoring program (I volunteer to help college students with their professional development) I had asked my fellow volunteer why he chose Read more…

Posted in Client Stories, Meet Our Staff, Videos, Where We Work
Tagged Ana Serrano, Asia, Children, Client Stories, Clients, Community, community service, Ending Poverty, giving back, Loans, local staffing, Manila, Meet Our Staff, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity Philippines, Opportunity-US, Philanthropy, Philippines, Poverty, street children, videos

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