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What We’re Reading: “How Small Loans Are Pulling Kenyans Out of Poverty Trap”
Kenya’s Daily Nation posted a piece this weekend that applauded microfinance institutions for offering financial solutions that reach more Kenyan people at the bottom of the economic pyramid. The article praises microfinance for helping to alleviate poverty in the developing world. The microfinance model has proved to be ”a potent tool for increasing access to finance, expanding production and opening Read more…
Tagged Africa, ATMs, Banking, Cell phone banking, Clients, Ending Poverty, Financial Access, Financial services, Global Poverty, Kenya, Loans, M-PESA, MFI, Microfinance, mobile phone banking, Mobile Phones, Opportunity International, point-of-sale devices, Poverty, Rural banking, Savings, Technology, Training, Trust Groups
Emerging Market Risks and Rewards
Last night, Opportunity International Board Member Kadita “A.T.” Tshibaka spoke to a distinguished audience of almost 100 business leaders and students at an event hosted by the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management (watch the video here). Kadita offered up a few things he had learned during his life growing up in the Congo, Read more…
Tagged Agriculture, Banking, Banks, Bottom-up approach, Business, Citibank, Community, Congo, Developing World, Emerging Markets, Farmers, Kadita "A.T." Tshibaka, Leaders, Microfinance, Rotman School of Management, social action, social advocacy, Students, Sustainability, Technology, Top-down approach
An armchair tour of Tanzania at Opportunity’s Spring Conference
The following is a guest post by Ed Kashmarek Opportunity’s Spring Conference, hosted last weekend by the Board of Governors in Scottsdale, Ariz., included a breakout session on Tanzania. Attendees were immediately transported to the country by a giant image of majestic Mount Kilimanjaro towering over bright yellow giraffes, accompanied by the soulful, seductive sounds of Tanzanian music. Read more…
Tagged $2 a day, Banking, Board of Governors, Clients, Conference, Independence, Insurance, Liesel Pritzker, Loans, Mount Kilimanjaro, Poverty, spring 2010 microfinance conference, spring microfinance conference, Tanzania, Training, Trust Groups, Unity, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Opportunity International Provides Crucial Support to Microfinance Bank in Haiti
Fonkoze, the largest microfinance organization in Haiti, is being hailed for its distribution of cash more quickly than traditional banks after the earthquake destroyed the country’s banking infrastructure. Opportunity International has been playing a crucial supporting role to Fonkoze in getting the bank up and running after the disaster. After years of struggling to adapt Read more…
Tagged Banking, Earthquake, Fonkoze, Haiti, Innovation, Mobile Banking, Newsweek, Red Cross, Technology
Opportunity’s new start-up in Tanzania to become a regulated financial institution?
Opportunity Tanzania has begun the transition to become a regulated deposit-taking institution. With the help and guidance of Opportunity’s Bank Building Team, Tanzania’s CEO, Peter Olivier expects to secure a license from the Bank of Tanzania to operate as a regulated deposit-taking entity during the first half of 2010. This Micro Finance Institution license will Read more…
#Mifimon: Microfinance in Your Backyard
Twitter folks present (in alphabetical order): @AJRenold, @amycarolwolff, @Grameen_DC, @ianscotthaisley, @lethalsheethal, @lend4health, @optinnow, @rarenaud, @robgarciasj, @savetogether This week’s call to action: Find an article on U.S. microfinance and post it as a response to this blog and on our #Mifimon facebook page. Have a conversation with a friend or colleague about U.S. microfinance and tell Read more…
Tagged #MifiMon, Accion, Activists, Banking, Education, Financial services, Grameen America, Lend 4 Health, Microfinance, OptINnow, Poverty, Training, Twitter, Women's Philanthropy
