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Check It Out! Credit Suisse Reports on the Impact of Microfinance & Technology in Malawi
We’re pleased to announce that Opportunity International is featured in this month’s Credit Suisse Bulletin. The four-page article, which was the result of Credit Suisse’s visit to Opportunity Malawi last year, is located on pages 42-45. Click here to see a complete copy of the Bulletin or read the story online. In addition, Credit Suisse has Read more…
Tagged Africa, ATMs, biometric fingerprint technology, biometric technology, Cell phone banking, Clients, Credit Suisse, Electronic wallet strategy, Financial literacy programs, financial literacy training, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, mobile phone banking, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, regional manager, Rural Outreach, Savings, Technology, Training, Trust Groups, Women
What We’re Reading: “Ten Biggest Positive Africa Stories of 2011,” The New Yorker
“…Yes, there is tragedy in Africa, and you will always find it there, and we must take those tragedies seriously, but there is also extraordinary opportunity. And if you see this continent as the continent of the future, it sort of reframes it. This is a continent that, by 2050, will be the largest and Read more…
Tagged Africa, Arab Spring, Bono, Cell phone banking, DR Congo, elections, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, famine, Ghana, Healthcare, Horn of Africa, Kenya, Liberia, life insurance, M-PESA, Microensure, Microinsurance, mobile phone banking, Nobel Peace Prize, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, The New Yorker, Tigo, what we're reading
Breakout Session: Fighting Poverty with Technology
“There is never an end to the opportunities that are brought by technology; we are excited about what those are.” That’s how Daryl Skoog, senior VP of technology, ended his own introduction, as each of the members of the panel discussion was introducing themselves to the audience. Harry Turner, the panel facilitator and CEO of Read more…
Tagged Cell phone banking, Daryl Skoog, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Geoffrey Thige, Global Microfinance Operations, Harry Turner, Microensure, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Kenya, Poverty, Richard Leftley, Robert Westcott, Technology
Breaking Down Barriers & Building Access Through Microfinance Innovations
Targeted to reach the most marginalized, Opportunity’s financial products help hardworking people overcome the inherent obstacles of poverty and build a more stable, secure and fulfilling life. Throughout the developing world, people are excluded from access to financial services by barriers like meager, unsteady income; illiteracy; gender bias; expensive transportation and geographic isolation. To address these challenges, Opportunity carefully crafts savings, loan, training Read more…
Tagged 2010 Annual Report, Africa, ATMs, biometric fingerprint technology, Cell phone banking, Democratic Republic of Congo, DR Congo, DRC, Ending Poverty, Insurance, Loans, Microfinance, mobile banks, Opportunity International, point-of-sale devices, satellite branches, Savings, Technology, Training
What We’re Reading: “Rural and Agricultural Finance in the Spotlight at Cracking the Nut Conference”
A few weeks ago, Shari Berenbach, Director of USAID’s Microenterprise Development Office, wrote a blog post on the USAID’s IMPACTblog reported on a conference held in Washington that directly addressed the problems that face agricultural microfinance, as 600 million smallholder farmers currently live on less than $2 a day. Speakers at the conference emphasized new Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, ATMs, biometric fingerprint technology, biometrics, branchless banking, Cell phone banking, Colombia, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Kenya, Latin America, Loans, M-banking, M-PESA, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile branches, mobile phone banking, Mobile Phones, Opportunity International, Opportunity Kenya, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Rural banking, Rural Outreach, Technology, USAID, USAID Impact blog, what we're reading
YAO Member on Chicago Microfinance Conference & How Innovations Expand the Reach of Savings
The following guest post was written by Lauren Dillon, a co-chair of the Chicago chapter of Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO) who works at Illinois-based nonprofit Oasis International. Innovation is at the heart of microfinance. It’s also the engine that propels it. Innovation is packed with chance, risk, fun, adventure! And, when coupled with microfinance, Read more…
Tagged 2011 Chicago Microfinance Conference, Africa, biometric technology, biometrics, CARE, Cell phone banking, Chicago, Chicago Microfinance Conference, DePaul University, Education, Ending Poverty, Entrepreneurs, Financial services, Innovation, Malawi, MFI, MicroDreams, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile phone banking, Oasis International, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Savings, Simona Haiduc, Technology, Tuition savings accounts, YAO, YAO-Chicago, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, young entrepreneurs, Young Professionals
Chicago Microfinance Conference: Technology Innovations and the Future of Microfinance
At Friday’s Chicago Microfinance Conference at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, I had the opportunity to attend the morning breakout session, “Innovations in Microfinance.” In the past 40 years, the microfinance industry has grown to its current level whereby MFIs are operating in virtually every country. In this dynamic and rapidly growing Read more…
Tagged 2011 Chicago Microfinance Conference, ATMs, biometric technology, Booth School of Business, CARE, Cell phone banking, Chicago Microfinance Conference, Clients, hub-and-spoke model, Kenya, Malawi, MicroDreams, Microfinance, mobile banking vehicle, mobile phone banking, OIBM, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, point-of-sale devices, POS devices, Poverty, Rural banking, Rural Outreach, Rwanda, Satellite bank branch, Savings account, Technology, University of Chicago, Women
The Christian Science Monitor on Biometrics & Mobile Money at Opportunity Malawi
The Christian Science Monitor today posted an article entitled, “Villages Leapfrog the Grid with Biometrics and Mobile Money,” which lauds these technologies as a way for people at the bottom of the economic pyramid to access financial services and protect themselves in the case of drought and disasters. Today’s story is part of a series Read more…
Tagged Africa, Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, biometric technology, biometrics, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Crop insurance, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Fingerprint, funeral insurance, Gates Foundation, Kenya, life insurance, M-banking, M-PESA, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile phone banking, Mobile Phones, OIBM, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, South Africa, Technology, The Christian Science Monitor, what we're reading
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
