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What We’re Reading: Opportunity Rwanda’s Daniel Ryumugabe & Chicago Supporters Gather to Discuss Left to Tell
On Monday, I joined 15 women for a meeting of the Chicago Women’s Book Discussion Group in the home of Kim Stephens, a member of Opportunity International‘s Board of Governors. The group, led by my Opportunity colleague, regional director Linda Vander Weele, has been meeting regularly for the past two years to discuss books that touch upon Read more…
Tagged Africa, Board of Governors, Book discussion, Chicago, Community, Economic development, Education, Ending Poverty, Events, Genocide, God, Governors, International Visitor, Kigali, Left to Tell, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity Rwanda, Paul Kagame, Poverty, Ruth-Anne Renaud, Rwanda, Transformation, Transformational Training, UOB, Urwego Opportunity Bank, Urwego Opportunity Bank of Rwanda, violence, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
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
LiveBlog: Chicago Microfinance Conference-A Closing “Fireside” Chat with Premal Shah of Kiva
In closing at today’s Chicago Microfinance Conference, Premal Shah, president of Kiva, sits down for a Q & A keynote with Marc J. Lane, founder & president of Marc J. Lane Wealth Group. Shah shares the story of how he moved from PayPal to help grow the nascent Kiva with Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley, and discussedthe growth, Read more…
Tagged 2011 Chicago Microfinance Conference, Chicago, Chicago Microfinance Conference, Financial services, India, Insurance, Kiva, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, PayPal, Poverty, Remittances, Savings, Technology, Twitter
Elmhurst College and Community Walks for Global Poverty
The following guest post was written by Olivia Schultz, an intern in the Marketing Department here at Opportunity International. On Sunday, May 1st, over 200 students, staff, and community members of Elmhurst College in suburban Chicago came out for the second annual L.E.N.S. Walk for Poverty. L.E.N.S. is an acronym for Learn, Empower, Nurture, Save. Read more…
Tagged Chicago, Community, Elmhurst College, Ending Poverty, Events, Global Poverty, local staff, local staffing, Opportunity International, Students, Tanzania
What We’re Reading: Roger Thurow Interview on Hunger, Microfinance and More
On Wednesdays, we highlight an article, book or blog in our “What We’re Reading” series. We feature works that are noteworthy, inspiring, educational or relevant to the microfinance 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 2010 fall microfinance conference, Africa, Agricultural finance, Banker to the Poor, Changing the Face of Hunger, Chicago, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Enough, Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty, Financial services, Global Agriculture and Food Policy, Global Poverty, Grameen Bank, Green Revolution, Hunger, Interview, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, OIBM, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Malawi, pulitzer prize, Roger Thurow, sub-Saharan Africa, The Bible, Tony Hall, Washington D.C.
Opportunity International in Today’s USA Today
We are so excited to announce that Opportunity International has been featured in a special supplement in today’s edition of USA Today entitled, “Investing in Women and Girls: 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day.” This is a great opportunity for you to read all about our Banking on Women initiatives that help women gain financial freedom and change Read more…
Tagged Africa, Banking on Women, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Chicago, Christy Turlington Burns, Clients, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Gates Foundation, Kenya, Loans, Mary Robinson, Melinda Gates, MFI, Microfinance, Mothers, New York, Nicholas D. Kristof, Opportunity International, Poverty, San Francisco, USA Today, Washington D.C., Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
My Call to Serve Opportunity International
This blog post was written by Opportunity Marketing Intern Emily Reavis about her fall 2010 trip to see the work of Opportunity Ghana. When our plane took off from Chicago O’Hare, it finally hit me. “Wow, I’m actually on my way to Africa right now.” I knew this trip would be everything I was told it Read more…
Tagged accra, Africa, Chicago, Clients, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Insight Trip, MFI, Microfinance, Trust Groups, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Teri Goudie Shares Kilimanjaro Climb for Women with her Chicago Alma Mater
Back in September on the Opportunity Blog, we shared the inspiring, triumphant story of Teri Goudie, a communications coach and former ABC News TV producer who joined two local Chicago friends, Lisa Stafford and Patty Orler, to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The three women summited the mountain in one week, facing extreme temperatures, scant oxygen, and treacherously Read more…
Tagged ABC News, Africa, Chicago, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, God, Half the Sky, Insight Trip, janada l. batchelor foundation for children, Kilimanjaro, Lillian Covington, MFI, Microfinance, Mothers, Mount Kilimanjaro, Nicholas D. Kristof, Opportunity International, Poverty, Schools, Sheryl WuDunn, Students, Tanzania, Teri Goudie, The Daily Herald, TV, Uganda, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
Chicago Event: Empowering Women and Rebuilding Afghanistan
I frequently visit the Chicago Council on Global Affairs website to peruse their schedule of multidisciplinary programs, always hoping to find programs on microfinance. When I saw that the Women and Global Development Forum was hosting a program called Rebuilding Afghanistan: A Civilian and Military Perspective, I knew it would be an event not to Read more…
Tagged afghanistan, Canada, Chicago, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Children, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, Events, Family, Financial services, global security, Government, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Mothers, nation-building, NGO, Opportunity International, peace, Poverty, Women, Women and Development Forum, women for women international, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, Women's rights, WON, Zainab Salbi
