Subscribe to the Blog
Subscribe via RSS
Subscribe via EmailBlog Archives
Growing Rural Economies through Agricultural Finance in Africa
In the last decade, Opportunity International embarked on an agricultural finance and rural savings program to spur economic activity and provide enduring resources for smallholder farmers and other rural clients in five African countries, including Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique and Rwanda. Opportunity’s approach is to help farmers move from subsistence growing to cash crop production Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Breakout session, coffee farmer, Crop insurance, Ending Poverty, Insurance, John Magnay, Loan Officer, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, OIC2011, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Malawi, opportunity mozambique, Opportunity Rwanda, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, Savings, Smallholder farmer, Training
Why is Microinsurance a Powerful Safety Net for Clients?
Last week, Opportunity supporters and staff dialed in for a lunchtime conference call with Richard Leftley, the president and CEO of MicroEnsure, Opportunity’s microinsurance subsidiary. Leftley shared background on MicroEnsure’s growth in recent years and then answered callers’ questions on what he envisions for the organization’s future. He detailed how insurance is an indispensable tool Read more…
Tagged Africa, Asia, credit life insurance, Crop insurance, Ending Poverty, Financial services, funeral insurance, Ghana, Health insurance, India, Insight Trip, Insurance, Kilimanjaro, Microensure, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Phones, OIC2011, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Poverty, property insurance, Richard Leftley, Tanzania, Weather-index crop insurance, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Our Prayers for the Millions Affected by the Drought in East Africa
For the past two years, a drought has affected East Africa and has placed more than 10 million people at risk. The lack of rain, especially in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, has caused crops to fail, food prices to rise, and cattle to perish, reducing food sources and food security for the people. Unfortunately, there Read more…
Tagged Africa, Clients, Crisis, Crop insurance, crops, Drought, East Africa, Farmers, Financial services, Food security, harvest, humanitarian, IFAD, Insurance, Intern, international aid, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Kenya, Microensure, Microfinance, Microinsurance, news, Opportunity International, Opportunity Kenya, Poverty, Weather-index crop insurance
What We’re Watching: New Short Film by MicroEnsure on Cashless & Low-Cost Health Insurance in India
The following video was published in a blog post on microensure.com on June 14. MicroEnsure, a subsidiary of Opportunity International, is the world’s first microinsurance intermediary, and it serves people living in poverty with innovative products in crop, loan, health, life and property insurance, offering clients and their families a safety net when an unexpected Read more…
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
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
What We’re Reading: World Finance Magazine Discusses Opportunity’s Agricultural Finance Program
Amosi Kasamira’s face lights up as he shares his plans for the next season. ‘My vision is to replace the grass roof of our home to better protect us from the sun and rain,’ he explains, ‘and I intend to cultivate ten acres next season.’ –Excerpted from: ‘There is Still a Lot of Work Ahead,’ World Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Agriculture Microfinance, Agrifinance, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, Clients, Community, credit life insurance, Crop insurance, Education, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Financial services, food, Food security, Global Poverty, Hunger, hunger and undernutrition blog, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microensure, Microfinance, Microfinance Video, OIBM, Opportunity Blog, Opportunity International, opportunity international UK, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Professional training, Savings, Technology, the true impact of crop insurance, Training, Weather-index crop insurance, world finance magazine
We’re Expanding Financial Access to Rural Malawi. Here’s How You Can Help.
Travel in your mind to the shores of Lake Malawi. In this remote region, extreme poverty is widespread. But because of the donations, hard work and advocacy of Opportunity supporters and staff, the Malawians here have been empowered financially. To reach the unreachable, Opportunity International[/intlink] Malawi has replicated its successful “hub-and-spoke” approach by opening a Read more…
Tagged Africa, Branch staff, Conference, credit life insurance, Crop insurance, Ending Poverty, fall microfinance conference, Financial services, fundraisers, Fundraising, Insight Trip, Insight Trips, Insurance, Latin America, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, mobile branches, Online fundraising, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, opportunity microfinance conference, OptINnow, Poverty, Satellite bank branch, Savings, Savings account, small business loans, Training, Transportation, Washington D.C.
Melinda French Gates on the Impact of Agricultural Finance
Want to do more to impact global poverty? In an interview in the August issue of Smithsonian magazine, Melinda Gates outlines the techniques the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is using to fight global poverty in the 21st century. (“Melinda French Gates on Saving Lives,” by Terence Monmaney) It’s part of the magazine’s 40th-anniversary issue, featuring ”40 Things You Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Agriculture Microfinance, Agrifinance, Asia, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cell phone banking, Clients, Community, Crop insurance, Education, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Farmer, Farmers, Financial services, Green Revolution, Healthcare, Hunger, Insurance, Loans, Malawi, MasterCard Foundation, Melinda Gates, MFI, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Banking, Opportunity International, Savings, Schools, Smallholder farmer, Students, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, Training, Weather-index crop insurance, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
