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Opportunity Promotes Entrepreneurship for the Next Generation in Nicaragua
Opportunity International is launching a Technical High School to teach youth entrepreneurship skills in the agriculture and tourism industries as part of its community development initiative in Nicaragua. Opportunity recently broke ground on its Entrepreneurial Technical High School in Diriomo, Nicaragua. The school will provide rural students with the education and training they need to Read more…
Tagged Clients, Community, Community development, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Latin America, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Opportunity Nicaragua, Poverty, Rural Outreach, rural schools, Schools, Students, Training
Meet Ugandan Staff Member Frida Mungoma, Education Finance Manager
This past Monday, just after arriving in the United States, Opportunity Uganda‘s Education Finance Manager Wakhasa Frida Mungoma–known as Frida–sat down with me at the Opportunity-US offices in Oak Brook, Ill. for a discussion of her work, the challenges she faces and the most rewarding aspects of her job. Below, see brief excerpts of my Read more…
Tagged Africa, Education, Education finance, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Frida Mungoma, international staff, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, School Proprietor Loans, school proprietors, Students, Uganda, Women, YAO, YAO - San Francisco, YAO-New York, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Breakout Session: Banking on Education
A quality education empowers students with the skills and abilities to secure higher paying jobs, build strong families and help in the economic development of their communities. Today, we discovered how Opportunity’s Banking on Education program is increasing educational opportunities for more than 120,000 children in underserved neighborhoods in Ghana, Malawi and Uganda. The panelists Read more…
Tagged Africa, Banking on Education, Char Caldwell, Children, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Geoffrey Thige, Ghana, Kenya, Liesel Pritzker, Loans, Malawi, Microfinance, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Kenya, School fee loans, Uganda, USAID, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Conference LiveBlog: John Ortberg, Author and Pastor of the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California
This evening, John Ortberg, pastor at the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California, spoke from the conference mainstage about why it is important to value every individual person with help and with compassion, because every person is worthy of God’s love. Highlights from Pastor Ortberg’s Speech I’d like to take a few moments to think Read more…
Tagged christianity, Christianity Today, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, faith, Faith in Action, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, Mission, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Philanthropy
What We’re Watching: Banking on Education Video by Students of the World at CGI 2011
We’re watching this video produced in partnership with Students of the World, which had its world premiere on the main stage at this year’s CGI. In it, Opportunity staff and clients discuss the goals and the impact of our Banking on Education program, which provides , and to 280 schools serving 120,000 students in Malawi, Uganda and Read more…
Tagged Africa, Banking on Education, CGI 2011, Clinton Global Initiative, Community, Conference, Education, Effie Cooke, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Global Poverty, Kadita "A.T." Tshibaka, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Savings, School Proprietor Loans, Schools, Students of the World, Training, Uganda, videos
Mobile Phone Banking & Technology: Learn from Microfinance Experts
Geoffrey Thige, chief operations officer of Opportunity International Kenya, arrived at our Oak Brook, Ill. offices this week–his first stop in a U.S. tour that culminates as a guest speaker at Opportunity’s conference in San Francisco, Oct. 14-15. With over 15 years of experience in microfinance, COO Thige oversees Transformation, IT, Risk/Compliance and Special Projects Read more…
Tagged Africa, Breakout session, Clients, Conference, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Geoffrey Thige, international staff, Kenya, M-PESA, Microfinance, mobile phone banking, Nairobi, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Kenya, Poverty, Safaricom, Technology
What We’re Watching: Opportunity Lifts Up Families with the Support of the Caterpillar Foundation
It’s through the commitment of individuals and strategic partner organizations like the Caterpillar Foundation that Opportunity International is able to do so much to impact the lives of our clients. Opportunity is about building from the base of the economic pyramid. And Caterpillar is about building the infrastructure for the communities and nations where we work Read more…
Tagged Africa, Caterpillar Foundation, Clients, Education, Ending Poverty, Families, Financial services, Ghana, Global Poverty, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Poverty, strategic partners, videos
CGI Session-Going Small for Big Results: Microfranchise and Entrepreneurial Growth
It’s been a full first day already at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. This morning, CGI sessions have explored climate change with President Clinton and eight other world leaders, population issues with Clinton and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, author of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Then, attendees learned Read more…
Tagged #CGI2011, Africa, Bill Clinton, CGI, CGI 2011, Climate Change, Clinton Global Initiative, Community, Conference, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Loans, Lost Boys of Sudan, MFI, Microfinance, New York, Nicholas D. Kristof, Opportunity International, Poverty, President Clinton, Sudan, The New York Times, Valentino Achak Deng, Women's World Banking, Zimbabwe
Class Is in Session at Neighborhood School Near Kumasi, Ghana
As U.S. students settle into the new school year, we check in with a Ghanaian school in the IDP Rising Schools Program, an initiative created and implemented by the IDP Foundation, Inc., in partnership with Opportunity International and Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT), which funds the development of quality local private schools in Ghana through school proprietor loans and other financial and Read more…
Tagged Africa, Children, Community, Education, Education finance, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Global Poverty, IDP Foundation, IDP Foundation Rising Schools Program, IDP Rising Schools, Kumasi, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Poverty, School Proprietor Loans, Schools, Sinapi Aba Trust, Students, Youth
