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Supporting Youth Groups with Microloans in Tanzania
AJ Renold, Opportunity Tanzania’s multimedia YAO reporter on the ground, sends us this report about a pilot microlending program for a Tanzanian youth group. This past Friday, Opportunity Tanzania lending staff visited the NGAO Youth Group, a group supported by Youth Initiatives Tanzania (YITA), to assess their business for the capacity for a loan. This Read more…
Tagged Africa, AJ Renold, Children, Clients, Community, Dar es Salaam, Education, Financial services, HIV/AIDS, Loans, Microfinance, Microloans, Opportunity International, Opportunity Tanzania, Poverty, Schools, Students, Tanzania, Training, Trust Groups, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, Youth
What We’re Reading: Roger Thurow Encourages Rwandan Farmers to “Keep Up the Momentum”
This week, Roger Thurow, Senior Fellow on Global Agriculture and Food Policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, posted a blog reporting on an unusual situation for farmers in Kirehe, Rwanda — an agricultural surplus. Thurow examines the situation, interviewing Agnes Kalibata, Rwanda’s minister of agriculture, and discusses the positive impact of USAID’s Feed Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Conference, Enough, Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty, Feed the Future Guide, Financial services, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Microfinance Conference, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Poverty, Roger Thurow, Rwanda, Savings, Technology, Training, USAID
Global Poverty: Melinda Gates Discusses What Can Be Done
In an interview with Melinda French Gates in the July/August issue of Smithsonian, the co-chair of the world’s largest philanthropic organization discusses what can be done and what is being done about global poverty and health. As part of the $22.7 billion the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given to development, education and health Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Children, Clients, Community, Education, Financial services, Health, Healthcare, Kenya, Malawi, MasterCard Foundation, Melinda Gates, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Savings, Schools, Students, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
Inspiring the next generation of global citizens
Microfinance is a compelling, sustainable, working solution to global poverty. When a woman receives financial services, she sets into motion monumental changes. Family income rises. Children are well fed. Neighbors become employees. Homes are improved. Tuition is within reach. Women, who comprise 85% of our clients, gain status. For Opportunity clients around the world, these Read more…
Tagged Children, Clients, Education, Family, Financial services, Ghana, Global Poverty, Katie Smith Milway, Kojo, Loans, Microfinance, One Hen
Women of the Congo: Bringing Hope through Microfinance
“It is a war that men have provoked, but women have paid the highest price.” These are the words of a UN peacekeeper in Lisa Jackson’s award-winning documentary, The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, a film about the violence and violation faced by women living in the war-torn eastern region of the Democratic Republic Read more…
Tagged Banking on Africa, Bill Morgenstern, Board of Directors, CEO, Community, Democratic Republic of Congo, Economic development, Families, Financial services, Global Leadership Team, Hope, Kadita "A.T." Tshibaka, Ken Vander Weele, Mother, Ruth-Anne, Savings, The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, Trust Group, UN, UN peacekeeper, War, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
What YAO is reading: Portfolios of the Poor
Last night, at Noble Tree cafe in Lincoln Park, YAO-Chicago held a book discussion for Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day. If you missed it, never fear. There will be more book discussions in YAO‘s future. In fact, we may have a followup to the discussion of Portfolios, a Read more…
Getting to the Source: Meeting Ugandan Farmers and the Nile River
by Alexandra Arch, Writer and Uganda Insight Trip Participant The events of the day center on getting to the source. Not only did we trace the chain of coffee production back to the very farmer who planted the seed, but we also arrived at the source of the famed Nile River. Moving out of the Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agriculture, Agrifinance, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, boda boda, Coffee, Education, Farmers, Financial services, Insight Trip, Kalagi, Kampala, Loan Officer, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Nile River, Opportunity International, OptINnow, Poverty, Rural lending, Trust Groups, Uganda, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
UN Secretary-General Visits Opportunity Malawi Mobile Bank
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Opportunity Malawi’s mobile bank in the UN Millennium Village of Mwandama on Sunday, May 30. “The secretary-general took time to talk with one of our customers who had just made a deposit. She had her smart card [bank card using biometric technology] in her hand and explained how she uses Read more…
Tagged Africa, Ban Ki-moon, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cell Phones, Financial services, Kiosk, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Millennium Village, Mobile Banking, Mwandama, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Satellite bank branch, Savings, Smart cards, Technology, Training, United Nations, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
A Closer Look: Opportunity’s Work in Colombia
Opportunity International’s very first loan was made in Colombia in 1975. Since then, Opportunity Colombia has been working to provide stable financial systems to reduce unemployment, social unrest and violence in the country. And it’s working to become a national-scale bank offering loans, savings, insurance and training to Colombians living in poverty. Opportunity Colombia’s current initiatives: • Launching Read more…
Tagged Clients, Colombia, Entreprenuership, Financial Access, Financial services, Insight Trip, Insurance, Loans, Microfinance, Opportunity Colombia, Opportunity International, OptINnow, Poverty, Savings, Technology, Training
