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MicroEnsure Wins Financial Times/International Finance Corporation Sustainable Finance Award
The following news announcement appeared on MicroEnsure’s website on Friday, June 17. MicroEnsure has won the FT/IFC Sustainable Finance Award in the category Achievement in Financing at the Base of the Pyramid. The awards, organized by the Financial Times and the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, were announced on Thursday, Read more…
Tagged Cell Phones, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Financial Times, funeral insurance, Ghana, Global Poverty, Healthcare, Insurance, International finance corporation, life insurance, Loans, MFI, Microensure, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Banking, Mobile Phones, Opportunity International, Poverty, Richard Leftley, what we're reading, World Bank
Leading Researchers in Support of Microfinance
This week, nine leading economics researchers–from MIT, UC-Berkeley, Harvard, Yale, Boston University and the Chicago Booth School of Business–co-wrote a piece for the Financial Times entitled, “Microcredit is Not the Enemy.” In it, they support the principles of microfinance, defend it against the extreme attacks being leveled at the sector, and caution against undermining the Read more…
Tagged Ending Poverty, Financial services, Financial Times, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International
Mobile Banking Reaches Remote Microfinance Clients in Malawi, Tanzania
Mobile banking including mobile phone banking continues to be one of the great success stories in poverty alleviation for geographically remote microfinance clients in sub-Saharan Africa. Yesterday, the Bureau of International Information Programs at the U.S. State Department published an online article highlighting the ways in which mobile banking is reaching more geographically remote clients in Tanzania and Read more…
Tagged Africa, Banking on Africa, CARE, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Clients, Dar es Salaam, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Financial Times, Healthcare, Loans, M-banking, M-PESA, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, mobile phone banking, Mobile Phones, OIBM, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, Opportunity Tanzania, Poverty, Rural banking, Rural Outreach, Savings, State Department, sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania, Technology, USAID
In the News: Mobile Phone Banking and Opportunity Malawi
“For a farmer, the mobile phone has opened up a world of opportunity.” –Prof. Jenny Aker, assistant professor of economics at the Fletcher School of Tufts University The Financial Times has just published a story online and in print in their World Food supplement about the effects of mobile phone technology on smallholder farmers in Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Aleksandr Kalanda, Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, Clients, Ending Poverty, Farmers, Financial services, Financial Times, Kenya, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, Markets, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, OIBM, Opportunity Bank in Malawi, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Smallholder farmer, Technology
What We’re Reading: “The Silent Crisis” and Violence in Mozambique
In light of last week’s riots in Mozambique in which 13 people were killed, this post entitled “The Silent Crisis,” published on Opportunity Australia’s blog more than two weeks ago, has even more resonance. This prescient blog post highlighted the concerns over food security and increases in food prices for economically marginalized people living in extreme poverty all Read more…
Tagged Africa, Blog, Blogs, Clients, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Financial Times, food, Food security, Food Sustainability, Global Poverty, IMF, India, international monetary fund, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Mozambique, opportunity australia, Opportunity Blog, Opportunity International, opportunity mozambique, Philippines, Poverty, South Africa
Spotlight on Agricultural Finance: An Interview with an Agriculture Finance Officer
“Most of the world’s poor are smallholder farmers and their families. By targeting them, we can dramatically reduce extreme poverty and food insecurity.” -UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, addressing the Malawian parliament on May 29, 2010. Through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the MasterCard Foundation, Opportunity is now offering greater financial Read more…
Tagged accra, Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, andrew koehler, Ban Ki-moon, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Clients, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, Farmer, Farmers, Financial Times, Ghana, Insurance, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, MasterCard Foundation, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Savings, Smallholder farmer, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, Training, Uganda, United Nations
Opportunity International’s MicroEnsure Named Runner-up
Congratulations to Opportunity International’s subsidiary MicroEnsure, which has been named runner-up for the 2010 Financial Times Sustainable Banking Award for Banking at the Base of the Pyramid. MicroEnsure was recognized for its successful health insurance product serving the low-income market in India. This was the first product in India to provide coverage for maternity and pre-existing Read more…
Food & Microfinance: Helping Farmers Reap Rewards
Opportunity International is prominently featured in an article entitled “Food & Microfinance: Helping Farmers Reap Rewards” in today’s Financial Times. The article highlights Opportunity’s leadership in providing both agricultural finance and microinsurance to smallholder farmers to help them increase production, support their families and feed their communities. It also references “Feed the Future,” USAID’s new Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Agrifinance, Climate Change, Education, Farmers, Financial Times, John Magnay, Leaders, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microensure, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Poverty, Roger Thurow, Savings, USAID, Women
