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Back-to-School for Children Living in Poverty
School administrator Jacinta Njoki, of the Wisdom Junior Educational Center in Kenya, works with her students in the schoolyard. She started her school in 2001 with a $375 loan from Opportunity, and now has 150 kids and six teachers. Welcome back to school. It’s an exciting time for kids of all ages: new teachers, new Read more…
Tagged Africa, Banking on Education, Board of Governors Conference, Children, Clients, Community, Conference, Dominican Republic, Education, Education finance, Ending Poverty, fall microfinance conference, Financial services, Ghana, IDP Foundation, IDP Foundation Rising Schools Program, India, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Microfinance Conference, opportunity dominican republic, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity India, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Malawi, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, Scholarships, School fee loans, School Proprietor Loans, Schools, Students, Uganda, Washington D.C., Youth
Agricultural Advisor John Magnay Talks Food Security in Africa, and How Agricultural Finance Can Feed a Continent
“Africa is capable of sustaining its food needs,” said John Magnay, Opportunity’s senior agricultural advisor. “[But] if you look at [crop] yields in Africa, it is at 40% of what it should be.” Magnay, a British-born, 33-year veteran of the agricultural development sector in Africa, has worked with several African governments to develop agricultural advancements, and Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Agriculture Microfinance, Agrifinance, Clients, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Financial services, food, Food security, Food Sustainability, Ghana, Hunger, John Magnay, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mozambique, northwestern university, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, Opportunity Rwanda, Opportunity Uganda, Rwanda, Technology, Uganda, UN
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
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
Breaking the Cycle of Poverty: Education as a Solution
Guest blogger and Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) member Julie Hindmarsh sends us this report while on WON’s “Mothers, Daughters and Sisters” Insight Trip to Uganda. What a thrill to visit a school that has received loans from Opportunity Uganda! Maria Nassaka’s husband started the school in 2000 with only 50 children. When he died in Read more…
Tagged Banking on Education, Children, Daughters, Dominican Republic, Ending Poverty, Ghana, Girl, Half the Sky, Loans, Malawi, Mothers, Nicholas D. Kristof, Opportunity Uganda, Savings account, School, School fees, Sheryl WuDunn, Sisters, Teachers, Trust Group, Uganda, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON, WON Uganda Insight Trip 2010
A Virtual Walk Alongside the Women’s Insight Trip to Uganda
Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) member Susan Gillette shares her excitement about the upcoming “Mothers, Daughters and Sisters” Insight Trip to Uganda, offering a unique, virtual way for everyone to join in. I had hoped to go on the Uganda Women’s Insight Trip with my daughters, Maggie and Lindsay, but they couldn’t get away from work. Read more…
Tagged Africa, Children, Education, Facebook, Ghana, Half the Sky, Insight Trip, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, OptINnow, Poverty, Savings, Students, Trust Groups, Uganda, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON, WON Uganda Insight Trip 2010
Opportunity Ghana launches a mobile bank
“We have realized that many of our customers are travelling between 50 and 100 km [between 30 and 60 miles] to access banking services,” says Effie Cooke, head of HR at Opportunity Ghana. “So we have focused our energies on developing innovative delivery channels that serve the needs of the marginalized and reach out to Read more…
Tagged Africa, Balance confirmation, Ban Ki-moon, Business and Financial Times, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Clients, Customer service, Deposits, Financial Access, Ghana, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Poverty, Rural Outreach, Savings, Withdrawals
One Hen Inspires Second Graders to Microfinance
When Katie Smith Milway, author of One Hen, visited Lincoln Elementary School in River Forest, Ill. last Tuesday, she was confronted with the extraordinary work of the school’s second-graders. Up on a screen in the classroom was Opportunity International’s donation website, OptINnow.org, displaying that the children had raised $425 to help end global poverty. “Do you Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agriculture, Children, Education, Ghana, Katie Smith Milway, Kojo, Kwabena Darko, Microfinance, One Hen, Opportunity International, OptINnow, Poverty, Savings, Students
One Hen Takes Microfinance to School
On Tuesday, I got the chance to visit local elementary schools in Oak Park and River Forest, Ill., attending wonderful presentations by children’s author Katie Smith Milway. She wrote One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference, a book about a Ghanaian boy named Kojo who receives a small loan to buy a Read more…
Tagged Africa, Children, Education, Entreprenuership, Ghana, Katie Smith Milway, Kojo, Kwabena Darko, Loans, Microfinance, One Hen, Opportunity International, OptINnow, Poverty, Savings, Students, Women's Opportunity Network, WON, Youth
Here’s a Meaningful Easter Gift Idea
Are you looking for a special gift to put in your child’s or grandchild’s Easter basket amidst the brightly colored eggs and chocolates? Consider an OptINnow gift card (starting at just $25) to help teach youngsters about the importance of giving back out of the many blessings your family has received. Later that day, spend a Read more…
Tagged Business Loan, Children, Colombia, Easter, Entrepreneurs, Ghana, Gift Cards, Gift Idea, Holiday, Kenya, Mexico, OptINnow, Philippines
