This innovative life insurance product makes it possible for many more MicroEnsure clients to access insurance.

After the successful pilot, MicroEnsure scaled up the operation in Ghana, reaching more than 250,000 people within the first six months. As a result of this product, the agency will more than double the number of Ghanaians who have access to life insurance in 2011.

A similar product, Tigo Bima, has now been introduced to customers in Tanzania. Tigo Bima is a 30-day insurance product that protects subscribers in the event of loss of life due to accident or illness. The product is supported technically by Milvik and administratively by MicroEnsure to ensure that claims are paid within 72 hours after documentation is received.

This story first appeared in our winter 2012 Impact newsletter. Read this and more updates on our microfinance work, and our strategic partners, staff and clients in Impact by clicking here.

“…Yes, there is tragedy in Africa, and you will always find it there, and we must take those tragedies seriously, but there is also extraordinary opportunity. And if you see this continent as the continent of the future, it sort of reframes it. This is a continent that, by 2050, will be the largest and the youngest continent in the world…” – U2′s Bono, July 2011, The David Letterman Show

As we close out 2011 and consider the momentous year it was for Africa–from the Arab Spring uprisings in north Africa, to the ongoing famine in the Horn of Africa, to the recent violence around the president elections in the DR Congo–it’s refreshing to remember the positive stories that also have emerged from the continent. So when one of my colleagues forwarded me this article, “Ten Biggest Positive Africa Stories of 2011,” in The New Yorker, I wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate these good news stories from Africa. As author Alexis Okeowo writes, “There are always caveats to any good news, but, for now, the good is outweighing the bad. Africa is a place that is impossible to reduce to any generalities, except maybe this one: it has an enormous amount of potential.”

Among the good news items lauded by Okeowo…

• Africa is experiencing an economic boom. Okeowo cites that Africa is predicted to have the largest economic growth of any continent over the next decade. “As domestic industries, entrepreneurs, and foreign investors prepare to take advantage of this growth, the economies of at least a dozen countries have expanded by more than six per cent a year for six or more years.” That’s a key statistic not only for Africa’s wealthy and middle class, but also for the impoverished families working hard for economic survival. At Opportunity, we offer microfinance loans and other financial tools to economically marginalized families to help them bridge the gap between economic subsistence and stability. An inflow of capital to a local economy trickles down to help vulnerable people break the cycle of poverty.
• South Sudan gained its independence after two decades of civil war. Though the world watched nervously as the independence referendum unfurled, and tensions are still high, a tenuous détente has prevailed.
• Two Liberian women won the Nobel Peace Prize. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia’s first female leader, and the activist Leymah Gbowee were among the three female Nobel Peace Prize laureates. They were the first women to be awarded the prize since the late Professor Wangari Maathai won in 2004.
• Cell phones continue to change how Africans live. Okeowo cites mobile healthcare tracking in Rwanda, and Kenya‘s cell phone banking system, “called the world’s most innovative,” which lets Kenyans “pay bills, send remittances, purchase goods and airtime, move funds among accounts, and even take out and pay back loans for entrepreneurial ventures.” Those are just two examples of the almost endless possibilities for accessing Africans with services via their mobile phones. MicroEnsure piloted a mobile phone life insurance program with Tigo Ghana, and the program was so successful that it’s now testing it with Tigo Bima in Tanzania. MicroEnsure expects to double the number of Ghanaian clients with life insurance by the end of 2011.

To read all ten of Okeowo’s good news stories from Africa, read her piece on newyorker.com.

Insurance client James Abuh-Prah in Accra, Ghana.

• During 2011, MicroEnsure grew ten-fold in Africa to cover more than one million people in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. Within two years, the company expects to serve more than five million people in Africa, the vast majority of whom have never had access to insurance.

• In the past year, MicroEnsure has nearly doubled the number of people it covers in Ghana by partnering with a telecommunications company Tigo, which uses the product to reward loyal customers with free insurance.

• In Tanzania and Kenya, MicroEnsure is testing health insurance for coffee-growing farmers in the Kilimanjaro area. It provides in-patient and out-patient care to farmers and their families by using local private health clinics.

Insurance helps clients like James (pictured), who successfully grew his electronics business only to lose everything to devastating floods, avoid sliding back into poverty when disaster strikes. James took out a loan from Opportunity Ghana that included life insurance for him and his family, disability insurance, and property insurance to cover his business against catastrophic loss. Within days of filing his claim, James received a payout for the value of his business so that he could clean up, re-stock and get back to supporting his family. MicroEnsure helps clients like James maintain the foothold out of poverty they have worked so hard to achieve.

For more news on MicroEnsure’s growth, visit microensure.com »

Agricultural finance officer Abena (left) with cocoa farmer Beatrice in the Ashanti region, Ghana

Your support means so much to both our clients and our staff. It makes it possible for clients like Ghanaian cocoa farmer Beatrice Duku Frimpomg Boaten to obtain a savings account, loan and insurance from Opportunity. With these financial tools, Beatrice has improved her farming and can now afford necessities like soap and shoes. She also has respect and authority in her community. “With Opportunity, I feel I have joined a family I can call on at any time,” says Beatrice. “With their help, I know that I can achieve my goals, and that gives me hope for the future. Opportunity came along with the love and grace of God and I’m so glad.”

It’s not only clients but local staff who are grateful for the work they’re able to do because of your partnership. Abena Agyakowa Nketha Sarpong, an agricultural finance officer who serves as a mentor and trainer, says the changes she sees in her clients like Beatrice are a constant source of inspiration. “My greatest reward is seeing our clients say goodbye to poverty. It’s also very soul-satisfying that Opportunity allows me to utilize my business skills while expressing my faith.”

Happy Thanksgiving from Opportunity’s global community of clients, and international and local staff. We’re grateful for your partnership.

Watch a special Thanksgiving message from Geoffrey Thige, chief operating officer at Opportunity International Kenya:

Richard Leftley, president and CEO of MicroEnsure. (Photo: Global Microfinance Operations)

Here’s what he said:

Eliza Villarino: What do you see as your main achievement in the microinsurance realm?

Richard Leftley: Ten years ago I was one of the first to see that a market for insurance to the poor existed and I am proud of the role that we have played in providing millions of people with insurance for the first time. I am also proud of the innovation that has become synonymous with MicroEnsure’s work; a first mover on weather index products to help the poor with changing climates, a first mover in providing health insurance in Africa and a first mover in selling insurance not just through microfinance companies but also through mobile networks and churches.

E.V.: What new uses of microinsurance do you find the most innovative and promising in boosting global development?

R.L.: Microinsurance is about providing a safety net to the world’s low income and middle income market; stopping them falling back into poverty following a disaster. But in order to be sustainable, it has also to be about massive scale. For this reason I am most excited about the role that mobile phone networks can play in providing access to millions of people who have yet to have insurance. [Ultimately] we will double the number of people that have insurance in Ghana as a result of being able to reach a new market through mobile networks.

E.V.: What has been your main challenge scaling up MicroEnsure’s global operations, and how have you overcome it?

R.L.: MicroEnsure serves over 3 million people with a range of microinsurance products and is currently growing in excess of 200,000 new clients per month. During our first two years of operation we really struggled to gain traction in terms of growth; we had to learn which distribution partnerships would result in the greatest scale and why different partners were more productive than others. The greatest challenge for microinsurance is finding willing and able points of distribution for the products.

Read the original post on devex.com »

This breakout session highlighted just a few of the innovative solutions to fighting poverty that have been implemented in Nicaragua, Colombia, and Ghana.

David Allman began the session talking about the program he has been a part of as chairman of Opportunity Nicaragua. At the agricultural level, the program in Nicaragua involves granting loans for farming, as well as training farmers to become local leaders and influence improvements in their communities’ infrastructure. They have also brought in a low-technology processing plant to help them add value to their crops. For instance, he showed us a yucca plant, and explained that, with the help of the low-tech processing, they were able to introduce to the farmers ways of increasing their crop yields and new usages for different product types.

In Nicaragua, they also try to promote community initiatives to build local leaders who are both competent and aspirational. They help these communities identify their own needs and find ways to implement solutions. Since then, they have created their own roofing and road repair projects, and have felt empowered enough to visit their city government and demand necessary changes. Allman finished by talking about the impact this has had on the communities, and how the citizens are so motivated by their accomplishments that they are excited to ask, “What can we do next?!”

Craig DeRoy, founder and CEO of Medeem, talked about his company’s service of bringing land rights to those who live in poverty. They work to formalize the land rights process for those who are unable to do so on their own. He explained that most countries have land records, but that they’re unused and inaccessible for the poor. Medeem has created a self-sustaining local enterprise called ParcelCert to allow for a cost-effective and accessible solution for individuals to own land and feel empowered. They have primarily been working in Ghana, and are working on a model that will be scalable for other communities.

The last presentation was by Jim Frantz. He talked about their program, “A Roof and a Floor for My Home.” Couldn’t get more direct of a title than that! The objectives of this pilot program were to 1) improve the quality of life, 2) provide access to technical expertise, 3) take advantage of lower costs of materials, labor, etc. and 4) strengthen family relations within the community. This pilot program has been successful so far, and he mentions specific cases of women who have built solid homes for their families. “There’s just something about a mother being able to provide security for her kids,” Frantz says. He also talked about a woman named Astrid Suarez who has been providing her technical expertise to the program, and unfortunately was unable to make it to the conference to share her on-the-ground local experience.

This was an interesting breakout session to learn about different partnerships Opportunity has been building in order to provide services to people in poverty. I look forward to following up on their activities and seeing the impact they continue to make.

This post was written by Barbie Lucio. Barbie is a member of the San Francisco chapter of YAO and works with philanthropists to create change and impact.

Banking on Education panel (from left): Char Caldwell, Geoffrey Thige, Liesel Pritzker, and Steve Nelson.

While Ghana, Malawi and Uganda do offer government-funded public schools, financial constraints force classrooms designed for 40 students to swell to accommodate nearly 120. With a stark student-teacher ratio, there’s no opportunity for students to receive personalized education, and thus, individual learning and comprehension suffers.

Not only are public facilities limited in populous areas, but many remote villages and towns are often deprived entirely of any public education. Without government-run programs, many towns have turned to private education run by entrepreneurs. Though by definition ‘private,’ these schools don’t match the lush American view of private schools, and are often as limited in resources as the public schools.

Because these private facilities do not fall within the parameters set by USAID, these programs often go without outside aid and support–even though they are sometimes the only school within a community. That’s where Opportunity International steps in. Opportunity works with these schools to develop loans and offer business training to help schools maximize efficiency, turn a profit, and then invest that knowledge and capital back into the schools to improve the quality of education.

In addition to providing support for schools, Opportunity also offers loans to offset tuition costs for families. Families making less than $2 a day struggle to afford a $51 per year annual tuition, and sometimes are forced to enroll students intermittently for a semester at a time. Interruptions in schooling compromise a student’s learning and potential for success, so Opportunity offers microloans to help parents cover tuition and provide continuous education for their children.

Opportunity has a presence in nearly 500 schools effectively touching over 120,000 students. Char Caldwell, VP of resource development, closed the session by saying, “We truly believe that every child deserves an education.” And through microfinance, Opportunity is making that mission a reality.

This post was written by Allison Altdoerffer. Allison is a public relations professional and a member of the YAO – San Francisco chapter.

From the Lotts’ speech…

Ronnie and Karen Lott encourage the audience to give love and compassion to end global poverty.

Karen: We are grateful to be here with you today to share just a little about our story–one of community, family, and hope. Ronnie and I have always shared a love for our community, and over the years this community of ours has given us so very much.

For the last 20 years we have worked to support local kids and their families through our foundation, All Stars Helping Kids. As a parent, it breaks my heart to see children in circumstances that would bring the best of us to our knees, and they are circumstances they did not choose.

We believe that while our circumstances may not be the same, in every way that matters we are all more alike than we are different.

An Insight Trip to Malawi

Ronnie and I have promised each other to do as much as we can, whenever we can, to help others that are not able to help themselves. When I was introduced to Opportunity International through a VP of Resource Development, Michele Ruby, she told me stories of African women and children who had received loans, whose lives were being transformed.

We decided to see for ourselves. In 2006 we took our family on an Insight Trip to Malawi. What we saw was staggering. Poverty and AIDS were devastating the African continent. Extended families and orphanages were stretched beyond their limits. My heart broke, especially for the children, and I will never be the same.

And yet, in the midst of the despair, we saw hope. Poor but resourceful women were using loans and training from Opportunity to empower themselves financially. And it was working. It made them better able to protect themselves and their children from HIV and AIDS.

It was in Malawi that we met Talekeleni Kagaso, the woman you saw in the video. She lived in a slum outside the capital. She and her husband, both Opportunity clients, ran a small grocery store. Their two small children were in school, and the success of their small enterprise made their lives and outlook radically different from their neighbors.

Their transformation has not just been economic. Because of the confidence and security Talekeleni gained from her small business, Ronnie and I could see that she was a source of strength in her community. Standing tall against a backdrop of poverty and desolation, she and her “village of hope” were–and, with God’s grace, will continue to be–the future of Africa.

As a mom, I continue to see the need to encourage and support all children regardless of where their community is, whether here or in Africa. And with Opportunity supporting women and mothers in the developing world, I know their children will be cared for.

Ronnie: This takes you back to the understanding of what love is all about. We’re all neighbors, whether across the street or across the continent.

We believe in “localizing love.” When you’re in a foreign land, and somebody loves you, it makes you “local” right away. I want to thank all of you for being here. Always extend your love, give of your love, and give of your financial resources. You will make a difference. Thank you very much.

A bit about Ronnie & Karen Lott

Ronnie Lott, NFL Hall of Fame Inductee; Co-founder, All Stars Helping Kids

Ronnie Lott’s legendary career included four Super Bowl titles and 10 Pro Bowl appearances. Ronnie retired from professional football in 1994 after having played 10 seasons with the 49ers, plus additional years with the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets. In 1994, he was selected as the safety for the NFL’s 75th Anniversary Team, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002. Ronnie is co-founder of All Stars Helping Kids, which supports disadvantaged youth in the Bay Area and throughout the nation. He has traveled to Africa three times to learn about and represent Opportunity’s work.

Karen Lott, Co-founder, All Stars Helping Kids

Karen Lott is an active community leader, volunteer and a dedicated advocate for the work of Opportunity International. She serves on Opportunity’s Board of Governors as well as the board of directors of All Stars Helping Kids, a charity founded by her husband, Ronnie Lott. An active member of Saratoga Federated Church, Karen led her church’s response to the economic and AIDS crisis in 2003 by traveling to Ghana as the featured actress and narrator in Opportunity’s video, “Race Against the Fire.” Karen has been to Africa three times to learn about and represent Opportunity’s work in Kenya, Malawi and Ghana. Prior to being a full-time volunteer and parent, Karen was a professional model. She has a degree in secondary art education from Oregon State University.

This session was streamed live at opportunity.org/live. Visit opportunity.org/live throughout the conference to watch the sessions live.

Watch it now:

Want to learn more about Opportunity’s work to improve underserved neighborhood schools in Africa and bring education to more children? Check out the breakout session “Banking on Education” at this year’s fall conference in San Francisco, Oct. 14-Oct. 15. If you can’t be there in person, watch the live video stream of main stage and select breakout sessions. Go to opportunity.org/conference to learn more.

Beatrice Boaten accesses her savings account at a mobile bank.

In the last 40 years, Opportunity International has become a global leader in building regulated banks that provide interest-bearing savings accounts to impoverished people. With money in the bank, our clients can now purchase medicine for a sick child, replace a leaking roof, or prepare for a crisis or business opportunity.

Mobile banks enable Opportunity to provide remote clients with safe banking services just minutes from their home or business. Client Beatrice Duku Frimpomg Boaten (pictured right) obtained her very first savings account, loan and insurance policy with Opportunity Ghana. Since then, she has improved her farming, gained authority and respect in the community, and can now afford necessities like soap and shoes. “With Opportunity’s help, I know that I can achieve my goals, and that gives me hope for the future. Opportunity came along with the love and grace of God and I’m so glad.”

Want to learn more? Opportunity International’s breakout session “Portfolios of the Poor: Why Savings Matter,” next weekend at our annual conference in San Francisco, will examine how people in poverty use complex, multilayered portfolios of equity and debt to manage their cash flow. This session, led by Daryl Collins, co-author of Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day, will explore the importance of formal financial services, particularly savings, to people in the developing world. For more info, visit opportunity.org/conference.