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CEO Vicki Escarra Checks in from 2012 Peter Drucker Forum in Vienna
This is an inspiring week as I attended the fourth annual Global Peter Drucker Forum in Vienna, Austria, where several hundred leaders from the corporate, academic and NGO settings gathered to explore the future of management and its impact on the future of global society. Peter F. Drucker was a management consultant, educator, author and Read more…
Tagged Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Austria, Capitalism, Clients, Education, Events, Financial services, Insurance, Loans, Microfinance, Nonprofit, Opportunity International, Peter Drucker Forum, Peter F. Drucker, Poverty, Savings, Technology, Training, Vicki Escarra, Vienna
MicroEnsure Ghana Crosses One Million Milestone for Number of Lives Insured
The following post was originally published on microensure.com. This July , five years after its inception, MicroEnsure Ghana achieved one of its greatest successes: it crossed the milestone of insuring one million Ghanaians, a remarkable achievement considering it was serving just 40,000 lives in 2010. Beginning operations in 2007, MicroEnsure Ghana has held its place Read more…
Tagged Africa, Clients, floods, funeral insurance, Ghana, Health insurance, Insurance, life insurance, Microensure, Microinsurance, Mobile Phones, natural disasters, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Poverty, Savings, Technology, Tigo
Meet Our Staff: How World Travel Brought Me Home to YAO
For the past month, when people have asked me how I am doing, I have answered, “I’m living the dream!” As the new manager of Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, I spend my days interacting with smart, motivated, and fascinating individuals, travelling around the country strengthening communities of like-minded people in YAO chapters, and developing plans Read more…
Tagged Africa, chapters, Clients, Community, donor, El Salvador, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Insight Trip, Insurance, Loans, Meet Our Staff, Mexico, Microfinance, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Poverty, Rwanda, Savings, south america, Tanzania, Training, Travel, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Our Hearts Go Out to Those Affected by Floods in the Philippines
I was just in a market a few weeks ago when my husband, children and I went home to visit our families in the Philippines. We were admiring and appreciating the many beautiful handicrafts the Filipinos create so well. My daughters and I went from stall to stall and we could not decide which trinkets Read more…
Tagged APPEND, Asia, Clients, Community, Ending Poverty, floods, in the news, Insurance, Loans, Manila, Microfinance, Microinsurance, natural disasters, Opportunity International, Opportunity Philippines, Philippines, Poverty, property insurance
Credit Suisse’s Microfinance Work Recognized at the Financial Times/IFC Sustainable Finance Awards
would like to offer our congratulations to Credit Suisse. They were awarded a special commendation for their program in the Sustainable Global Bank of the Year category at the Financial Times/International Finance Corporation Sustainable Finance Awards. The annual FT/IFC Sustainable Finance Awards, now in their seventh year, are the major global awards for environmentally- and Read more…
Tagged agent network, ATMs, awards, biometric technology, biometrics, capacity-building, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Clients, Colombia, Credit Suisse, Electronic wallet strategy, Financial services, Financial Times, Ghana, Insurance, International finance corporation, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Banking, mobile banks, Opportunity International, POS devices, Rural Outreach, Savings, strategic partners, sustainable finance award, Technology, Temenos T24
A Young Ambassador’s Report from the 2012 Chicago Microfinance Conference
I left the 2012 Chicago Microfinance Conference, “Micronext: Strategies and Challenges of Social Impact,” impressed, energized and hungry for more. The conference focused on the strategies and challenges of social impact, facilitating discussions around the direction of and the lessons from past methodologies. The strong turnout included experts from various microfinance organizations, as well as Read more…
Tagged 2012 Chicago Microfinance Conference, Agricultural finance, Blog, Chicago Microfinance Conference, Conference, David Roodman, Due Diligence: An Impertinent Inquiry into Microfinance, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, home improvement loans, HOPE International, Impact, Insurance, Kellogg School of Management, Loans, Microfinance, northwestern university, Opportunity International, Poverty, Savings, YAO, YAO-Chicago, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, Young Professionals
“The Hype is Long Over” – Microfinance CEOs Respond to Washington Post Article, “Microfinance Doesn’t End poverty, Despite All the Hype”
The following post was published today on the Center for Financial Inclusion’s blog. The Microfinance CEO Working Group consists of the CEOs of leading microfinance organizations ACCION, FINCA International, Freedom from Hunger, Grameen Foundation USA, , Pro Mujer, VisionFund International, and Women’s World Banking. In the post below, the CEOs respond to the recent Washington Read more…
Tagged Accion, Center for Financial Inclusion, Credit Suisse, David Roodman, David Simms, Ending Poverty, Financial services, FINCA, Freedom from Hunger, Grameen Foundation, Insurance, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity Network, Pro Mujer, Savings, VisionFund International, Washington Post, Women's World Banking
Cell Phones Deliver Life Insurance
In October 2010, Opportunity International’s microinsurance subsidiary, MicroEnsure, launched a pilot test with the mobile network Tigo Ghana around a new product embedded into the subscriber’s airtime purchases. The more airtime Tigo customers purchase, the more free life insurance they earn for themselves and a second family member. For Tigo, this insurance has helped reduce client churn Read more…
Growing Rural Economies through Agricultural Finance in Africa
In the last decade, Opportunity International embarked on an agricultural finance and rural savings program to spur economic activity and provide enduring resources for smallholder farmers and other rural clients in five African countries, including Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique and Rwanda. Opportunity’s approach is to help farmers move from subsistence growing to cash crop production Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Breakout session, coffee farmer, Crop insurance, Ending Poverty, Insurance, John Magnay, Loan Officer, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, OIC2011, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Malawi, opportunity mozambique, Opportunity Rwanda, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, Savings, Smallholder farmer, Training
Why is Microinsurance a Powerful Safety Net for Clients?
Last week, Opportunity supporters and staff dialed in for a lunchtime conference call with Richard Leftley, the president and CEO of MicroEnsure, Opportunity’s microinsurance subsidiary. Leftley shared background on MicroEnsure’s growth in recent years and then answered callers’ questions on what he envisions for the organization’s future. He detailed how insurance is an indispensable tool Read more…
Tagged Africa, Asia, credit life insurance, Crop insurance, Ending Poverty, Financial services, funeral insurance, Ghana, Health insurance, India, Insight Trip, Insurance, Kilimanjaro, Microensure, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Phones, OIC2011, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Poverty, property insurance, Richard Leftley, Tanzania, Weather-index crop insurance, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
