Blog Archives

First Day with Vicki Escarra, Our New CEO

Watch our video with Opportunity‘s new CEO Vicki Escarra. Get to know Vicki and welcome her in comments below or on Facebook.

Posted in Meet Our Staff, Our Leadership, Our Work, Videos
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Follow-up: Lydia’s Olympic Torch Moment

On Tuesday, Opportunity-UK’s Lydia Baffour Awuah made us all very proud when she carried the Olympic flame in Abingdon, U.K.–at 7:58 a.m. local time. Below, check out some photos of her big moment, provided by Harry Turner,  CEO of Global Microfinance Operations. The British bank Lloyds TSB is an Olympic sponsor and a strategic partner of Read more…

Posted in Events, Local Staffing, Our Leadership, Where We Work
Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Opportunity UK’s Lydia Baffour Awuah Will Be Olympic Torchbearer Tomorrow!

Opportunity International-UK’s Lydia Baffour Awuah has been chosen to be one of the torchbearers in the Olympic torch relay. Lydia will be carrying the flame tomorrow–Tuesday, July 10–at 1:41 a.m. Central Standard Time (7:41 a.m. BST, local time) from the town of Abingdon, U.K., just south of Oxford. Tomorrow is day 53 of the relay, Read more…

Posted in Events, Local Staffing
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy Mother’s Day! Meet Mother & Kenyan Staff Member Betty Mutua

Betty Mutua, Regional Relationship Officer at Opportunity Kenya and a mother of two, visited the U.S. last month and spoke to us about the challenges and triumphs of being a mom while working full-time and going to school. We were so inspired by the grace with which Betty handles the universal challenges of being a Read more…

Posted in Events, Local Staffing, Our Work
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Meet Our Staff: A Closing Interview with AJ Renold as He Prepares to Leave Tanzania

AJ Renold, mountain trekker, pizza maker, kite surfer, manager of business development and donor relations for Opportunity International Tanzania, hails from Chicago, Ill. He joined Opportunity-US as an intern in their suburban Oak Brook headquarters in 2009. That summer, he helped plan and traveled on the first-ever Young Ambassadors Insight Trip to Tanzania. AJ quickly Read more…

Posted in Insight Trips, Where We Work, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Meet Ugandan Staff Member Frida Mungoma, Education Finance Manager

This past Monday, just after arriving in the United States, Opportunity Uganda‘s Education Finance Manager Wakhasa Frida Mungoma–known as Frida–sat down with me at the Opportunity-US offices in Oak Brook, Ill. for a discussion of her work, the challenges she faces and the most rewarding aspects of her job. Below, see brief excerpts of my Read more…

Posted in Events, Local Staffing, Where We Work, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Phone Banking & Technology: Learn from Microfinance Experts

Geoffrey Thige, chief operations officer of Opportunity International Kenya, arrived at our Oak Brook, Ill. offices this week–his first stop in a U.S. tour that culminates as a guest speaker at Opportunity’s conference in San Francisco, Oct. 14-15. With over 15 years of experience in microfinance, COO Thige oversees Transformation, IT, Risk/Compliance and Special Projects Read more…

Posted in Events, Local Staffing, Microfinance Conference, Our Work, Technology, Where We Work
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,