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“The Chronicle of Philanthropy” Spotlights Opportunity International as an Innovative Nonprofit
“The Chronicle of Philanthropy” featured Opportunity International‘s microinsurance work with subsidiary MicroEnsure and our CEO Vicki Escarra in an article published today. As part of Opportunity International’s commitment to bringing insurance to protect more people in poverty, Opportunity divested much of its share to allow for a capital infusion that will increase MicroEnsure’s market reach. Opportunity Read more…
Tagged Agriculture, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, IFC, in the news, International finance corporation, jakobo chikayiko, Leaders, Malawi, Microensure, Microinsurance, Mission, Omidyar Network, Opportunity International, Poverty, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Vicki Escarra, Weather-index crop insurance, what we're reading
Microinsurance Expanded through New Strategic Investors
Opportunity International announced today that it had divested its majority stake in microinsurance organization MicroEnsure. This will bring additional capital and relationships in order to scale the successful MicroEnsure microinsurance model to serve even more clients in poverty with crop, health, life and property insurance products. New investors in MicroEnsure include International Finance Corporation (IFC), Read more…
Tagged Asia, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Clients, Eastern Europe, Financial Times, Gates Foundation, International finance corporation, Microensure, Microinsurance, Omidyar Network, Opportunity International, Poverty, Richard Leftley, sustainable finance award, telecommunications, Telenor Group, Vicki Escarra
What We’re Reading: Council on Foreign Relations, “Five Development Innovations to Watch in 2013″
MicroEnsure, the microinsurance subsidiary founded by Opportunity International, was recently recognized by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) as a “development innovation to watch in 2013.” In a blog post last month, CFR reported that MicroEnsure has “sign[ed] up a million [life insurance] customers [in Ghana] over 14 months, 85% of them new to insurance” by linking Read more…
Tagged accra, Africa, Cell Phones, chronic poverty, Clients, Council on Foreign Relations, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Health insurance, life insurance, Microensure, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Risks, Rwanda, Tanzania, Technology, Tigo, Weather-index crop insurance
What We’re Watching: Change Makers and Great Videos at the Global Citizen Festival in New York
In late September, 60,000 people, including Opportunity supporters from the NYC chapter of Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, descended on Central Park for the largest syndicated charity concert in online and broadcast TV history. The Global Poverty Project‘s Global Citizen Festival brought together change makers with artists such as Neil Young, Crazy Horse, Foo Fighters, The Read more…
Tagged Abbi Antablin, Agricultural finance, Alexa Chu, charity concert, Children, Education, Ending Poverty, Events, Financial services, Global citizen, Global Poverty, Global Poverty Project, K'Naan, Loans, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Schools, Students, UN General Assembly, videos, YAO, YAO-New York, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Opportunity Teams Battle Hurricane Sandy & Cyclone Neelam at Home and Abroad
As many of our own Opportunity team members along the East Coast of the U.S. await power and water services following Hurricane Sandy, we join the rest of America in mourning the loss of life and the destruction of property. We applaud our first responders and the many public officials guiding us through these trying Read more…
Tagged CEO, Chennai, cyclone, Events, Global Microfinance Operations, GO Finance, Habitat for Humanity, Harry Turner, in the news, India, Loans, MFI, Microensure, Microinsurance, natural disasters, Opportunity India, Opportunity International, Sam Chandar, Tamil Nadu
Today on World Food Day, there’s Hope for an End to Hunger
Globally, nearly 870 million people are undernourished–about 12% of the world’s population. It’s World Food Day and social media is buzzing with challenging facts and stats about hunger, like the ones in this post. This information is important. There’s no doubt that it’s one of the great injustices that children anywhere go to bed hungry, that Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Children, Community, Crop insurance, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, FAO, Financial services, Food and Agriculture Organization, Food security, Ghana, Global Poverty, IFAD, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Loans, Made for Good, MFI, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Millennium Development Goals, Opportunity International, Poverty, sub-Saharan Africa, Training, Weather-index crop insurance, Women, World Food Day, World Food Programme, world hunger
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
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
How to Make a Real Impact? Opportunity’s Partnership Model
Something that attracted me to , and that has kept me here for eight years, is that we work in partnership with our clients to build sustainable financial infrastructure in the community. Our services are nothing without the hard work, ingenuity, community and integrity of the individuals with whom we partner. For more than 40 Read more…
