Blog Archives

A Trip Down Memory Lane with Some New-Old Photos

By David Santoso on February 3, 2012

We have a lot of great photos at Opportunity International. With all of the amazing clients we get to meet and all of the places we get to work, great pictures aren’t hard to come by. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to keep them neatly organized, some of those photos get buried underneath all of Read more…

Posted in Local Staffing, Rural Outreach, Technology, Where We Work
Tagged Agricultural finance, Clients, Colombia, India, Malawi, mobile banking vehicle, mobile banks, Mozambique, Online Community Specialist, Opportunity International, photography, Poverty, Social Media, Uganda

Check It Out! Credit Suisse Reports on the Impact of Microfinance & Technology in Malawi

By Opportunity International on January 18, 2012

We’re pleased to announce that Opportunity International is featured in this month’s Credit Suisse Bulletin. The four-page article, which was the result of Credit Suisse’s visit to Opportunity Malawi last year, is located on pages 42-45. Click here to see a complete copy of the Bulletin or read the story online. In addition, Credit Suisse has Read more…

Posted in Loans, Local Staffing, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Strategic Partners, Technology, Training, What We're Reading, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, ATMs, biometric fingerprint technology, biometric technology, Cell phone banking, Clients, Credit Suisse, Electronic wallet strategy, Financial literacy programs, financial literacy training, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, mobile phone banking, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, regional manager, Rural Outreach, Savings, Technology, Training, Trust Groups, Women

Building Access to Savings and Financial Services

By Opportunity International on October 5, 2011

Despite a desire to save and plan for the future, impoverished people are often excluded from commercial banks. In fact, fewer than 10% of people living on less than $2 a day have access to savings accounts. In the last 40 years, Opportunity International has become a global leader in building regulated banks that provide Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Events, Loans, Microfinance Conference, Our Work, Resources, Rural Outreach, Savings, Where We Work
Tagged 40th anniversary, Africa, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Conference, Daryl Collins, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Global Poverty, Loans, Microfinance, mobile banking vehicle, mobile banks, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Portfolios of the Poor, Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day, Savings, Women

Opportunity Staff Interview on BBC Radio 2

By Opportunity International on August 29, 2011

Listen today! BBC Radio 2‘s Jeremy Vine interviews Nick Lea, development economist and an Opportunity trustee, and Lydia Baffour Awuah, head of Africa programs at Opportunity UK. Recording of interview is only available until 2:02 p.m. GMT+1 on Tuesday, Aug. 30th (9:02 a.m. EST in the United States). Listen to the 10-minute interview by clicking here. ** (The interview Read more…

Posted in Loans, Our Leadership, Our Work, Resources, Savings, Trust Groups, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, BBC, BBC Radio, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Global Poverty, Loans, Lydia Baffour Awuah, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, Mothers, Nick Lee, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, Opportunity UK, Poverty, Savings, Schools, staff, Students, Technology, Trust Groups, Women

My Inspirational Meeting in Malawi with Microfinance Client Mary Jackson

By Cynthia Greenwood on August 2, 2011

Recently, Opportunity International staff members traveled to Malawi, seeing firsthand how technology enables us to deliver microfinance services to rural people living in extreme poverty. They met with Opportunity Malawi clients and local staff to capture the stories of entrepreneurs who are working hard to break the cycle of poverty. Below, read staff member Cynthia’s account of her meeting with Read more…

Posted in Loans, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Strategic Partners, Training, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Blantyre, Children, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Community development, Credit Suisse, Education, Electronic wallet strategy, Ending Poverty, Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship, Female entrepreneurs, Financial services, Global Poverty, Loans, Malawi, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, mobile branches, Mozambique, Mulanje, OIBM, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Satellite bank branch, Savings, staff, success story, Technology, Training, videos, Women

Chicago Microfinance Conference: Technology Innovations and the Future of Microfinance

By Cynthia Greenwood on May 10, 2011

At Friday’s Chicago Microfinance Conference at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, I had the opportunity to attend the morning breakout session, “Innovations in Microfinance.” In the past 40 years, the microfinance industry has grown to its current level whereby MFIs are operating in virtually every country. In this dynamic and rapidly growing Read more…

Posted in Events, Our Work, Technology
Tagged 2011 Chicago Microfinance Conference, ATMs, biometric technology, Booth School of Business, CARE, Cell phone banking, Chicago Microfinance Conference, Clients, hub-and-spoke model, Kenya, Malawi, MicroDreams, Microfinance, mobile banking vehicle, mobile phone banking, OIBM, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, point-of-sale devices, POS devices, Poverty, Rural banking, Rural Outreach, Rwanda, Satellite bank branch, Savings account, Technology, University of Chicago, Women

“Banking on Women” with Access to Microsavings

By Opportunity International on March 7, 2011

The following piece, “Banking on Women,” was published in USA Today‘s special supplement “Investing in Women & Girls” on Friday, March 4. In Blantyre, Malawi, dozens of women sell potatoes in the marketplace. But Grace Msowoya and her business partner Betty Louhana stand out. Frustrated by their small profit margins, they became the first women to Read more…

Posted in Events, Our Leadership, Our Mission and Vision, Resources, Rural Outreach, Savings, Technology, What We're Reading, Where We Work, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged Africa, ATMs, Bill Morgenstern, Blantyre, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, CGAP, Children, claudia kennedy, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Grace Msowoya, International Women's Day, Investing in Women and Girls, lieutenant general claudia kennedy, Loans, M-PESA, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, mobile phone banking, Mobile Phones, Mothers, Opportunity International, point-of-sale devices, Poverty, Satellite bank branch, Savings, Schools, Students, Technology, USA Today, what we're reading, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON

Opportunity Mozambique Is on a Roll with Three New Mobile Banking Vehicles

By Diane Ferguson on December 20, 2010

Last week, Doug Pond, head of operations for Opportunity Mozambique, announced the Mozambique Central Bank’s approval of our three newest mobile banking vehicles. Opportunity plans to deploy all three mobile banking vehicles in the coming weeks to significantly increase its outreach to families living in Mozambique’s rural villages. With the rollout of its agriculture finance Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Loans, Local Staffing, Microinsurance, Our Work, Savings, Technology, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, ATMs, banco oportunidade de mocambique, Bank Building, Banking on Africa, Clients, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, Mozambique, Opportunity International, opportunity mozambique, Poverty, Satellite bank branch, Savings, Technology

Five Million People in Five Years: Bank-Building in Africa

By Guest Post on December 16, 2010

Last Wednesday, Opportunity staff and supporters gathered for the quarterly conference call hosted by the Board of Governors. The topic was “Bank-Building in Africa” and Opportunity’s Banking on Africa campaign, a discussion led by two of our experts in the International Business Development department: Dennis Ripley, SVP of programs, and Simona Haiduc, VP of program management. Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO) Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Board of Governors, Insight Trips, Loans, Local Staffing, Microinsurance, Our Leadership, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Strategic Partners, Technology, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, ATMs, Bank Building, Banking on Africa, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Clients, Country champion team, Democratic Republic of Congo, Donations, DR Congo, Ending Poverty, Financial services, fundraisers, Fundraising, Gates Foundation, Ghana, Guest Post, Insight Trip, Kenya, Kiosk, Loans, Malawi, MasterCard Foundation, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, mobile phone banking, Mozambique, Online fundraising, Opportunity International, OptINnow, point-of-sale devices, POS devices, Poverty, Rwanda, Satellite bank branch, Savings, Smallholder farmer, South Africa, Tanzania, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, Uganda, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity

Mobile Banking Reaches Remote Microfinance Clients in Malawi, Tanzania

By Opportunity International on December 9, 2010

Mobile banking including mobile phone banking continues to be one of the great success stories in poverty alleviation for geographically remote microfinance clients in sub-Saharan Africa. Yesterday, the Bureau of International Information Programs at the U.S. State Department published an online article highlighting the ways in which mobile banking is reaching more geographically remote clients in Tanzania and Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Microinsurance, Our Leadership, Rural Outreach, Savings, Technology, What We're Reading, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Banking on Africa, CARE, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Clients, Dar es Salaam, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Financial Times, Healthcare, Loans, M-banking, M-PESA, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, mobile phone banking, Mobile Phones, OIBM, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, Opportunity Tanzania, Poverty, Rural banking, Rural Outreach, Savings, State Department, sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania, Technology, USAID

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