Blog Archives

Cell Phones Deliver Life Insurance

By Opportunity International on January 3, 2012

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…

Posted in Microinsurance, Our Work, Technology, What We're Reading
Tagged Cell Phones, Clients, Financial services, Ghana, Insurance, life insurance, Microensure, Microinsurance, Mobile Phones, Opportunity International, Tanzania, Tigo

Year-end Update from MicroEnsure, Providing a Powerful Safety Net for the World’s Most Vulnerable People

By Diane Ferguson on December 27, 2011

As we approach the end of year, we’re celebrating a big 2011 full of growth for MicroEnsure, Opportunity International‘s microinsurance subsidiary. Here are a few highlights from the year in review… • During 2011, MicroEnsure grew ten-fold in Africa to cover more than one million people in Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. Within two years, the Read more…

Posted in Microinsurance, Our Work, Technology, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Cell Phones, Client Stories, Clients, disability insurance, floods, Ghana, Health insurance, Kenya, Kilimanjaro, life insurance, MFI, Microensure, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Phones, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, property insurance, Tanzania, Technology, Tigo

MicroEnsure’s Richard Leftley Named in Top 40 Under 40 by Devex

By Opportunity International on October 20, 2011

Richard Leftley, President & CEO of MicroEnsure, has been named one of London’s top 40 development leaders under 40 by Devex, a social enterprise that offers recruiting and business information services to professionals in international development. Leftley, an expert in microinsurance who has helmed Opportunity’s insurance subsidiary MicroEnsure since 2002, was interviewed by Devex Senior Read more…

Posted in Events, Microinsurance, Our Work, What We're Reading
Tagged Africa, awards, Devex, Ghana, Health insurance, London, Microensure, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Phones, Opportunity International, Richard Leftley, UK, Weather-index crop insurance, what we're reading

Why is Microinsurance a Powerful Safety Net for Clients?

By Opportunity International on September 22, 2011

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…

Posted in Microinsurance, Our Leadership, Where We Work
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

What We’re Reading: “Rural and Agricultural Finance in the Spotlight at Cracking the Nut Conference”

By Opportunity International on July 14, 2011

A few weeks ago, Shari Berenbach, Director of USAID’s Microenterprise Development Office, wrote a blog post on the USAID’s IMPACTblog reported on a conference held in Washington that directly addressed the problems that face agricultural microfinance, as 600 million smallholder farmers currently live on less than $2 a day. Speakers at the conference emphasized new Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Technology, What We're Reading, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, ATMs, biometric fingerprint technology, biometrics, branchless banking, Cell phone banking, Colombia, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Kenya, Latin America, Loans, M-banking, M-PESA, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile branches, mobile phone banking, Mobile Phones, Opportunity International, Opportunity Kenya, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Rural banking, Rural Outreach, Technology, USAID, USAID Impact blog, what we're reading

MicroEnsure Wins Financial Times/International Finance Corporation Sustainable Finance Award

By Guest Post on June 20, 2011

The following news announcement appeared on MicroEnsure’s website on Friday, June 17. MicroEnsure has won the FT/IFC Sustainable Finance Award in the category Achievement in Financing at the Base of the Pyramid. The awards, organized by the Financial Times and the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, were announced on Thursday, Read more…

Posted in Events, Microinsurance, Our Work, Resources, Strategic Partners
Tagged Cell Phones, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Financial Times, funeral insurance, Ghana, Global Poverty, Healthcare, Insurance, International finance corporation, life insurance, Loans, MFI, Microensure, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Banking, Mobile Phones, Opportunity International, Poverty, Richard Leftley, what we're reading, World Bank

The Christian Science Monitor on Biometrics & Mobile Money at Opportunity Malawi

By Opportunity International on April 15, 2011

The Christian Science Monitor today posted an article entitled, “Villages Leapfrog the Grid with Biometrics and Mobile Money,” which lauds these technologies as a way for people at the bottom of the economic pyramid to access financial services and protect themselves in the case of drought and disasters. Today’s story is part of a series Read more…

Posted in Rural Outreach, Technology, What We're Reading, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, biometric technology, biometrics, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Crop insurance, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Fingerprint, funeral insurance, Gates Foundation, Kenya, life insurance, M-banking, M-PESA, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile phone banking, Mobile Phones, OIBM, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, South Africa, Technology, The Christian Science Monitor, what we're reading

What We’re Reading: “How Small Loans Are Pulling Kenyans Out of Poverty Trap”

By Opportunity International on April 6, 2011

Kenya’s Daily Nation posted a piece this weekend that applauded microfinance institutions for offering financial solutions that reach more Kenyan people at the bottom of the economic pyramid. The article praises microfinance for helping to alleviate poverty in the developing world. The microfinance model has proved to be ”a potent tool for increasing access to finance, expanding production and opening Read more…

Posted in Loans, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Technology, Training, Trust Groups, What We're Reading, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, ATMs, Banking, Cell phone banking, Clients, Ending Poverty, Financial Access, Financial services, Global Poverty, Kenya, Loans, M-PESA, MFI, Microfinance, mobile phone banking, Mobile Phones, Opportunity International, point-of-sale devices, Poverty, Rural banking, Savings, Technology, Training, Trust Groups

Honor Opportunity’s Women Clients Today for International Women’s Day 2011

By Opportunity International on March 8, 2011

On this 100th anniversary, we celebrate the significant progress that has been achieved through determined advocacy, practical action and enlightened policy making. Yet, in too many countries and societies, women remain second-class citizens. [...] In the home and at school, in the workplace and in the community, being female too often means being vulnerable. -U.N. Read more…

Posted in Events, Insight Trips, OptINnow, Our Mission and Vision, Our Motivation, Our Work, Technology, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged Africa, Ban Ki-moon, Banking on Women, biometric technology, biometrics, Cell phone banking, Children, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global change, International Women’s Day, Judith Godiah, Kenya, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile phone banking, Mobile Phones, Mothers, Opportunity International, Opportunity Kenya, OptINnow, point-of-sale devices, Poverty, Schools, Social Change, Students, Technology, UN Secretary-General, United Nations, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON

“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

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