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April is the Month of Microfinance
April showers bring more than May flowers in the world of microfinance. Shawn Humphrey, an Economics professor from the University of Mary Washington, has started the Student Microfinance Movement, designating April as the Month of Microfinance, and with it comes a showering of educational events and fundraisers. The Month of Mifi raises awareness and support Read more…
Tagged Blogs, Events, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Month of Microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, Opportunity International, Shawn Humphrey, student microfinance movement, Students, To Catch a Dollar, Two Dollar a Day Challenge, Two Dollar Challenge, videos, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
What We’re Reading: A Microfinance, Poverty, Empowerment Reading List
Looking for your next big read? We’ve put together a list of compelling books we’re reading, running the gamut from microfinance and international development, to global aid and putting your faith into action. Check out our list and let us know what you think in the comment field below. What would you add, and what Read more…
Tagged Banker to the Poor, Daryl Collins, Dead Aid, Ghana, Global Poverty, Half the Sky, Jacqueline Novogratz, Katie Smith Milway, Kojo, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, Nicholas D. Kristof, One Hen, Opportunity International, Portfolios of the Poor, Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day, Poverty, Sheryl WuDunn, The Blue Sweater, unpoverty, unpoverty rich lessons from the working poor, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
Opportunity Participates in the 2011 Global Microcredit Summit
This week, one of the largest microfinance industry conferences in the world launches in Valladolid, Spain. The 15th annual Global Microcredit Summit runs Monday, Nov. 14-Thursday, Nov. 17 and features Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, and more than 2,000 delegates from over 100 countries, including Opportunity International‘s Read more…
Tagged BRAC, Ending Poverty, Events, Facebook, Financial services, Fonkoze, Global Microcredit Summit, Grameen, ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth, International Labour Organization, MFI, Microcredit, Microensure, Microfinance, Microfinance Information Exchange, Microinsurance, MIX Market, Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize, Opportunity International, Richard Leftley, Social Media, Spain, Twitter, videos
What We’re Reading: Roger Thurow Interview on Hunger, Microfinance and More
On Wednesdays, we highlight an article, book or blog in our “What We’re Reading” series. We feature works that are noteworthy, inspiring, educational or relevant to the microfinance work we do at Opportunity. We welcome your comments in the comment field below–-tell us what you’re reading, or respond to the piece we’ve highlighted. The following Read more…
Tagged 2010 fall microfinance conference, Africa, Agricultural finance, Banker to the Poor, Changing the Face of Hunger, Chicago, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Enough, Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty, Financial services, Global Agriculture and Food Policy, Global Poverty, Grameen Bank, Green Revolution, Hunger, Interview, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, OIBM, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Malawi, pulitzer prize, Roger Thurow, sub-Saharan Africa, The Bible, Tony Hall, Washington D.C.
Worldwide Voices in Support of Microfinance and Dr. Muhammad Yunus
Earlier this week, Opportunity International and a dozen other leading microfinance organizations issued an open letter (below) supporting Nobel Laureate and Medal of Freedom winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus. Since then, we have seen an increasing number of statements in support of Dr. Yunus from high-ranking U.S. officials including Senator John Kerry, organizations like ONE and Read more…
In Support of Muhammad Yunus
The following post was written by Opportunity International’s CEO Bill Morgenstern. Earlier this week, the Bangladesh central bank took steps to remove Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus as Managing Director of Grameen, citing a mandatory retirement age of 60 for managing directors. Members of Grameen’s board and Professor Yunus, who turns 71 this year, have filed Read more…
Tagged Ending Poverty, Grameen, Grameen Bank, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize, Opportunity International, Poverty, what we're reading
Meeting the Grandfather of Microfinance
Last Friday, YAO-Chicago chair Shannon Leutheuser and I had the chance to not only hear but actually to meet Dr. Muhammad Yunus at the Chicago Council of Global Affairs event, “Building Social Business.” Yunus is the founder and manager of Grameen Bank and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and he has written a new Read more…
Tagged Africa, Bangladesh, Building Social Business, Business, Capitalism, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Economics, Education, Grameen Bank, MFI, Microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize, Opportunity International, Poverty, Selfishness, Selflessness, Social Change, Technology, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, Youth
"Building Social Business" with Muhammad Yunus
Last Friday, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs brought Dr. Muhammad Yunus to Chicago for a talk entitled “Building Social Business.” Dr. Yunus, often called the grandfather of microfinance, is the founder and managing director of Grameen Bank and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner. Friday’s talk was attended by an audience that consisted of local Read more…
Tagged Africa, Building Social Business, Capitalism, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Dannon, Education, Grameen Bank, Hillary Clinton, Melanne Verveer, Microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize, Social Change, Social Entrepreneurship, Students, Sustainability, Technology, Women
Is access to financial services a human right?
Opportunity International’s April DuBois opened her presentation today at the 7th International Human Rights Forum in Lucerne, Switzerland, with this question. She and Opportunity’s Daryl Skoog partnered with Fabian Huwyler of Credit Suisse to present a special workshop on “Electronic Wallets – Reaching More of the World’s Poor with Financial Access.” And back in the States, Read more…
Tagged Africa, April DuBois, Children, Credit Suisse, Daryl Skoog, Education, Electronic transactions, Electronic wallet strategy, Financial Access, Human Rights, Insurance, International Human Rights Forum, Loans, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, Muhammad Yunus, Obstacles, Opportunity International, Poverty, Savings, Technology, Training
