Blog Archives

Conference LiveBlog: Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, CEO of Opportunity Malawi

By Opportunity International on October 14, 2011

This morning, the impassioned and inspiring Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, CEO of Opportunity Malawi, spoke at the conference plenary session about the triumphs of launching Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM) in 2003–offering formal financial services to impoverished people in Malawi–and the ongoing challenges they still need to address in order to access more of that country. Read more…

Posted in Events, Microfinance Conference, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, Clients, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, OIBM, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Savings

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

What We’re Reading: Roger Thurow Interview on Hunger, Microfinance and More

By Opportunity International on April 27, 2011

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…

Posted in Loans, What We're Reading, Where We Work
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.

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 Watching: Meet Memory Ngalande, Emerging Leader from Opportunity Malawi

By Opportunity International on March 11, 2011

Memory Ngalande is a Relationship Officer at Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM) and a graduate of Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women Emerging Leaders Program. Inspired by her mother, who worked hard to launch a business when she was growing up and send her children to school, but ran into obstacles because she lacked funding, Memory Read more…

Posted in Our Leadership, Our Work, Strategic Partners, Where We Work, Women's Opportunity Network
Tagged 10000 women initiative, 10k Women, Africa, Blantyre, Client Stories, Clients, Community, Education, Emerging Leaders, emerging leaders program, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Goldman Sachs, lilongwe, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, OIBM, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Students, videos, Women, Women Leaders, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON

In the News: NPR’s The World and the Impact of Microinsurance

By Opportunity International on January 20, 2011

At Opportunity International, we’re always excited to see stories that reflect what we know to be true: that microinsurance is a vital financial tool for people living in chronic poverty throughout the developing world. On Monday, Jan. 17, PRI’s The World broadcast a piece on NPR about microinsurance policyholders in Barranquilla, Colombia who are taking greater advantage of Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Microinsurance, Resources, Where We Work
Tagged Agricultural finance, Barranquilla, Client Stories, Clients, Colombia, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Henry Kangwelema, Insight Trip, Loans, Malawi, Microfinance, Microinsurance, NPR, OIBM, Opportunity Colombia, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, podcast, Poverty, Radio, Savings, Sugey Armenteo, the true impact of crop insurance, videos

Servicing Rural Malawi with Expanded Microfinance Services

By Opportunity International on January 13, 2011

Opportunity Malawi is partnering with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to provide access to microfinance services, including agricultural loans, to over 25,000 people living in poverty through 2011. The $350,000 grant from IFAD’s Rural Livelihoods Support Program will help combat hunger and poverty in three rural districts in southern Malawi. In addition, IFAD has Read more…

Posted in Resources, Rural Outreach, Strategic Partners, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, agricultural loans, Agriculture, Aleksandr Kalanda, Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, IFAD, IFAD rural poverty report, Impact newsletter, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, OIBM, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Rural Outreach, Satellite bank branch, Smallholder farmer, Winter 2011 Impact

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

In the News: NPR on Savings at Opportunity Malawi

By Opportunity International on November 23, 2010

The NPR website has included a story on Opportunity International’s work in bringing microsavings programs to the people of Malawi. The story featured Opportunity Malawi CEO, Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, and our pioneering work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including an example of just one of our many successful banking outlets in Malawi. As of Read more…

Posted in Events, Local Staffing, Our Work, Savings, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Aleksandr Kalanda, Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, biometric technology, Clients, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, mobile banking vehicle, mobile phone banking, OIBM, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Savings, Technology

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