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What We’re Watching: Top 3 Conference Videos on Technology
Check out our top 3 videos on technology from our fall conference in San Francisco–click on the speakers’ names to watch. Steven Levy Senior writer at Wired; Author of In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives Steven Levy: “The most prominent leaders in the technology world today believe that the first step in Read more…
Tagged Africa, Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, and Shapes Our Lives, Banking on Africa, In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Kevin Compton, Malawi, Microfinance, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Malawi, Steven Levy, Technology, Trust Group, videos, Wired magazine, Works
Growing Rural Economies through Agricultural Finance in Africa
In the last decade, Opportunity International embarked on an agricultural finance and rural savings program to spur economic activity and provide enduring resources for smallholder farmers and other rural clients in five African countries, including Uganda, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique and Rwanda. Opportunity’s approach is to help farmers move from subsistence growing to cash crop production Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Breakout session, coffee farmer, Crop insurance, Ending Poverty, Insurance, John Magnay, Loan Officer, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, OIC2011, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Malawi, opportunity mozambique, Opportunity Rwanda, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, Savings, Smallholder farmer, Training
Breakout Session: Innovating to Meet Community Needs
“The more you listen and respond… the way you increase your chances of success and long term benefit is dramatic,” stated Jim Frantz, chief transformation officer at Opportunity Colombia, speaking about the importance of having local input and ownership when implementing initiatives in impoverished communities. This breakout session highlighted just a few of the innovative solutions Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agriculture, Colombia, Community, Conference, Craig DeRoy, David Allman, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Jim Frantz, Latin America, Nicaragua, OIC2011, Opportunity Colombia, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Nicaragua, Poverty, roof and floor program, YAO, YAO - San Francisco, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Breakout Session: Microinsurance: A Powerful Safety Net
Opportunity’s MicroEnsure, the world’s first microinsurance intermediary, provides protection against the many risks faced by those living in poverty. Today, more than 3.2 million clients can fall back on our crop, loan, health, life and property insurance products in times of hardship or disaster. Who’d have thought that getting up at 8 a.m. on a Read more…
Tagged Microensure, Microfinance, Microinsurance, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Poverty, Richard Leftley, YAO, YAO - San Francisco, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Breakout Session: Banking on Education
A quality education empowers students with the skills and abilities to secure higher paying jobs, build strong families and help in the economic development of their communities. Today, we discovered how Opportunity’s Banking on Education program is increasing educational opportunities for more than 120,000 children in underserved neighborhoods in Ghana, Malawi and Uganda. The panelists Read more…
Tagged Africa, Banking on Education, Char Caldwell, Children, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Geoffrey Thige, Ghana, Kenya, Liesel Pritzker, Loans, Malawi, Microfinance, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Kenya, School fee loans, Uganda, USAID, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Breakout Session: Stand Up for Opportunity
I sat down to listen to a panel of Opportunity International volunteers and contributors to hear their thoughts and best practices on how they share and involve their own communities in Opportunity’s mission. Each panel member shared their own journey with Opportunity and how they came to be involved. Though unified in passion, each contributor’s Read more…
Tagged Alison Altdoerffer, Amelia Gingold, Betsy Perdue, Board of Governors, Dick Leathers, Microfinance, Monica Perez, OIC2011, Online fundraising, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Sonya Perez-Lauterbach, Sunshine Sachs & Associates, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON, YAO, YAO - San Francisco, YAO-Denver, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Conference LiveBlog: Geoffrey Thige, COO of Opportunity Kenya
Geoffrey Thige, the dynamic chief operating officer of Opportunity International Kenya, shares from the conference mainstage all about the work and progress Opportunity Kenya has made, utilizing solutions that include mobile phone banking, microinsurance, financial literacy training and more to help clients build a better life. Highlights from Geoff Thige In Kenya, we have 39 Read more…
Tagged Africa, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Geoffrey Thige, Global Poverty, Kenya, Loan Officer, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, mobile phone banking, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Kenya, Poverty, Savings, Technology, Training
Conference LiveBlog: Actress and Philanthropist Connie Nielsen
Actress Connie Nielsen spoke from the stage today at this morning’s plenary session at the Opportunity International Conference. Connie founded the Human Needs Project (HNP) and Road to Freedom Scholarships in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya. She spoke today about her work with HNP and the power of working with a community to implement sustainable solutions Read more…
Conference LiveBlog: Jeffrey Spector, Chief of Staff at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
This Saturday morning plenary session continues with a presentation by Jeffrey Spector, Chief of Staff for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Highlights from Jeffrey Spector’s Presentation Innovations are not only happening in labs or on computers. I’ll give two examples: A few years ago, I was tasked with scaling up Gates’s organizations. We made Read more…
Tagged Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Ending Poverty, Financial Services for the Poor initiative, Gates Foundation, Global Poverty, Jeffrey Spector, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, strategic partners
Conference LiveBlog: Panel with David Simms, Promod Haque and Deborah Farrington
Saturday morning at the Opportunity International Conference opens with a panel featuring David Simms, Board Chair of Opportunity’s Global Microfinance Operations; Promod Haque, Managing Partner of Norwest Venture Partners (NVP); and Debby Farrington, founder and general partner of StarVest Partners, L.P. Highlights from the Session Discussion Questions: 1. With your philanthropy you have “invested” in Opportunity. Read more…
