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Bringing It All Home: The Challenges of Microfinance in the US
At the Chicago Microfinance Conference last Friday (at University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business), a panel of experts from four domestic microfinance organizations discussed the ongoing challenges of offering financial solutions to underserved individuals in the United States. The panel “Microfinance in the US: Where Are We Now and How Far Can We Go?” was moderated by Read more…
Happy Mother’s Day from Opportunity International!
Please be sure to visit our Global Opportunity Quilt at OptINnow.org/Mothers to see the beautiful patches purchased and read the inspiring messages supporters have dedicated to the important women in their lives. We at Opportunity have enjoyed sharing our own reflections on this important day. Below is a list of our blog entries in honor Read more…
One Hen Inspires Second Graders to Microfinance
When Katie Smith Milway, author of One Hen, visited Lincoln Elementary School in River Forest, Ill. last Tuesday, she was confronted with the extraordinary work of the school’s second-graders. Up on a screen in the classroom was Opportunity International’s donation website, OptINnow.org, displaying that the children had raised $425 to help end global poverty. “Do you Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agriculture, Children, Education, Ghana, Katie Smith Milway, Kojo, Kwabena Darko, Microfinance, One Hen, Opportunity International, OptINnow, Poverty, Savings, Students
Please Join Us for the National Day of Prayer
Today, May 6th, is the National Day of Prayer. Please take a moment today to join Opportunity International in prayer… …For our clients that they would be empowered to transform their lives spiritually, socially and economically. …For their families and communities that there would be justice and peace in families and communities involved with Opportunity. …For our Read more…
Tagged National Day of Prayer, Opportunity International, Poverty, Prayer
One Hen Takes Microfinance to School
On Tuesday, I got the chance to visit local elementary schools in Oak Park and River Forest, Ill., attending wonderful presentations by children’s author Katie Smith Milway. She wrote One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference, a book about a Ghanaian boy named Kojo who receives a small loan to buy a Read more…
Tagged Africa, Children, Education, Entreprenuership, Ghana, Katie Smith Milway, Kojo, Kwabena Darko, Loans, Microfinance, One Hen, Opportunity International, OptINnow, Poverty, Savings, Students, Women's Opportunity Network, WON, Youth
CGIU 2010 Concludes with a Focus on Haiti
At the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) conference this year, the final plenary session centered on the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti on January 12, 2010. For me, this final panel was the most moving of the entire weekend. It is plain to see why Haiti was the focus of the final session at this Read more…
Women Helping Women: Panel Discussion Inspires Women’s Investment Group
It is a unique situation: a roomful of professional U.S. women gathered together to learn how to help expand the professional prospects of poor women in other countries. At the lunchtime talk, “Beyond the Basics of Microfinance: Empowering women through scalable, sustainable, multi-faceted financial solutions,” hosted by Women Investment Professionals (WIP), Chicago women from the Read more…
Tagged Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Children, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs, Education, Global Opportunity Quilt, Half the Sky, Insight Trip, Kenya, Microfinance, Mother's Day, Nike Foundation, Opportunity International, OptINnow, Poverty, Ruth-Anne, Savings, Trust Groups, Women, Women Investment Professionals, Women Leaders, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
