Blog Archives

Serving the Whole Person with Opportunity’s Transformation Program

“It’s the dignity of it” was how one African loan client expressed herself to an off-duty staff member standing in line at an Opportunity International bank. She knew she had achieved success through the work of her own hands. Four million such stories play out each day all over the world as Opportunity strives to Read more…

Posted in Loan officer, Local Staffing, Our Method, Our Mission and Vision, Transformation, Trust Groups, What We're Reading
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Show Your Support for Women on Giving Tuesday

Happy Giving Tuesday to our generous Opportunity International community! Coming right after Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is a unique chance for nonprofits, families and businesses to come together to encourage the spirit of generosity and good will, to start the holiday giving season off right. Learn more about the movement at Read more…

Posted in Events, Fundraisers, Loans, Online Giving, Our Work, Poverty, Rural Outreach, Women
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On Thanksgiving and Every Day, We’re Grateful for Clients like Eugenie

As you gather around the Thanksgiving table, enjoying your time with family and friends, we know you’re grateful for all your blessings. At Opportunity International, we’re grateful for the opportunity to be part of work that empowers clients like Eugenie Nyirabagenzi to feed their families and secure a more hopeful future for themselves and their communities. Eugenie Read more…

Posted in Agricultural Finance, Client Stories, Events, Loan officer, Loans, Microinsurance, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Training, Where We Work, Women
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Opportunity Staff Updates on Sustainable Energy Initiatives Around the World

Deborah Foy, Opportunity-UK’s International Programmes Director told me that 2012 is the United Nations’s “International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.” In the UN’s own words, “Energy is opportunity. It transforms lives. Economies. The planet.” Opportunity’s clients enjoy some of the world’s sunniest days–but they also experience the darkest nights. Lacking electricity, over a billion Read more…

Posted in Events, Loans, Local Staffing, Our Leadership, Our Mission and Vision, Our Work, Resources, Rural Outreach, Where We Work
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Made in Rwanda… Follow Along with Opportunity Canada

Yesterday, 20 people from across Canada will be coming together in support of two organizations working in one country, Rwanda, to focus on issues of leadership and the development of human capital. A few participants for the first-ever Made in Rwanda Insight Trip and Leadership Summit are already on the ground and others have started blogging, Read more…

Posted in Events, Insight Trips, Our Work, What We're Reading, Where We Work
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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…

Posted in Loans, Microinsurance, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Where We Work
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Empowerment through Microfinance–Meeting Rwandan Microfinance Client Dorosera Mukagahima

Dorosera Mukagahima made our long two-hour bus ride worth the trek to her remote village. She’s the elected treasurer in her Trust Group of about 30, mostly women. In her business she buys and sells goats—about three at a time. She proudly told us of her sturdy mud brick home with a metal roof, situated Read more…

Posted in Insight Trips, Loans, Our Work, Trust Groups
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An Outstanding Group of Ugandan Microfinance Clients

These people meet weekly in this very, very rough setting to repay their loans. They must each be current on their payments for the group to be deemed current. They all are. On their own (not an idea from the bank) over the past few years this informal group has established a “reserve fund.” The Read more…

Posted in Insight Trips, Loans, Our Work, Where We Work
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Embarking on My Journey to Rwanda & Uganda

For one week, our group of eleven will visit Opportunity International’s work in Africa. I invite you to come along on this adventure. Our motley crew rendezvoused in Rwanda on Saturday, August 6, and for the next week we’ll keep you posted on what we’re doing and feeling. We’re going on this journey, traveling through Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Insight Trips, Loans, Our Work, Where We Work
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YAO-ZA! Young Ambassadors Launches its Denver Chapter

The following post was written by YAO member and YAO-ZA! co-organizer Amy Steinhoff. Greetings from the Denver chapter of Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO). We are thrilled to officially become part of the YAO network after YAO-ZA!, our successful chapter launch on Saturday, May 21st. Thanks to a dedicated team and the generous support of Read more…

Posted in Events, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
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