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What We’re Reading: “Ten Biggest Positive Africa Stories of 2011,” The New Yorker
“…Yes, there is tragedy in Africa, and you will always find it there, and we must take those tragedies seriously, but there is also extraordinary opportunity. And if you see this continent as the continent of the future, it sort of reframes it. This is a continent that, by 2050, will be the largest and Read more…
Tagged Africa, Arab Spring, Bono, Cell phone banking, DR Congo, elections, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, famine, Ghana, Healthcare, Horn of Africa, Kenya, Liberia, life insurance, M-PESA, Microensure, Microinsurance, mobile phone banking, Nobel Peace Prize, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, The New Yorker, Tigo, what we're reading
Photo Journey of Meeting Microfinance Clients in Rwanda and Uganda
Uganda- A young girl (right) welcomes an Opportunity International visitor from the floor of her father’s shop in a Kampala market. Her young father is an enterprising entrepreneur and Trust Group member who runs a small boutique that sells both new and old clothes, mattresses, and small luggage. Business is good, he reports, and he Read more…
Tagged Africa, Banking on Africa, Banking on Africa Campaign, Banking on Africa Insight Trip 2011, Clients, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Genocide, Insight Trip, Kampala, Loan Officer, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Rwanda, Training, Trust Groups, Uganda
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…
Tagged Africa, Banking on Africa, Banking on Africa Campaign, Banking on Africa Insight Trip 2011, Clients, Community, Ending Poverty, Family, Financial services, Genocide, Insight Trip, Loans, mark lutz, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity Rwanda, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, Rwanda, Trust Groups, Uganda, Women
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…
Tagged Africa, Banking on Africa, Banking on Africa Campaign, Banking on Africa Insight Trip 2011, Clients, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Loans, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity Rwanda, Opportunity Uganda, Rwanda, Uganda
Photo Blog: We’re Banking on Africa
This summer, Opportunity has launched the Banking on Africa Campaign. The campaign aims to bring millions of Sub-Saharan Africans closer to the day when they can safely deposit their savings, access loans to grow businesses, and purchase affordable insurance to protect their families—right in their own communities. Check out a photo tour below of some Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Banking on Africa, Banking on Africa Campaign, Children, Clients, Dikembe Mutombo, Education finance, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Kenya, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicles, Opportunity DRC, Opportunity International, Opportunity Kenya, Opportunity Malawi, opportunity mozambique, Opportunity South Africa, Opportunity Tanzania, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, Rwanda, School Proprietor Loans, Schools, Students, Tanzania, Uganda
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…
Opportunity Co-Hosts Financial Literacy Conference in Kenya
This week in Nairobi, Opportunity International and The Financial Education Fund (FEF)–which is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID)–are co-sponsoring a Financial Literacy Conference to explore how access to financial services can be facilitated and enhanced through financial education initiatives. The Financial Literacy Conference opened with remarks from Professor Njuguna S. Ndunu’u, governor Read more…
Tagged Africa, Conference, Education, Financial Education Fund, Financial literacy programs, Financial services, Ghana, Kenya, MFI, Microfinance, Mozambique, Opportunity International, Poverty, Rwanda, South Africa, Training, Uganda
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…
Tagged Africa, Board of Governors, chapter launch, Denver, Ending Poverty, Events, Facebook, Financial services, fundraisers, International Visitor, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity Rwanda, Opportunity Tanzania, Rwanda, Transformation, YAO, YAO-Denver, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
