Subscribe via RSS
Subscribe via EmailBlog Archives
Cracking the Code on Food Security: YAO Leader Samantha Snabes Uses Technology to End Hunger
“The Opportunity International Conference changed my life,” says Young Ambassador Samantha Snabes. The fall 2011 conference, says the NASA “social entrepreneur in residence,” was the moment when she became inspired to take action to do her part to end global poverty. Shortly thereafter, she became part of Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO) and is currently working Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, app, crop yields, crops, David Kone, Dr. Norman Borlaug, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Engineers Without Borders, Financial services, Food security, Geralyn Sheehan, Granada, Hunger, NASA, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Nicaragua, Smallholder farmer, south america, USAID, world food prize, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, yucca, yucca processing plant
Meet Women Smallholder Farmers in Ghana
This past week, our Publications & Media Manager, Cynthia, has been traveling in Ghana to meet clients and staff, see our work in education finance and agricultural finance, and experience firsthand the technology innovations that help us reach many more clients. On Friday, I visited three women farmers–Emelia George, Enyoman Hlordzi and Gladys Donu–in Ada, an area two Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Clients, Community, Cynthia Greenwood, Education finance, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Global Poverty, Loan Officer, Loans, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Smallholder farmer, Technology, Vicki Escarra, Women
Understanding the Needs of Farmers in Kyenjojo, Uganda
is more than just and and business—it’s a way forward for many families with few resources and little hope. Wherever we work, we strive to understand the local communities and to get to know the families who use our resources. This is my third in a six-part blog series that explores how we serve the Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, bank branch, cassava, Clients, coffee farmer, Community, crop yields, Drought, Farmer, Kyenjojo Blog Series, Kyenjojo branch, Loans, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, Savings, Smallholder farmer, Uganda
What We’re Reading: The World Bank’s Africa Can… End Poverty Blog
The World Bank’s blogs cover a wide range of global economic issues. One blog titled Africa Can… End Poverty is run by Shanta Devarajan who is the Chief Economist for Africa at The World Bank. As continues to expand its work in Africa, including agricultural finance, mobile banking, and financial literacy training, I have highlighted three blog posts Read more…
Tagged Africa, Africa Can... End Poverty, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Blogs, cassava, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Chile, Clients, Deanna Giolas, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Indiana University, Mozambique, Opportunity International, Poverty, Smallholder farmer, subsistence farming, The New York Times, The World Bank, what we're reading
Program Update: Opportunity Mozambique is Cultivating Hope among Smallholder Farmers
is helping smallholder farmers achieve optimum output to put more food on the family table and increase food security in their communities. We’re committed to helping farmers in sub-Saharan Africa transition from subsistence to economically- and commercially-active farming. Through an innovative and sustainable approach to agricultural finance, Opportunity provides products and services designed to achieve Read more…
Tagged Agricultural finance, chief transformation officer, Clients, crop yields, Ending Hunger, Farmers, financial literacy training, Food security, Global Poverty, Linda Godinho, Microfinance, Mozambique, Opportunity International, opportunity mozambique, pilot, Poverty, Rural Outreach, rural poverty, Smallholder farmer, sub-Saharan Africa, Training, Transformation, Transformational Training
Do We Know Who These Smallholder Farmers Are? And Do We Care?
Francis Mamati. Leonida Wanyama. Rasoa Wasike. Zipporah Biketi. Roger Thurow, author of The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change, implores us to get to know these farmers–and to support their development–if we are to meet the challenge of doubling food production by 2050 to meet the Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Chicago, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Children, Clients, Community, Crop insurance, Drought, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty, Financial services, Global Food for Thought blog, Hunger, Kenya, Loans, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Roger Thurow, Savings, Smallholder farmer, The Last Hunger Season, Training
What We’re Reading: The Launch of Roger Thurow’s New Book The Last Hunger Season
If you’re looking for a summer read that inspires, Roger Thurow just released his new book, The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm Community on the Brink of Change. The Last Hunger Season gives you a look into the lives of four smallholder farming families in western Kenya as they work to move from subsistence Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Ending Hunger, Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty, Farmer, farming, Food security, Global Agriculture and Food Policy, Global Food for Thought blog, Hunger, Kenya, Loans, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Poverty, Roger Thurow, Smallholder farmer, what we're reading, Women, women farmers
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
Supporting Rural Farmers, Reducing Poverty and Hunger
The John Deere Foundation recently approved a $2.5 million grant to support Opportunity’s agricultural finance program, which will extend a full range of financial services and crop-specific to smallholder farmers in five countries in Africa. “We are impressed with the progress that Opportunity International has made in increasing access to financial services for African farmers, food processors and retailers,” said John Bustle, vice president, John Deere Foundation. “Likewise, we are Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Banking on Africa, Clients, crops, Ending Poverty, Farmers, Financial services, Food security, Ghana, Global Poverty, john deere, john deere foundation, Loan Officer, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, OIC2011, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Poverty, Savings, Smallholder farmer, sub-Saharan Africa
