Blog Archives

Six Questions with Opportunity International’s Technical Proposal Writer Allison Bearden

By Allison Bearden on February 1, 2013

How long have you worked at Opportunity? I began in August 2010 as an intern and I accepted my current job in May 2011, so I’ve been in this position for a little over one and a half years. What career path led you here? I went to Westmont College, back home in California (I Read more…

Posted in Meet Our Staff, Our Motivation, Our Work, Women
Tagged Interview, proposals, six questions, staff, strategic partners, Technical Writers, Technology, Travel

The Power of Technology to Eradicate Poverty

By Opportunity International on January 18, 2013

Technology efficiently and cheaply brings financial services to people in remote or rural areas. It breaks through barriers throughout the developing world, where people are excluded from financial services because of illiteracy, expensive transportation and geographic isolation. With the support of our strategic partners, individual donors and dedicated staff, Opportunity International leverages technology to help free people Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Biometrics, Cell phone banking, Client Stories, Loans, Local Staffing, Our Work, POS devices, Poverty, Resources, Savings, Strategic Partners, Technology, Where We Work, Women
Tagged Africa, Annie Nyangomba, ATMs, biometric fingerprint technology, Cell phone banking, Client Stories, Clients, Cloud technology, Community, Democratic Republic of Congo, DR Congo, Ending Poverty, Felicitus Mmboge, Financial services, Global Poverty, invest in technology, Kenya, Kinshasa, Leaders, Loans, local staff, Marie-Claire Ina, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, Nairobi, Opportunity International, POS devices, Poverty, Satellite bank branch, Technology

What We’re Reading: Council on Foreign Relations, “Five Development Innovations to Watch in 2013″

By Emily Riemer on January 14, 2013

MicroEnsure, the microinsurance subsidiary founded by Opportunity International, was recently recognized by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) as a “development innovation to watch in 2013.” In a blog post last month, CFR reported that MicroEnsure has “sign[ed] up a million [life insurance] customers [in Ghana] over 14 months, 85% of them new to insurance” by linking Read more…

Posted in Cell phone banking, Microinsurance, Our Work, Technology, What We're Reading, Where We Work
Tagged accra, Africa, Cell Phones, chronic poverty, Clients, Council on Foreign Relations, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Health insurance, life insurance, Microensure, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Risks, Rwanda, Tanzania, Technology, Tigo, Weather-index crop insurance

Opportunity Ghana Innovates to Reach More Marginalized Clients

By Dana Lunberry on January 3, 2013

Opportunity Ghana is using innovative technology to provide financial services to a greater number of impoverished people in remote and rural areas of the country, many of whom have never before had access to formal banking. Through a “hub-and-spoke” method, Opportunity International uses low-cost delivery methods, including kiosk satellite branches, point-of-sale (POS) devices, cell phone Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Cell phone banking, Loan officer, Local Staffing, POS devices, Rural Outreach, Technology, Where We Work
Tagged accra, Africa, Banking, Cell phone banking, Clients, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial Access, Financial services, Ghana, Kumasi, Loan Officer, Loan repayment, Loans, Microfinance, mobile banking vehicle, OISL, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, POS devices, Technology

The Power of One Client, Felicitus, to Impact the Lives of Many

By Opportunity International on December 19, 2012

Felicitus Mmboge is one of the millions of Opportunity women clients who has used a small loan to seize a big opportunity, and achieve great change in her life, her family and her community. Twenty years ago, at the age of 22, Felicitus left her struggling village in Western Kenya and took a job as Read more…

Posted in Cell phone banking, Client Stories, Loan officer, Loans, Our Work, Technology, Women
Tagged Africa, Cell phone banking, Cell Phones, Felicitus Mmboge, Financial services, invest in women, Kenya, Loan Officer, Loans, M-PESA, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, Nairobi, One Woman Holiday Challenge, Opportunity International, Opportunity Kenya, Poverty, Technology, Women

CEO Vicki Escarra Checks in from 2012 Peter Drucker Forum in Vienna

By Vicki Escarra on November 16, 2012

This is an inspiring week as I attended the fourth annual Global Peter Drucker Forum in Vienna, Austria, where several hundred leaders from the corporate, academic and NGO settings gathered to explore the future of management and its impact on the future of global society. Peter F. Drucker was a management consultant, educator, author and Read more…

Posted in Agricultural Finance, Education, Events, Loans, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Our Leadership, Our Mission and Vision, Our Work, Savings, Strategic Partners, Technology, Training
Tagged Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Austria, Capitalism, Clients, Education, Events, Financial services, Insurance, Loans, Microfinance, Nonprofit, Opportunity International, Peter Drucker Forum, Peter F. Drucker, Poverty, Savings, Technology, Training, Vicki Escarra, Vienna

With a Grant from Citi Foundation, Opportunity Brings Financial Solutions to More Colombians

By Opportunity International on November 9, 2012

Opportunity opened a financially-regulated, full-service bank to serve people living in extreme poverty in Bogotá, Colombia in early October. Leveraging a grant from Citi Foundation, a long-time supporter of programs promoting the economic empowerment and financial inclusion of low-income people, we’re developing the capacity to conduct formal banking transactions, including interest-bearing savings, with the goal Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Microfinance, Our Leadership, Our Work, Savings, Strategic Partners, Technology, Where We Work
Tagged Bank Building, Bogotá, Citi Foundation, Clients, Colombia, Ending Poverty, Enrique Ordonez, grand opening, Henequen, Latin America, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity Colombia, Opportunity International, Poverty, Progress Trust Group, regulated bank, Savings, Technology, Trust Groups

Opportunity Colombia’s Grand Opening Celebration as a Deposit-Taking Bank

By Dennis Ripley on November 5, 2012

Opportunity Colombia celebrated its grand opening event in Bogota last month. As a regulated financial institution, Opportunity Colombia can now offer a full range of financial services to its clients, including interest-bearing savings. By 2015 it aims to reach 60,000 Colombians who live at the base of the economic pyramid. With 150 attendees at the Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Client Stories, Donors, Events, Faith in Action, Loan officer, Local Staffing, Our Leadership, Our Work, Savings, Strategic Partners, T24, Technology, Where We Work
Tagged Bank Building, Board of Directors, Bogotá, capacity-building, Carlos Moreno, Client Stories, Clients, Colombia, Credit Suisse, Dennis Ripley, Ending Poverty, Enrique Ordonez, financial inclusion, Financial services, Global Microfinance Operations, grand opening, Harry Turner, Latin America, Loans, Microfinance, Opportunity Colombia, Opportunity International, Ross Clemenger, Savings, Technology, Temenos T24, Training, Women

Nonprofits Stay Classy at Weekend in San Diego

By Ally Lynch on September 28, 2012

The CLASSY Awards, in San Diego last weekend, were all about partnership. I was there representing Opportunity International and joined by YAO – San Diego co-chair Mari Gottlieb as Opportunity’s Mother’s Day Global Opportunity Quilt was one of 64 Regional Finalists for the awards. Opportunity may not have won, but we were honored to be Read more…

Posted in Events, Our Work, Social Media, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
Tagged Ally Lynch, Classy Awards, Ending Poverty, Events, Financial services, Global Opportunity Quilt, Global Poverty, Mother's Day, Nonprofit, online campaign, Opportunity International, Pinterest, Poverty, San Diego, Social Media, Stay Classy, Technology, YAO, YAO-San Diego, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity

MicroEnsure Ghana Crosses One Million Milestone for Number of Lives Insured

By Opportunity Partner on September 20, 2012

The following post was originally published on microensure.com. This July , five years after its inception, MicroEnsure Ghana achieved one of its greatest successes: it crossed the milestone of insuring one million Ghanaians, a remarkable achievement considering it was serving just 40,000 lives in 2010. Beginning operations in 2007, MicroEnsure Ghana has held its place Read more…

Posted in Microinsurance, Strategic Partners, Technology, Where We Work
Tagged Africa, Clients, floods, funeral insurance, Ghana, Health insurance, Insurance, life insurance, Microensure, Microinsurance, Mobile Phones, natural disasters, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Poverty, Savings, Technology, Tigo

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