Blog Archives

Conference LiveBlog: Reeta Roy Accepts the 2011 International Women’s Leadership Award on Behalf of The MasterCard Foundation

Today, Betsy Perdue, co-chair of the Women’s Opportunity Network (WON), presented Reeta Roy, President and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation, with WON’s 2011 International Women’s Leadership Award. Roy accepted the award on behalf of the Foundation, honored for its role in supporting and inspiring global women entrepreneurs. By increasing access to microfinance and youth education in developing Read more…

Posted in Events, Microfinance Conference, Strategic Partners, Technology, Where We Work, Women's Opportunity Network
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Watch it Live! Opportunity International Conference Video Stream Starts Friday 8:30 a.m. PST

Unable to join us in person for the Opportunity International Conference? No problem. Just tune in tomorrow-Friday, Oct. 14 at 8:30 a.m. PST–as we stream live video from the conference until Saturday, Oct. 15 at 12:00 p.m. Go to opportunity.org/live to watch it live. Here are just a few of the plenary and breakout session Read more…

Posted in Board of Governors, Events, Local Staffing, Microfinance Conference, Our Leadership, Strategic Partners
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“Why Farming?” Today’s Symposium on Global Agriculture & Food Security in Washington, D.C.

Today in Washington, D.C., the Chicago Council on Global Affairs‘ “The Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security: Progress to Date and Strategies for Success” with noted experts in agricultural policy, global development, philanthropy and more. Keynote Speakers: Bill Gates, Co-chair and Trustee, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Rajiv Shah, Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Read more…

Posted in Events, Loans, Resources, Rural Outreach, Savings, Strategic Partners, What We're Reading
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The MasterCard Foundation on Opportunity Ghana’s Agricultural Microfinance Initiatives and Diversification for Smallholder Farmers

The following post was written by Reeta Roy, President & CEO of The MasterCard Foundation, and was published on The MasterCard Foundation blog on Wednesday, April 13, entitled “Financial Services and Diversification for Small-Holder Farmers.” Roy traveled to Ghana with Rewa Misra, Program Manager of Microfinance for The MasterCard Foundation, and Jannalee Anderson, National Director Read more…

Posted in Loans, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Strategic Partners, What We're Reading
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Five Million People in Five Years: Bank-Building in Africa

Last Wednesday, Opportunity staff and supporters gathered for the quarterly conference call hosted by the Board of Governors. The topic was “Bank-Building in Africa” and Opportunity’s Banking on Africa campaign, a discussion led by two of our experts in the International Business Development department: Dennis Ripley, SVP of  programs, and Simona Haiduc, VP of program management. Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO) Read more…

Posted in Bank Building, Board of Governors, Insight Trips, Loans, Local Staffing, Microinsurance, Our Leadership, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Strategic Partners, Technology, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
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Melinda French Gates on the Impact of Agricultural Finance

 Want to do more to impact global poverty? In an interview in the August issue of Smithsonian magazine, Melinda Gates outlines the techniques the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is using to fight global poverty in the 21st century. (“Melinda French Gates on Saving Lives,” by Terence Monmaney) It’s part of the magazine’s 40th-anniversary issue, featuring ”40 Things You Read more…

Posted in Loans, Microinsurance, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Strategic Partners, Technology, Training, What We're Reading, Where We Work, Women's Opportunity Network
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Spotlight on Agricultural Finance: An Interview with an Agriculture Finance Officer

“Most of the world’s poor are smallholder farmers and their families. By targeting them, we can dramatically reduce extreme poverty and food insecurity.” -UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, addressing the Malawian parliament on May 29, 2010. Through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the MasterCard Foundation, Opportunity is now offering greater financial Read more…

Posted in Loans, Local Staffing, Our Work, Rural Outreach, Savings, Strategic Partners, Technology, Training, Where We Work
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Global Poverty: Melinda Gates Discusses What Can Be Done

In an interview with Melinda French Gates in the July/August issue of Smithsonian, the co-chair of the world’s largest philanthropic organization discusses what can be done and what is being done about global poverty and health. As part of the $22.7 billion the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given to development, education and health Read more…

Posted in Rural Outreach, Strategic Partners, Trust Groups, What We're Reading, Women's Opportunity Network
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USAID: "Agriculture Development is Springboard for Economic Development"

Opportunity International is attending today’s Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Keynote speaker Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, unveiled the Feed the Future Guide, which details the implementation strategy for the U.S. government’s new global hunger and food security Read more…

Posted in Events, Loans, Our Work, Savings, Training
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Global Agriculture and Food Security Program

We are excited about the news that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States, Canada and other countries have launched the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program to help the world’s poorest farmers grow more food and earn more to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty. As part of the worldwide effort Read more…

Posted in Events, Our Work, Strategic Partners
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