50 Weeks of Opportunity
Each week for the next 50 weeks, we will share a piece of Opportunity’s history—major or minor, sobering or inspiring, we have gotten where we are today by facing some of the world’s greatest challenges, with you by our side. Please join us in celebrating the many impactful moments that have built the foundation on which we will embark on our most audacious vision yet: ending extreme poverty.
Six Questions with Opportunity International’s Technical Proposal Writer Allison Bearden
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 grew up in San Diego). I was a political science major and loved my international studies classes. I became deeply interested in microfinance when I learned about it in an international development class. While in college,…
Read More150,000 people displaced by Flooding in Chokwe, Mozambique
Flooding of up to six feet has ravaged homes and businesses in Chokwe, Mozambique over the past week, killing 38 people and displacing over 150,000. According to Opportunity Mozambique’s head of branch network, Lusungu Kaunda, “The office is badly damaged and more importantly, over half of our 2,600 clients in the rural village have lost their homes and/or businesses due to the rising waters and subsequent looting. Thirteen of our 15 staff have literally lost everything. We have moved them to…
Read MoreWhat We’re Watching: Vicki Escarra on CEOIntroNet
In a recent interview with CEOIntroNet, our CEO Vicki Escarra highlighted Opportunity’s innovative approach in the field. Watch the footage to hear more about Opportunity’s unique approach to working with donors and the community economic development work underway in Nicaragua, where donors and staff are working together on a community economic development (CED) program. Focused on entrepreneurial education, community-led projects, local artisan support and agricultural solutions, the CED program…
Read More“I Have a Dream” for an End to Poverty: Martin Luther King’s March on Washington
Martin Luther King, Jr. led 250,000 people in the “March on Washington” in August 1963. On the national mall, Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. In it, he called for an end to inequality in American society, peaceful reconciliation among races and ethnic groups, and social and economic justice. Today, 50 years later, Martin Luther King’s words inspire us to fight for justice at home and around the world. At Opportunity International, we’re moved by King’s impassioned…
Read MoreThe Power of Technology to Eradicate Poverty
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 from the cycle of poverty. We utilize cell phone banking, satellite bank…
Read More“The Chronicle of Philanthropy” Spotlights Opportunity International as an Innovative Nonprofit
“The Chronicle of Philanthropy” featured Opportunity International‘s microinsurance work with subsidiary MicroEnsure and our CEO Vicki Escarra in an article published today. As part of Opportunity International’s commitment to bringing insurance to protect more people in poverty, Opportunity divested much of its share to allow for a capital infusion that will increase MicroEnsure’s market reach. Opportunity will continue to maintain the mission of this microinsurance organization. The shareholder…
Read MoreMicroinsurance Expanded through New Strategic Investors
Opportunity International announced today that it had divested its majority stake in microinsurance organization MicroEnsure. This will bring additional capital and relationships in order to scale the successful MicroEnsure microinsurance model to serve even more clients in poverty with crop, health, life and property insurance products. New investors in MicroEnsure include International Finance Corporation (IFC), Omidyar Network and select members of the MicroEnsure management team. Opportunity…
Read MoreWhat We’re Reading: Council on Foreign Relations, “Five Development Innovations to Watch in 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 life insurance to mobile phone payment plans. As more airtime is used by subscribers to local carrier Tigo, the more free…
Read MoreWhat We’re Reading: Vicki Escarra in the Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneurial Supporters Empower Communities in Nicaragua
At Opportunity International, we see our experienced, resourced entrepreneurial supporters as a major asset to the organization that has led to ground-breaking innovations in our work. Today, in the Harvard Business Review, our CEO Vicki Escarra wrote a piece entitled “Funders Can Give More than Money.” Opportunity International’s staff and supporters are a team of innovators. Vicki’s article highlights the success of our community economic development (CED) projects in Nicaragua as a testament…
Read More$1.2 Million Raised, 8,000 Women Empowered in One Woman Holiday Challenge
A big thank you to the hundreds of amazing people who joined Opportunity International’s One Woman Holiday Challenge. At the end of 2012, we contributed more than $1.2 million in just 45 days to empower women in poverty! Together, we enabled over 8,000 women to grow businesses, increase their incomes, and have safe places to save, helping them to provide a better future for their families. What does one gift mean to one woman? Clean Water through Community Leadership For Ana Celia Acuña, a gift…
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