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.
Spotlight on Educational Microfinance & IDP Rising Schools: Students of the World (SOW) Meets Students & Educators in Ghana
The Students of the World (SOW) Boston team is in Ghana all this month visiting Opportunity Ghana‘s microfinance operations and documenting their experiences in a diverse array of photos, posts and more on their blog. You can see all their updates and content on their site, and stay tuned to the Opportunity Blog and our Facebook page for updates from their trip. The following post was co-written by SOW with their Assistant Filmmaker Sarah Stein Lubrano. After arriving in a very lush Kumasi by…
Read MoreDay 4: “Dream Big” – Opportunity Colombia Empowers Young Entrepreneurs, Mothers, Trust Groups & More through Microfinance
The following travel post was written by Jeannette Stewart, a member of the Opportunity International Board of Governors living in Maryland. This week, Jeannette is traveling with her son on the Opportunity Family Week Insight Trip to Colombia. Other Colombia travelers have written posts this week too, catch up on all their adventures by reading their posts here. Teaching Cartagena’s Youth to Dream Big “Dream Big!” hailed Alejandra Sayas as she shared with us her greatest challenges and hopes…
Read MoreDay 3: Striving to Have Enough — Opportunities for Colombian People Through Savings
The following travel post was written by David Gardner, a member of the Opportunity International Board of Governors and co-founder of The Motley Fool, a multimedia financial services company, living in Washington, D.C. with his wife Margaret and their teenage children. The Gardners are traveling right now on the Opportunity Family Week Insight Trip to Colombia. Margaret and daughter Katherine have each also written posts about the trip this week, which you can read here. Vanguard founder Jack Bogle’s…
Read MoreDay 2: Tales of Transformation in a Bogotá Trust Group
The following travel post was written by Margaret Gardner, a member of the Opportunity International Board of Governors living in Washington, D.C. Margaret is currently traveling on the Opportunity Family Week Insight Trip to Colombia with her husband David and their children. Her daughter Katherine wrote a blog post from Day 1 of the trip, which you can read here. The second day of our Colombia Insight Trip we visited the Opportunity offices in Bogotá. There we met the dedicated staff that supports…
Read MoreDay 1: Family Week Insight Trip to See the Country, Meet the People of Colombia
This week, Opportunity International supporters are traveling on the Family Week Insight Trip to Colombia. The following travel blog post was written by Katherine Gardner, teenage daughter of David and Margaret, reflecting on Day 1 of her family’s Colombian journey with Opportunity. Today was the first day of our Colombia Insight Trip. As we boarded our bus, gleaming in the fresh sun, I remember quite clearly a brilliant blue sky. Over the next hour, our bus wound through sloping countrysides of…
Read MoreMicroEnsure Wins Financial Times/International Finance Corporation Sustainable Finance Award
The following news announcement appeared on MicroEnsure’s website on Friday, June 17. MicroEnsure has won the FT/IFC Sustainable Finance Award in the category Achievement in Financing at the Base of the Pyramid. The awards, organized by the Financial Times and the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, were announced on Thursday, June 16 at a dinner in London attended by more than 250 senior decision-makers in finance and sustainability. The FT/IFC Sustainable Finance…
Read MoreCelebrating Fathers Like Opportunity Ghana Client Godwin Ocolo
Today on Father’s Day, it’s the perfect opportunity to celebrate the responsible, caring men all over the world who work hard to support their families and the people of their community. Meet Godwin Ocolo, a 30-year-old Opportunity International client from the city of Koforidua, Ghana. Godwin is married and the father of two children. To support his family and help pay for his children’s education, Godwin has a small shop where he sells and repairs electronics. In order to keep his shop stocked…
Read MorePalm Soup and Fufu: Elizabeth Mensah’s Chop Bar
The Students of the World (SOW) Boston team is in Ghana all this month visiting Opportunity Ghana‘s microfinance operations and documenting their experiences in a diverse array of photos, posts and more on their blog. You can see all their updates and content on their site, and stay tuned to the Opportunity Blog and our Facebook page as we repost their updates in the coming days and weeks. Elizabeth Mensah is a client of Opportunity International. We visited her chop bar as part of our visit to…
Read MoreTraveling with Students of the World (SOW): Seeing the Impact of Microfinance on Opportunity Clients in Ghana
The Students of the World (SOW) Boston team is in Ghana all this month visiting Opportunity Ghana‘s microfinance operations and documenting their experiences in a diverse array of photos, posts and more on their blog. You can see all their updates and content on their site, and stay tuned to the Opportunity Blog and our Facebook page as we repost their updates in the coming days and weeks. This week, one of our own team members joins SOW in Ghana. Ian Haisley, our online communications manager,…
Read MoreWhat We’re Watching: New Short Film by MicroEnsure on Cashless & Low-Cost Health Insurance in India
The following video was published in a blog post on microensure.com on June 14. MicroEnsure, a subsidiary of Opportunity International, is the world’s first microinsurance intermediary, and it serves people living in poverty with innovative products in crop, loan, health, life and property insurance, offering clients and their families a safety net when an unexpected hardship or disaster occurs. Why do people in poverty need Health Insurance? Research has shown that of all insurance products,…
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