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Microfinance

A Young Ambassador’s Report from the 2012 Chicago Microfinance Conference

by Meredith Anderson

I left the 2012 Chicago Microfinance Conference, “Micronext: Strategies and Challenges of Social Impact,” impressed, energized and hungry for more. The conference focused on the strategies and challenges of social impact, facilitating discussions around the direction of microfinance and the lessons from past methodologies. The strong turnout included experts from various microfinance organizations, as well as academics and folks who just wanted to understand microfinance better. I was there with…

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Technology & New Innovations at Chicago Microfinance Conference

by Emily Riemer

At Friday’s Chicago Booth and Zell Center Microfinance Conference, several of my colleagues and members of Young Ambassadors for Opportunity heard from Opportunity International‘s SVP of International Business Development, Dennis Ripley, who spoke as part of a panel called “New Products and Innovations in Microfinance,” along with Kate Cochran, COO at Vittana; Karl Muth, Consulting Economist at Grameen; and moderator Nina Diamond 0f DePaul University’s Richard H. Driehaus College of Business.…

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Three Rwandan Mothers I Met on the Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) Insight Trip

by Robin Ussery

I recently returned from a week-long Insight Trip to Rwanda with a group of Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) supporters from the U.K. and the U.S. We traveled in Kigali and to rural villages, visiting with clients and local staff, attending Trust Group meetings, and getting to know how Opportunity’s Rwandan clients live and work. Now that we’re just three days out from Mother’s Day in the U.S., my thoughts turn to the women clients and mothers we met. Talking to them reminds me that moms…

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Accion’s Michael Schlein, David Roodman and More at Friday’s Chicago Microfinance Conference

by Emily Riemer

On Friday, I attended the 8th Annual Chicago Booth and Zell Center Microfinance Conference along with Young Ambassadors for Opportunity. It was my third consecutive year attending this conference, and this year’s topic was “Micronext: Strategies and Challenges of Social Impact.” The day-long conference was hosted by the Emerging Markets Group at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, U of C’s Harris School of Public Policy Studies, and the Northwestern University’s Kellogg…

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Last Weekend of Willow Creek’s 2012 Celebration of Hope

by Opportunity International

This weekend marks the end of the three-week Celebration of Hope for Her event at Willow Creek Church in Barrington, Ill. Opportunity was one of over 40 ministries and organizations–and the only microfinance organization–represented, with booths set up in the megachurch’s lobby after Sunday services. The booths inform worshippers about different global initiatives all related to the empowerment of women–such as income-generating projects, clean water programs, and health and well-being–and…

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My Journey with Opportunity International Begins… Actress Malin Akerman Travels to Tanzania

by Malin Akerman

On March 9, my husband Roberto and I stepped off the plane in Arusha (a place I hadn’t heard of until this year), and we knew we were in for an adventure. I couldn’t wait to get started. In 2010 I had spent time in Johannesburg while filming Bang Bang Club. I became good friends with my security guard, Stranger (yes, that was his name), who invited me to his birthday party. It was the most beautiful party I had ever been to, in the township Soweto. I met mothers, daughters, sons, fathers and…

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Opportunity Staff Updates on Sustainable Energy Initiatives Around the World

by Harry Turner

Deborah Foy, Opportunity-UK’s International Programmes Director told me that 2012 is the United Nations’s “International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.” In the UN’s own words, “Energy is opportunity. It transforms lives. Economies. The planet.” Opportunity’s clients enjoy some of the world’s sunniest days–but they also experience the darkest nights. Lacking electricity, over a billion people around the world are forced to rely on kerosene lamps that emit no more light than…

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Images of Microfinance… in San Diego?!?

by Jonathan Neddenriep

When you think about microfinance clients, what comes to mind? For most of us, we think of international microfinance, but some paradigms shifted several weeks ago as attendees of the San Diego Microfinance Summit spent their lunch hours shopping at 45 booths from local San Diego vendors and restaurants, all of which were funded by microfinance loans. They ranged from high-end chocolate artisans to jewelry makers to the latest popular hipster restaurant. Opportunity International attended the fourth-annual…

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Opportunity Malawi Sends Two Clients to Child & Youth Finance International (CYFI) Summit in the Netherlands

by Opportunity International

Last week, April 3-4, was the first Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI) summit in Amsterdam, entitled “Reshaping the Future of Finance.” Two young Opportunity Malawi clients were sent to the summit to represent Malawi as special guests, participating in youth panel discussions. One is Grey Katsilizeni, 23, from the rural Lilongwe area of Nambuma. He’s involved in buying and selling of crop produce. The other is Agnes Kwelete, a 17-year-old girl from Mulanje who attends Chisitu Community…

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April is the Month of Microfinance

by Opportunity International

April showers bring more than May flowers in the world of microfinance. Shawn Humphrey, an Economics professor from the University of Mary Washington, has started the Student Microfinance Movement, designating April as the Month of Microfinance, and with it comes a showering of educational events and fundraisers. The Month of Mifi raises awareness and support for both domestic and global microfinance, and unites and prepares students to become the next generation of microfinance practitioners. Throughout…

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