Since our inaugural loan in 1971 in Colombia, we have supported microenterprise across Africa, India, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, empowering people—mostly women—to grow businesses, improve their incomes, and enjoy a more sustainable, stable quality of life. As microfinance movements grow, our role continues to be to seek out people left behind.

Our work is fundamentally rooted in the microenterprise best practices we have been implementing and improving—based on client needs and feedback—for over five decades.

The pillars of our work in Education Finance, Agriculture Finance, Ultra-Poverty Graduation, and Health Finance are built on the lessons learned from smart microenterprise: deliver customized training to clients through face-to-face support and innovative digital tools; provide access to financial literacy, resources, and services; build peer groups that strengthen learning, accountability, and mutual support.

The Need

For families living in extreme poverty, financial stability remains just out of reach. Without sufficient education, social capital, or geographic proximity, people cannot find jobs in the formal economy. To make matters worse, entrepreneurs struggle without the resources and training needed for their small businesses to be sustainable and successful, and they lack the collateral needed to access loans and accounts from most banks. They work tirelessly to secure a reliable income, but their options are remarkably limited.

The World Bank reports:

• 1 in 10 people live in extreme poverty on less than $3 a day
• 1 in 4 people do not have a formal bank account
• 60% of the world's employed population works in the informal economy

Our Programs and Products

Financial Services

Opportunity International partners with financial institutions around the world to deliver financial literacy training, loans, and savings accounts to people living in poverty. Combining a robust network of local partners and staff, industry-leading expertise, and international philanthropic support, we leverage capital and provide resources to serve people living in poverty.

Training

Local staff train clients through face-to-face groups and digital modules. Topics focus on basic financial skills related to earning, spending, budgeting, and borrowing money. Our training helps clients better understand the wide range of financial services available to them, increase their use of savings accounts and insurance products, better manage their credit, and diversify their assets.

In addition to financial literacy, Opportunity teaches clients about business management, helping them plan for the futures of their businesses. Through topics like employee management, ethical business practices, and procurement, entrepreneurs learn how to develop their small businesses into thriving enterprises that provide for their families and create jobs for their neighbors.

Support

In addition to financial resources and training, Opportunity International empowers clients to build social and professional connections to facilitate networking, learning, and growth.

This relational support is essential for families living in poverty because it connects them to peers and mentors who offer advice, lend a listening ear, and serve as an interconnected safety net.

Savings and loans groups (sometimes known as Village Savings and Loan Associations or VSLAs) are a proven solution to increasing financial inclusion for people left out of the traditional financial system, such as smallholder farmers, subsistence businesspeople, women, refugees, and youth. Savings groups are a simple and secure way for communities to save money, receive loans, and secure emergency insurance. The typical record keeping consists of a group ledger and individual passbooks, with calculations performed by hand or with a calculator. Opportunity is expanding the digitization of savings groups to improve efficiency, accuracy, group confidence, and cost.

Digital Financial Services

For families that live in rural communities, financial services and training can be difficult to access. Traveling to an urban center is costly and takes time away from a business or farm, so many rural families remain unbanked or choose informal options.

Digital solutions allow Opportunity to reach even the most remote communities with financial resources, training, and support. Using high-touch, high-tech solutions like mobile banking and agent banker networks, which operate in rural communities and are trained and supported by financial institutions to accept cash deposits and withdrawals on behalf of the bank, we provide reliable financial services to families who have been excluded from formal financial services. The digitization of savings groups improved accuracy and efficiency and also provides data that can help group members connect to a formal financial institution.

For example, the proliferation of basic-feature phones throughout Africa and Asia over the last decade continues to unlock new ways for Opportunity to connect vulnerable families to vital services. Globally, three out of four unbanked adults have a mobile phone. By leveraging technology families are already using, Opportunity International can accelerate financial and digital inclusion to bring more services and economic opportunities to those who need them most.

Clients can use their phones to complete basic transactions and payments. They can also apply for loans through a mobile phone or receive loan disbursements directly on their phones. Through a simple menu-item interface, clients can check their balances, transfer funds, and sometimes pay electricity or water bills.

Opportunity also offers Interactive Voice Response (IVR) services to serve clients who cannot read or utilize text prompts on their phones. These voice recordings allow us to include even more marginalized groups in the financial services we offer.

60 Decibels Research

In 2025, global impact measurement company 60 Decibels conducted its fourth annual survey of microfinance institutions and clients in 39 countries. Throughout its portfolio of microfinance institution partners, Opportunity outperforms the survey’s benchmarks on 18 out of 23 key indicators, with Opportunity partners receiving particularly high marks on accessibility of financing, repayment affordability and client protection, and household impacts on health and education. The findings underscore positive economic and social outcomes and improvements in wellbeing: