Stories
Who Gave You Your First Opportunity?
This year at the Opportunity Summits, we interviewed our friends with a simple question: Who gave you your first opportunity? For some, it was their parents. For others, it was their boss or a teacher. But no matter who our friends recognized, one thing remained constant: these opportunity-givers were world-changers. They had shaped the course of other people's futures by recognizing their potential and helping them reach their goals. And they had made an unforgettable impact on someone's life. See…
Read MoreTrust and Transformation
Charlotte Busch is a founding member of the Opportunity Campus Ambassadors Chapter at Loyola Academy in Chicago. She visited Opportunity's work in Rwanda with her family last year. In today’s chaotic and social media obsessed society, it is increasingly challenging for teens to develop lasting and trusting relationships. While social media can be a force for good, too often we use it and other technologies as an outlet to create faux friendships, making it difficult to identify our true friends…
Read MoreRaise Your Voice on Blog Action Day
Every year on October 16, Blog Action Day brings together voices from all over the world to share their stories about one important topic. This year’s theme is Raise Your Voice - a theme that resonates with Opportunity and our work around the world. 94% of our clients are women in the developing world who are oftentimes voiceless because of inequality in their families, communities and the economy. We seek to empower them and give them the tools they need to become transformative leaders in their…
Read MoreMeet Rachael Schubarth
This fall, we are celebrating education by highlighting incredible students and teachers around the world - including our friends right here at home. This week, I chatted with Rachael Schubarth, a college senior at St. Norbert College in De Pere, WI. Rachael runs an Opportunity Campus Ambassadors chapter at her school - and she rocks! Hi Rachael! Please introduce yourself. Who are you, what do you do and what do you like to do in your spare time? My name is Rachael Schubarth, I am a senior at…
Read MoreWhy Are We So Special?
This fall, we are celebrating education by highlighting incredible students, teachers and education enthusiasts around the world - including our friends right here at home. This week, we are honored to feature this piece from our friend Janelle Lassonde, who currently serves as the Chair of Opportunity's Education Campaign. When friends ask me what’s going on in life, I often mention Opportunity International and my involvement in its work in education. My friends connect immediately with the…
Read MoreSchools Can Change the World
This fall, we are exploring eduction around the world. Through a careful study of the Ahobrase Academy in Ghana, we are studying how investing in education transforms the lives of students, families and entire communities. Join us. When you were a student, you were busy. You were in class all day, at tennis practice or musical rehearsal or the yearbook all afternoon and working your way through piles of homework at night. Your days were full. In addition, you were learning so much more than…
Read MorePhoto Blog: Carly Fiorina Speaks at NAWBO "Inspire the Change" Women's Business Conference
This Sunday, former Global Board Chair Carly Fiorina spoke at the NAWBO “Inspire the Change” Women’s Business Conference about the power of opportunity and the hope that she witnessed while visiting clients in the slums of New Delhi. “I do not know whether you have ever been to the slums of New Delhi, but they’re pretty grim places...And yet when we met our clients, they were brave, beautiful women. And they did not look despairing. They looked focused and determined and hopeful. We had…
Read MoreMeet Les Dlabay
This fall, we are celebrating education by highlighting incredible students and teachers around the world - including our friends right here at home. This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Les Dlabay, a long-time Opportunity International supporter and Professor of Business at Lake Forest College. Les has been instrumental in involving his students with global issues - including introducing them to Opportunity! Hi Les! Please take a moment to introduce yourself! I'm Les Dlabay, Professor…
Read MoreVicki Escarra Speaking at Bush Institute
Please join Opportunity International Global CEO Vicki Escarra live at a Bush Institute Global Women’s Network panel discussion from 11:30 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. Central Time on September 22. The panel, Invest in Women: The Key to Economic Prosperity, will feature an interactive discussion to highlight current trends, highlight ways key stakeholders are improving the lives of women to advance global development, and discuss how public-private partnerships can invest. Focus areas include technology,…
Read MoreMeet Aggrey Byarugaba
Aggrey Byarugaba always knew he wanted to help people learn. When he graduated from college, he dreamed of educating other students like him – students who needed an inexpensive, high-quality school in which to learn. Soon, Aggrey began working with local partners and funders on a new school. Aggrey’s job was to generate local interest in the school, and if and when he did so, he was promised the role of Headmaster. With no budget, Aggrey worked tirelessly to tell the community about the new…
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