Stories
Happy Mother’s Day! Meet Mother & Kenyan Staff Member Betty Mutua
Betty Mutua, Regional Relationship Officer at Opportunity Kenya and a mother of two, visited the U.S. last month and spoke to us about the challenges and triumphs of being a mom while working full-time and going to school. We were so inspired by the grace with which Betty handles the universal challenges of being a working mother and finding time for her children (Hint: they sit down to do their homework together!), that we wanted to share the conversation with you. Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers…
Read MoreTaking the Live Below the Line Challenge: Actress Malin Akerman, Young Ambassadors, Governors & Staff
All this week, May 7-11, Opportunity supporters around the country, including members of Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO) and Board of Governors, and our own staff took part in the Global Poverty Project’s Live Below the Line challenge to eat and drink for only $1.50 a day. They’re raising awareness for the 1.4 billion people who have to not only eat, but cover all their expenses, on an average daily income of $1.50, and these supporters are taking the challenge in support of Opportunity…
Read MoreA Young Ambassador’s Report from the 2012 Chicago Microfinance Conference
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…
Read MoreTechnology & New Innovations at Chicago Microfinance Conference
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.…
Read MoreThree Rwandan Mothers I Met on the Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) Insight Trip
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…
Read MoreHonoring Educators Today for National Teacher Day
Today in the U.S., in honor of National Teacher Day, we celebrate the dedicated educators who work tirelessly to grow the next generation of future leaders and responsible members of the community. At Opportunity, we know how crucial a good education is to ensuring the future of an entire community, which is why we’ve developed school proprietor loans and other education finance products–because when educators improve the lives of children, they are improving the lives of their families and their…
Read MoreAccion’s Michael Schlein, David Roodman and More at Friday’s Chicago Microfinance Conference
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…
Read MoreDay 1 of My Live Below the Line Challenge for Opportunity
Living Below the Line – Day 1: Shopping from Ian Haisley on Vimeo. Today is the first day of my Live Below the Line challenge for Opportunity, where I eat and drink for $1.50 a day for five days. Live Below the Line is a campaign that raises awareness about the 1.4 billion people who live below the poverty line and have to make $1.50 cover a lot more than food every day. My wife Jackie and my sister Natalie decided to join me in the challenge as well, which made it a bit easier to add variety to…
Read MoreLast Weekend of Willow Creek’s 2012 Celebration of Hope
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…
Read MoreMy Journey with Opportunity International Begins… Actress Malin Akerman Travels to Tanzania
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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