Opportunity International
Here’s a great blog post from Jeffrey Lee, the CEO of Urwego Opportunity Bank in Rwanda. The majority of the bank’s clients and employees are women. Read the original blog post here.
In Rwanda, gender equality is real. For example, more than 50 percent of the Rwandan senators are women. The chief justice is a woman. Approximately 40 percent of the state ministers are women, including the ministers of agriculture, of trade, of foreign affairs. Indeed, women are empowered in Rwanda.
At Urwego Opportunity Bank (UOB) we are also empowering women in several ways. To name a couple, more than 90 percent of our clients are women and 55 percent of our staff are women.
Recently, Alice Gasatura (pictured at left), director of credit support, was on a three-week tour to the US as part of the fund raising team of Opportunity International-US. She shared her life story as well as the client transformation stories. She visited Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Seattle; Los Angeles; Dallas; Atlanta and more. She is one of the most senior women on staff at UOB and she was the first female staff member to travel to the U.S. as an ambassador of UOB.
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Here’s a great blog post from our friends over at Opportunity International. They’re providing their loan officers in Africa with environmentally friendly electronic bikes. Read the original blog post here.
Opportunity International’s loan officers are going green. They are traveling to loan client locations with the assistance of electric bicycles. If electric cars are the epitome of a culture that is constantly trying to reduce its carbon footprint, then electric bicycles (e-bikes) rank in the same category. That’s why Daryl Skoog, Opportunity International’s SVP of technology, is so enthused about deploying e-bikes to the field.
According to Skoog, “With our rural expansions, we recognized that transportation would become a challenge in getting our loan officers to their customers. We were seeking a low-cost mode of transportation with a target of 5 cents per mile, versus the 50 cents per mile it costs us per officer today. Bicycles are a common mode of transport throughout the world, so finding a way to use bicycles that would transport our loan officers and leave them with energy to do their job all day long led us to this innovation.”
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When Nassaka Maria Kasujja noticed a need for schools in her community of Kampala, Uganda, the widowed mother of two decided to take action.
To help build a local primary school, Maria took out her first $101 loan from Opportunity International. Today (four loans later), that school teaches 500 students.
But that’s not all. Maria now runs a catering business and a poultry farm that raises 400 chicks. She’s built a house for her children—and she’s been able to send them both to school. Maria’s hard work and dedication is ensuring brighter futures not only for her two children, but for all the children in her community.
I met Maria on my first trip to Uganda. Her hard work and success is an inspiration to me, and hopefully to mothers everywhere who struggle to provide for their families and to lift themselves out of poverty.
I encourage you to take just a few moments and be inspired by the tributes posted on the Global Opportunity Quilt, honoring mothers like Maria and many more significant women who have shaped our lives. Help us build the Global Opportunity Quilt and help a mother in the developing world work her way out of poverty. Your contribution will touch one mother’s heart and change another woman’s life this Mother’s Day.
-Ruth-Anne Renaud, The Women’s Opportunity Network, Opportunity International
Here’s another great post in honor of International women’s Day from our partners at Opportunity International.
This International Women’s Day (and week), let’s come together and celebrate the stories of women who show resilience, strength and courage every day. Opportunity International works with many of these women. In fact, more than 85% of our clients are women. With determination, knowledge and the support of microfinance services, these women have transformed not only their lives, but the lives of their families and communities.
Here is the story of just one of these amazing women, Rosemary Namande. Rosemary’s life has been deeply affected by the AIDS epidemic. The disease has taken her daughter, two siblings, a nephew and the parents of 11 children in her community. Rosemary was able to adopt these children and provide them with shelter, safety, support and an education in large part due to her entrepreneurial spirit. Forty years ago, Rosemary opened a school for infants. Today, equipped with a staff of over 50 people and Opportunity loans, she has five permanent buildings that house an orphanage and an elementary school that allows over 900 children to go to school.
But Rosemary’s impact doesn’t just end with the children. She uses the increased income from her loans to reinvest in her community. She adopts orphans, hires widows to teach marketable skills, helps women establish businesses, leads a local women’s council, and opens her school to other community activities.
I believe that Susan Gillette of the Women’s Opportunity Network had Rosemary in mind when she said “Strong women mother the world.” If you know other strong and inspiring women like Rosemary, please post a tribute to them on the Global Opportunity Quilt. Help us celebrate women in honor of International Women’s Day.
-Ruth-Anne Renaud, Vice President, Women’s Philanthropy & the Women’s Opportunity Network, Opportunity International
Check out this partner crosspost from our friends at Opportunity International.
Below is an excerpt. Read the full post here.
There is an unquestionable link between poverty and AIDS. When AIDS strikes, family income drops by 40 to 80 percent and medical expenses increase by 400 percent. As a result, many families are forced to choose between using their limited resources for food or medicine.
Recognizing the severity of the AIDS crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, Opportunity International is committed to breaking the devastating spiral of poverty and AIDS in Africa. To help families in these devastating circumstances, Opportunity has set out to do the following: provide loans for families afflicted and affected by HIV/AIDS; empower these families economically to take in and support orphans; and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS by empowering women economically, socially and spiritually, and by providing HIV/AIDS education.
Opportunity International President and CEO Kadita “A.T.” Tshibaka (right) meets with Dikembe Mutombo Foundation employees (center) and the local mayor (left) to discuss how Opportunity can partner with them to serve those living in poverty in the DRC.
“A single bracelet does not jingle,” states a Congolese proverb. With that idea in mind, the tone of Opportunity International’s recent trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo was one of cooperation. The microfinance organization realizes that without partnerships it will not be able to fully address the problem of poverty.
Half of the DRC’s 66.5 million people live on $1 per day. With painful poverty comes a host of serious problems for the Congolese people. Financial, health and social service organizations must work in tandem.
For this reason, Opportunity visited the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation (DMF) hospital in the DRC. A tour of the impressive facility and a meal with the staff further revealed that the two organizations have a shared vision. The patients to which the DMF Hospital provides healthcare are the very ones that Opportunity targets in its effort to alleviate poverty through savings, loans and insurance. Both organizations are committed to serve those living on less than $1 per day.
Opportunity International President and CEO, Kadita “A.T.” Tshibaka, also set up meetings with local churches such as the Evangelical Covenant Church in the DRC. He notes that “churches play a key role in advocating for the poor. We encouraged church leaders to partner with us as we serve our brothers and sisters in the D.R. Congo.”
Finally, the group met with other microfinance organizations. Rather than finding a competitive climate, Opportunity International discovered a great deal of support and encouragement. The organizations all share one common goal: to serve and empower the poor.
Without partnerships, organizations can only have a limited impact. Indeed, with the power of partnerships Opportunity International can be more than just a single bracelet in a country filled with agonizing poverty.
And the poor can receive a working chance.
To learn more about Opportunity’s commitment to providing microfinance solutions to the working poor in almost 30 countries, visit www.opportunity.org.
-Sonja Egeland Kelly, Opportunity International
Opportunity International President and CEO Kadita,” A.T.” Tshibaka (right) talks with entrepreneur Kabuika Valentine about her business and her family. Kadita was born in the DRC and recently returned to the country to advance Opportunity’s plan to bring microfinance services to the Congolese people who are living in poverty.
Having grown up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Opportunity International President and CEO Kadita “A.T.” Tshibaka experienced poverty first hand. Thanks to a hard working family and a timely scholarship, Kadita attended Dartmouth College, where he earned his MBA before starting a career at Citibank. His subsequent success in international banking and his passion for the poor have now led him to Opportunity International – and back to the DRC.
With half of the DRC living on less than $1 per day, the Congolese native is leading the organization’s efforts to bring microloans, savings and insurance services to a country of 66.5 million people.
Recently, Kadita led a small delegation of Opportunity supporters and staff to the DRC to witness firsthand both the challenges and possibilities that exist for his home country.
“As I shook hands with start-up business owners, I was struck by the great potential for microfinance to help expand their businesses,” reflects Kadita. “These entrepreneurs work hard to provide for their families in a country where so many are fortunate when they can eat three or four times a week. They are very focused and determined to succeed. Opportunity International will make a significant difference in their lives, supporting them with adaptable microfinance products and services.”
In the DRC, Kadita listened to the working poor and learned about their need for loans, savings and insurance. He appealed to prominent political, economic, church, and social-sector leaders, who were all excited about the prospect of an Opportunity International presence in the DRC. He met with organizations already in the country to hear about their triumphs and their struggles.
“We bank on the spirit of people and on their hopes and dreams,” Kadita continues. “The people that we met saw this and promised their support. We are both humbled and very encouraged by what we experienced.”
Kadita firmly believes in microfinance as a working solution to poverty. More specifically, he is adamant that banking in the DRC is key to the development of Africa. The DRC has the third largest population and the second largest land area in sub-Saharan Africa. With 99% of the population lacking basic banking services, raising funds for an Opportunity International Bank in the DRC has become one of the organization’s top priorities.
To learn more about Opportunity’s commitment to providing microfinance solutions to the working poor in almost 30 countries, visit www.opportunity.org.
- Sonja Egeland Kelly, Opportunity International
