Opportunity Christmas Appeal Launched
This year, we’re delighted to partner with London-based financial newspaper City A.M. for our Christmas Appeal.
Our appeal is raising funds to help Opportunity extend microfinance to more poor people in southern Malawi. The Nsanje region is one of the poorest areas of Malawi, with 87% of the population without access to basic banking services.
We’re also delighted to announce that the UK Government will match all individual donations pound for pound, so that Opportunity International can double its impact.
There are several ways to get involved:
- GIVE: You can give online, by phone or by text message too – find out more here.
- BID: Why not bid for a lot in our Appeal Auction? All successful bids will be matched by the UK Government, pound for pound.
- READ: You can read all of City A.M.’s appeal-related stories on their Appeal page.
| Matching your donations with: | Proudly sponsored by: |
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HRH visits Opportunity in Ghana
HRH The Princess Royal visited Opportunity clients and staff in Accra last Thursday whilst on a state visit to Ghana.
Princess Anne meeting Opportunity staff in Accra
Princess Anne met clients involved in financial education training and was shown around one of our mobile banks.
Princess Anne visiting an Opportunity mobile bank in Accra, Ghana
Opportunity Update
The November 2011 issue of our Opportunity Update magazine is now available for download:
Opportunity Update, November 2011 issue
Lloyds staff in Opportunity fundraiser
Lloyds Banking Group Wholesale division staff have been raising funds for Opportunity since 2007. Each year, Lloyds host a day long challenge event where staff teams compete against each other in a series of physical and mental challenges.
Teams raise sponsorship from friends, colleagues, business partners and family members, with all proceeds going to Opportunity’s work in Malawi. This year’s event was themed around the Olympics. Teams were spurred on by Olympic gold medallist Jonathan Edwards and Paralympian bronze medallist Ade Adepitan.
Olympic Gold Medallist Jonathan Edwards with Opportunity CEO Edward Fox
This year’s event took place yesterday. Over 500 people took part raising around £100,000 for Opportunity. On behalf of Opportunity clients and staff in Malawi, we’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who took part.
Edward Fox with Truett Tate, Lloyds Bank Wholesale Group Executive Director
Find out more about involving your company in raising funds for Opportunity here.
You can read more about our relationship with Lloyds in these previous posts.
Opportunity News Update
If you’d like to read a PDF version of our latest newsletter, click here:
An update on unrest in Malawi
From Edward Fox, Chief Executive of Opportunity International UK, on recent demonstrations in Malawi.
While we are still gathering information on the riots in Malawi,we wanted to provide you a brief update on the situation. There are reports that during the anti-government protests yesterday nearly 20 people were killed, many more injured and dozens of businesses ransacked.
We are saddened to report that one of our banking kiosks was lost along with a number of our clients’ businesses. We are grateful, however, that all of our staff appear to be safe as we shut down the majority of our operations prior to the scheduled protests.
There has been growing discontent in Malawi over significant fuel and foreign exchange shortages that have severely weakened the economy. In addition, opposition leaders have accused the government of mishandling relations with the international community and curtailing civil liberties. Violence broke out Wednesday when security forces attempted to stop a nationwide anti-government protest.
Our operations in Malawi will remain closed until we can ensure the safety of our staff and clients. We are in daily communication with our staff as they attempt to sort through the situation and gather information on our branches and clients throughout the country. We’ll provide you another update as soon as possible.
Please join our prayer for the people of Malawi. The “Warm Heart of Africa” has always been a place of peace, and we pray that grace and peace would quickly return.
New bill gives clarity and confidence to Indian microfinance
Following on from recent developments in the Indian microfinance sector, the Indian government has introduced draft legislation to better regulate microfinance practices, further protecting the poor clients the sector was established to serve.
The bill, which is still to be passed in parliament, recognises the important role of microfinance in India and proposes that regulation of microfinance institutions lies with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The bill has been positively received, providing greater clarity to the sector and offering comfort to banks and other funders of microfinance. It’s expected to strongly impact players who look to make large profits through their lending, and put the emphasis back on protecting the client – a move that Opportunity International, a socially focused funder of microfinance, wholeheartedly welcomes. Continue reading
Discover Mozambique
We have just completed a short video telling the story of Opportunity’s expansion into the north-west of Mozambique. This expansion was generously funded by the European Union and private UK donors and has enabled us to extend Opportunity’s unique microfinance tools to many thousands more Mozambicans.
To find out about our future expansion plans, why not read our Mozambique Prospectus?
A new look at health insurance
We’re delighted promote this new film by our microinsurance partner, MicroEnsure. Why not take 4 minutes to get a fresh insight into the importance of health insurance in poor communities…
We partner with MicroEnsure to provide Opportunity clients with access to microinsurance products. You can out more about Opportunity Microinsurance here.
The power of secure savings
By Edward Fox: Opportunity UK’s Chief Executive
In the small but perfectly located Opportunity kiosk in the heart of the Lujeri tea estate we bumped into small holder farmer, Felix Lusewa.
Edward Fox with Opportunity client Felix Lusewa
His story blew me away. He’s banked with Opportunity for 4 years, having to travel some distance during that time until we started to put the new Mulanje network in that place. In that time he’s increased the size and profitability of his business substantially. I assumed he had benefited from a loan to achieve this but he said it was all down to hard work and the ability to save for the very first time in a safe place. Continue reading
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