Opportunity Int'l secures $15.4mil from Gates Foundation

The Gates Foundation has given a $5.4mil grant and a $10mil loan, to be repaid over 10 years at 1% interest, to Opportunity International, one of the largest global microfinance organisations. This is wonderful news for Opportunity International because this funding will allow them to deepen their current impact in poverty alleviation in Africa. They plan to use these funds to build a network of start-up microfinance banks in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as well as expansion of their operations in Ghana.

Opportunity International was founded in 1971 with it's first program in Latin America. They initially focused on supporting local programs offering loans to help poor entrepreneurs create or expand their own businesses. In the early '90s they launched the Trust Bank - a group lending program allowing poor entrepreneurs (primarily women) to form borrowing groups & hence build community spirit. According to OI's website, since 1992, Trust Bank clients have maintained an average repayment rate of 98%. Opportunity developed partners in various regions around the world called the Opportunity International Network - they now number 42 organizations in 28 developing countries. In 2000, Opportunity began establishing formal financial institutions to broaden the financial services it can provide. These institutions are like commercial banks, development banks or credit unions and can accept deposits, borrow money and take investments. Opportunity aims to serve 2 million customers by 2010.