The World's Unexpected Leaders
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Our Model moves people from a cycle of poverty into a sustainable cycle of success. We strive for holistic transformation. Our Vision is a world in which all people have the opportunity to provide for their families and build a fulfilling life.
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The World's Unexpected Leaders
- 2. THE CRISIS
- 3. HALF THE WORLD LIVES ON $2 A DAY
- 4. 70% OF PEOPLE LIVING IN EXTREME POVERTY ARE WOMEN AND GIRLS
- 5. THE SOLUTION IS OPPORTUNITY
- 6. Anita: Born into poverty and hunger in Nicaragua. With a loan and support from Opportunity International, Anita opened a business and became a leader bringing clean water to her community.
- 7. Comfort: Recognized the need for education within her village in Ghana. With a loan and support from Opportunity International, Comfort opened a school which now serves more than 800 students with a quality education.
- 8. moves people from a cycle of poverty into a sustainable cycle of success. We strive for holistic transformation.
- 9. • Scale • Sustainability • Economic Growth
- 10. • 93 percent of loans to women • 95 percent of loans repaid • $1,000 grows to $6,000 over five years as loans are recycled
- 11. A world in which all people have the opportunity to provide for their families and build a fulfilling life.
Editor's Notes
- At Opportunity International, we’ve discovered the world’s most underleveraged asset—the unexpected leader: one woman.
- Despite the progress we’ve seen toward achieving equality, women are continually left out of the economic equation.
- In fact, of the estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide who live on less than $2 a day, 70% are women.
- That’s more than half of the world’s workforce left dormant. Putting aside the important and justified social arguments of gender equality, there is an enormous economic case for empowering women everywhere. It makes sense that, if we want to promote economic growth and stability, we need to start by providing women with economic opportunities. Here we are today, at a remarkable event with some of the world’s greatest leaders and advocates and we’re still making the case for investing in women. With the positive results and overwhelming evidence revealing the impact of women both socially and economically, it all seems so obvious. Why wouldn’t you invest in a woman?
- Since joining Opportunity International less than 1 year ago, I have traveled to more than a dozen countries meeting with our incredible clients around the world. Despite the differences in culture, religion, and ethnicity I have seen one fact to be true everywhere. When one woman, in a sea of constant NOs, gets one YES, one sign of encouragement and support, an unexpected leader emerges.I am privileged to know many of the world’s unexpected leaders.
- Consider Anita, a woman born into poverty in LaLaguna, Nicaragua. Ana and her seven siblings often lacked enough to eat, and Anita worked as a child to pay her own school fees. With a loan from Opportunity International, a small investment in this independent woman, Anita purchased goods such as rice and oil to sell by the roadside or in front of their homes. Anita faced many challenges as a woman in poverty and when an earthquake left her village without water, she single-handedly defied convention by fighting the male elders and then becoming a community leader who brought clean, more affordable water to all the people in her village.Anita says none of this would be possible without Opportunity’s investment and faith in her potential. I met Anita and she is the essence of an unexpected leader.
- Thousands for miles away from Anita, Comfortstands in the door of Ahobrase Academy in Accra, Ghana. Several years ago, Comfort noticed that the children in her neighborhood needed access to a quality education. She began taking street children into her home, clothing them, feeding them, and providing education, all while her husband was at work. With a loan from Opportunity international, Comfort purchased a building and opened a school where she is now the founder, owner and director. Today, Ahobrase Academy serves more than 800 students from pre-school to junior high school with an education previously unavailable in their neighborhood. The school is a source of jobs and a new future for both Comfort and families across her community. An unexpected leader emerging because of the one yes after a sea of no’s. Anita and Comfort. Their stories are moving but their similarities across borders and cultures are instructive. Each of these trailblazing women emerged from remote, marginalized circumstances to lift themselves, their families and their communities from crushing poverty. These women – these unexpected leaders-- became micro-entrepreneurs. They were provided with an opportunity to invest in themselves…… Their sustainable cycle of success began with one Yes -- one small loan. But the model that drives sustainability does not begin and end there.
- At Opportunity International, our model strives for holistic and lasting transformation. It moves people from a cycle of poverty into a sustainable cycle of success. The cycle starts with us providing a loan to build a business.Our client receives vital business and leadership training.She is supported and empowered by a trust group.The result is business growth and success.The loan is then repaid and recycled, allowing more women to receive loans.
- Our holistic banking model delivers—from the Philippines to Sub-Saharan Africa—to Nicaragua. Our banks, many of which we own, finance micro businesses, savings accounts and insurance products to build businesses, create jobs, and catalyze industries that drive economic progress in a region. When other organizations avoid very remote communities, our mobile technology delivers financial services to the most marginalized. We leave no one behind.
- The impact is remarkable. 93 percent of our loans are made to women.95 percent of loans are repaid. And, with that, $1,000 grows to $6,000 over five years, as loans are recycled.It’s taking an investment, leveraging the funds, and reinvesting back into the businesses of our clients.
- Our vision is an attainable reality in which all people have the opportunity to provide for their families and build a fulfilling life. Nicholas Kristof once wrote “In this world, talent is universal. Opportunity is not." We can change this.Our work at Opportunity International is to unleash the potential of one woman, ignite a sustainable cycle of success, and enable the world’s unexpected leaders –one woman at a time.