|
Opportunity
International was recently awarded a $50 million,
10-year grant to build microfinance banks in sub-Saharan
Africa. The family foundation providing the grant
has challenged Opportunity to match its funding with
funds from organizations such as USAID, IFAD, IFC, the
World Bank, the United Nations and major corporations
and foundations who fund microfinance.
In
the last 6 years, Opportunity has built 12 commercial
microfinance institutions in Africa, Asia, Eastern
Europe and Latin America -- and plans to build 2
microfinance banks per year over the next ten
years.
Targeted
African countries for new banking operations
include:
·
Angola
·
Burundi
·
DR
Congo
·
Ethiopia
·
Madagascar
·
Nigeria
·
Tanzania
In
addition to new banking operations, Opportunity will use
this new funding to expand its banking services
in:
·
Ghana
·
Rwanda
·
Kenya
·
Uganda
·
Malawi
·
Mozambique
·
Zambia
Each
bank will offer a full suite of financial services
tailored to the needs of the poor within the country and
work to expand services through a multitude of "points
of sale," including satellite branches, ATMs,
point-of-sale devices placed in markets and farm shops,
and cell phones. Opportunity's entry and
expansion strategy will include greenfield startups,
transformation of NGO MFIs, and consolidation of
non-profit MFIs into the banks Opportunity establishes.
To
learn more, please contact Stephanie Montgomery at smontgomery@opportunity.org.
| 
