by Opportunity International
In December 2014, Adjoa Andoh presented our Radio 4 appeal as part of our three-month Seeds of Opportunity appeal. An appeal which raised, with gift aid and the UK government match, an amazing £6 million! A year on since the appeal closed – projects in Mozambique and Ghana have been set up to support farming communities with training and loans so that they can move from subsistence to commercial farming. In March this year, Adjoa travelled to the remote communities of Northern Ghana to meet the…
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by Adjoa Andoh
I flew up from the capital Accra, where my father lives, to Tamale in the north on the 6.30am flight. The last time I made this journey was forty years ago, so I was excited. As we stepped down from the plane 45 minutes later the wonderful dry earth smell of the northern Savannah hit me and I knew I was somewhere else now. I was met by the wonderful Isaac Kodjo Gyesi, Head of Agribusiness for Opportunity International Ghana, and George Owusu Ansah, Tamale Branch manager and their drivers. Driving…
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by Terry Watson
I am continually amazed by our clients’ unstoppable energy and resourcefulness. They are determined to give their children a better future than their own, despite many social and economic challenges. Our clients are fuelled by a tenacious ambition to work hard and lift themselves out of poverty. Thanks to you, their ambitions are being realised. In 2015, we provided loans, savings and training to more entrepreneurs and communities than ever before. We expanded into more rural communities and tailored…
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by Opportunity International
Did you hear us on BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show yesterday? Nathan Byrd, our Head of Education Finance, and two of our school proprietors’ from Ghana, Comfort and Priscilla Appiah, spoke with Jeremy about the transformative work of our education programme. They discussed how our financial products are improving access to, and quality of, education for many communities living in poverty. Comfort shared her inspiring story – how she has grown her school from three students to over 800 thanks…
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by Opportunity International
More than 70% of people in Africa live in rural areas and rely on the land to provide for their family. The challenge for many is not just to provide a daily meal for their family but to take it a step further and move from subsistence to commercial farming. Our Seeds of Opportunity Appeal sought to highlight this need and raise money to do something about it. By enabling farmers to run more efficient farms and produce a variety of crops, they can then start to sell commercially and begin planning…
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by Helen Plummer
The walls of Martha’s small, cramped living room are covered with graduation photos. Martha, a 57-year-old widow who lives in Bukesa, a poor suburb of Uganda’s capital Kampala, has put eight children through school. She’s also possibly one of Opportunity’s longest serving clients. Through the open door we can hear the combined noise of some 600 chickens in a pen – one of Martha’s two businesses. The second, a small tailoring outfit, is located just along the track outside. For 20 years,…
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by Opportunity International
Opportunity International is running a DFID funded Girls Education Challenge (GEC) project in Uganda partnering with Opportunity Bank Uganda and local youth empowerment NGO – Private Education Development Network (PEDN). We are working with 250 schools, over 12,000 girls and over 3000 families by providing: A mixture of loans - to improve school environment and infrastructure; Financial education and life skills training – to set girls up for a better future; Loans for parents - to pay their…
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by Opportunity International
Lydia Baffour Awuah has Opportunity International running through her veins. Like most of our clients, income from her mother’s small trading business in Ghana enabled Lydia to go to school and university. In 2000 Lydia started working for Opportunity Ghana as a Loan Officer. Over the years she has worked in various roles and, on completing a Masters in International Development at the University of Bath, she is now based in our UK Office as a Senior Programme Manager. She regularly returns to…
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by Edward Fox
Nkunku Aby lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the poorest countries in the world. A country where only 3% people own a bank account. Three years ago, Nkunku lost everything. She returned to her small tailoring shop in Kinshasa, the capital city, to find it empty with her business partner gone. Thankfully Opportunity International was there to offer Nkunku the support, start-up capital and training she needed to rebuild her business. Her first loan helped her rent new premises…
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by Opportunity International
This August, The Economist included an article celebrating the power of private education in the developing world. It’s a topic that we know well at Opportunity International – and our shared belief that private schools can be major change agents has motivated us to invest in private schools throughout Africa. We believe that accessible, high-quality schools can make all the difference for students trapped in generational poverty. And so when The Economist references “the fastest-growing…
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