MicroEnsure

Loans for microenterprise development are not always enough to fuel a permanent escape from poverty. Credit enables poor entrepreneurs to generate income, but they may be vulnerable to disastrous natural or personal events that eliminate that source of income. Without tools to minimize these risks, many impoverished families fall into still deeper poverty when crises strike.

According to Munich Re Foundation, of the 3 billion people who live on less than $2USD a day, fewer than 10 million currently have access to insurance. But the Opportunity International Network is tackling this crucial reality.

In 2005, we launched the Opportunity International Micro Insurance Agency, starting with a pilot program in Uganda. Market research conducted in Africa had revealed that, on average, 40 percent of Opportunity’s clients could expect a death in the family within the course of a year. Funerals are costly: approximately three months of disposable income. This combination of funeral frequency and cost motivated Opportunity to begin providing insurance services to its clients in Africa.

Now, Opportunity policies cover more than 3.5 million people in Ghana, Colombia, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, the Philippines, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and has plans for rapid expansion.