Press Room
- Grand Opening in Democratic Republic of Congo
- Harry Turner Named CEO of Opportunity International Network Office
- Micro Ensure eyes higher premiums with Malayan, Grepalife alliance
- Farm aid from space
- Melinda Gates in Davos: Lessons from Africa
- Planting seeds to outgrow poverty
- Opportunity Bank of Malawi Featured by Millenium Villages
- IFC Helps Russian Microfinance Institution FORUS Bank
- Congressional Delegation Visits Opportunity International Microfinance Bank in Kigali, Rwanda
- The Global Food Crisis
- Indian farmers to insure themselves against climate change crop failure
- Rwanda: UOB’s Loan Portfolio Grows to $5.2 Million
- Putting Ghana’s Informal Sector in Business
- Background and Fact Sheet: March 2009
- Omidyar Network Grants $4.5 Million to Opportunity International
- Opportunity Joins Campaign for Client Protection
- The Micro Insurance Agency becomes MicroEnsure
- Opportunity International’s Micro Insurance Agency to Develop Life, Health and Crop Insurance
- Microschools get top marks
- John Deere Foundation and Opportunity International Join to Fight Hunger
- Gates Foundation gives $2.2M for banks in Africa
- Farmers benefit from electronic money transfer
- 500,000 milestone achieved in the Philippines
- New bank branch opens in Malawi
Network Press Room
Melinda Gates in Davos: Lessons from Africa
Financial Times, January 28th, 2010
I visited some sites run by Opportunity International Bank of Malawi. OIBM is building inexpensive branches - I visited one that was made out of three shipping containers–and setting up kiosks in shopping centres and post offices. They also operate seven trucks, some equipped with ATMs, that can bring affordable banking services to even the most remote locations. I talked to several OIBM clients who told me that before the trucks started coming to their town, they had to take long, expensive trips into the city to do their banking-or simply hide their savings under the mattress. But now the bank comes to them.
Published in Financial Times on January 28th, 2010
