Opportunity International

Opportunity International

Opportunity International is a non-profit group that offers savings opportunities to entrepreneurs in under-developed impoverished areas. This organisation offers banking and savings opportunities to people in twenty-two countries around the world. The operations and actions of this group are based on the concept of microfinance as a sustainable foundation for entrepreneurs and the community as a whole. Opportunity International succeeds in business sustainability by utilizing a combination of entrepreneur education, technology support/education and financial planning.

Although this organisation operates on a much larger scale than the work our project team dealt with, the studies and outcomes of projects OI has done can proved useful in our research. Studies Opportunity International has conducted in Kenya and Malawi showed that members with savings accounts saved six to seven times more than those who did not. Additionally, the studies showed that small business entrepreneurs earned a 40% higher return on business investment. This information served as an example of the successful techniques for savings groups in poor communities. Our team considered the information presented from this organisation when deciding what model would be the most sustainable in the Langrug community.