By Lauren Thorn | Online Community Manager
Opportunity is impacting the lives of nearly 1.3 million clients and their families across ten countries in Africa. Currently over 200,000 Africans have loans and about one million have voluntary savings accounts.
Opportunity is always looking to improve accessibility to financial services. Mobile money is a tool that provides access to cell phone banking, cashless payment systems and cashless transactions. As of 2014, clients in Malawi, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania are active mobile money users. Saving the trip to a local branch, mobile money is improving Opportunity’s outreach to rural farmers who are able to access banking services through their personal devices. Plans are underway to expand mobile money offerings so that all of Opportunity’s African clients have access to this valuable tool.
Core Banking System Upgrades are underway in Malawi, Ghana and Rwanda. These upgrades are designed to bring branches up to date with the latest software and technology. Additionally, all of Opportunity’s owned partners in Africa now have access to centralized information technology support based in Ghana. Hundreds of Tanzanian and Ghanaian farmers are benefiting from Field Digital Data Collection tool that maps agricultural plots to determine the appropriate loan size.
Education Finance products are offered in six countries in Africa. School Improvement loans for education entrepreneurs are offered in Malawi, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. School fee loans are available to clients Tanzania and the previous five countries. Tertiary loans have been introduced to clients in Ghana and Rwanda and are helping to support individuals seeking higher education. The Education Finance program provides more than just loans. In Ghana, 80% of school proprietor clients have engaged in financial training courses. Additionally, Opportunity Kenya conducted Financial Literacy training courses for 1,050 youths. With the help of education organization Aflatoun, similar courses are now offered to young clients in Uganda and Rwanda to improve financial literacy and encourage commitment to education and employment. The success of the Education Finance program is encouraging; educational loans and training improve the wellbeing of clients and their communities. Opportunity is committed to expanding the Education Finance program to support brighter educational futures for children and their families across Africa.
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