About Opportunity International UK
Development with dignity for those in poverty around the world.
In most developing countries, a significant proportion of the population survives by running or working in small businesses, usually in agriculture, manufacturing or trading. (In Africa and Asia it’s 75% of the working population.)
For the vast majority of poor people, however, the money to start or expand a micro enterprise is simply not available. Without collateral or a credit record, they cannot borrow from banks, and so are dependent on family members or on moneylenders who may charge interest of 10% a day, sometimes more. Credit at such a price helps to keep people in poverty.
Opportunity International is the major UK-based charity specialising in microfinance – the provision of basic financial services - for developing countries. It provides small loans and training (and, increasingly, savings facilities and insurance) to poor people with initiative who want to support their families.
By helping them to develop their own businesses, it creates jobs, stimulates local economies and strengthens communities. This is a sustainable approach to tackling poverty which gives individuals the self-esteem that comes from success by their own efforts.
Charity can lead to dependence, but short-term credit and support enable self-sufficiency and self-worth.
In 2002, the Opportunity network lent £81.7 million through 536,000 loans to nearly 400,000 clients world-wide. Programmes are administered by locally staffed microfinance institutions, Implementing Partners, in 25 countries on four continents.
Since reasonable interest rates charged to clients contribute to the costs of administering the loans, the Implementing Partners can work towards self-sustainability and independence from donor support.
Loans are given to individuals and to ‘Trust Banks’: groups of people who jointly access loans, typically for market stalls or simple manufacturing businesses. After initial training, each member of the group receives a small amount of money to start his or her business, repaying the loan weekly over a four-month period. Loans are guaranteed by the group, and when they have been paid off the whole Trust Bank can graduate to a new loan cycle and a larger loan size.
The loan officer visits each week to offer advice and encouragement, and the group also meets for educational, training and social activities.
Some 86% of Opportunity’s loans are made to women. Although clients are never discriminated against due to gender (or religion, or ethnic background), the majority of the world's poorest people are women, and research has shown that they are more likely than men to channel their income towards meeting the needs of their families.
Some 98% of all funds loaned is repaid, which means that the money can be lent again and again. £1,000 can create eight jobs in the first year, but over a five-year period it can create or secure 38 jobs.
Although funds are recycled, a huge need for loans remains. It is estimated that 500 million people world-wide could benefit from microfinance services.
Opportunity International therefore continues to need further support to expand its programmes to the individuals and families who simply want a fair chance to work hard and transform their own lives. Its average loan is only £152 - not a large amount to most of us, but enough in many countries to give a family the chance of self-sufficiency with dignity.
Our history
Opportunity International seeks transformation in the lives of poor men and women in developing countries. It provides entrepreneurs with access to capital and business training to start and expand small businesses. Opportunity enables people to care for their families and gain the dignity that comes from being self-supporting. Communities are strengthened as local economies improve and entrepreneurs join forces to solve societal problems.
This process is called microenterprise development.
The movement was founded by entrepreneurs and businesspeople who wished to provide lasting solutions to poverty.
In 1971, Al Whittaker, president of Bristol-Myers International Corporation, asked poor people, "What do you need?" They answered, "We need work. With jobs, we will solve our own problems." Whittaker acted on that answer and founded the first Opportunity programme in Latin America.
In 1976, David Bussau, an Australian entrepreneur, founded a similar job-creation programme in Indonesia. Three years later, the two programmes united. Poor people on two continents proved that with small loans to start up or expand microbusinesses and cottage industries, they could support their families.
The Opportunity International Network has now expanded to include 42 Implementing Partners in 25 developing countries and Support Partners in seven developed countries. With a global team in place, the Opportunity Network is capitalising on the growing popularity of microenterprise development.
Microenterprise development enables grassroots capitalism. The fundamental premise is that individuals, regardless of their economic status, can improve their income through hard work and free enterprise. Each individual chooses the income-generating activity appropriate to the circumstances. In this way, microenterprise stimulates both individual creativity and personal responsibility.