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The OPIC Blog



September Board Meeting: Priorities renewed and newer

September 26, 2012

At its September meeting, OPIC’s Board of Directors kept the agency’s focus trained on priority sectors – renewable resources; food security and safe drinking water; and small and medium size businesses (SMEs) – and added another: the growing middle class in emerging markets, which stand to transform developing countries in the coming years. Be it Africa, where 100 million households
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It’s as simple as a stove

August 30, 2012

How one appliance can saves lives, empower women, and reduce pollution in the developing world. By Mimi Alemayehou Nearly every mother’s daily routine includes making meals for her children no matter where on this planet she happens to live. In the U.S., we have a range of easy, efficient appliances to choose from when preparing a meal – stovetop, oven,
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Featured Photo: Affordable, Sustainable Homes in Liberia

August 17, 2012

Housing construction at the site of Broad Cove Ecohomes, Liberia outside of Monrovia. Broad Cove is using an OPIC loan to build moderately-priced houses in a region where affordable housing is virtually nonexistent. Broad Cove is using renewable and locally-sourced materials including bricks made from compressed earth and cement which will keep the houses naturally cool.  

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Investing in Better Harvests

August 13, 2012

Workers at the FAIM company in Rwanda begin planting new, virus-free banana plant seedlings. These seedling will help farmers boost their farm production, their incomes, and the local food supply. In Rwanda, deficient seed and plant stocks hinder food production and impair the health and nutrition of communities that depend on local food. For example, the use of diseased plants
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Elizabeth Littlefield Speaks at U.S.-South Africa Business Partnership Summit

August 07, 2012

OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield at U.S.-South Africa Business Partnership Summit.   OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield at U.S.-South Africa Business Partnership Summit with The Honorable Robert Hormats, Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy & the Environment, U.S. Department of State; The Honorable Fred Hochberg, Chairman and President, Export-Import Bank of the United States; Mr. Paul Talley, Chief Operating
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Kifaru Youth Group

August 03, 2012

Members of the Kifaru Youth Group, a microfinance loan group based in the Nairobi suburb of Kawangware, meets in June to update their finances. The group is supported with microloans from Equity Bank’s Kawangware branch, which opened in 2007 and has since seen its customer base grow from 5000 members to 80,000. “Kawangware is a slum that is becoming a
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Monthly News Wrap-Up: July 2012

August 01, 2012

This month, Ernst & Young released a new report, Rapid-Growth Markets Forecast Summer edition 2012, which explores how soaring domestic demand in many developing markets “is poised to change the rules of the world economy.” By 2020, the report says, the number of middle-class households in emerging countries will more than double, overtaking the U.S. and Eurozone with nearly 150
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Sharing OPIC’s Story: A conversation with Judith Pryor, Vice President of Office of External Affairs

July 31, 2012

In your experience, what is it that people find most interesting about OPIC’s work and what do they find most surprising? It varies by audience, of course, but in general OPIC’s project success stories are what people are most interested in. People like to hear how two college friends who traveled through Brazil came up with the idea to introduce
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“The most promising frontier market in the world today”

July 27, 2012

OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield told Congress on Wednesday July 25 that Africa presented extensive investment and development opportunities but that U.S. businesses remain underrepresented on the continent. During the panel discussion, Embracing Africa’s Market Potential, before the Africa Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Littlefield described how OPIC supports long-term U.S. investments in Africa through political risk insurance,
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Featured Photo: Helping More Farmers Grow More Food

July 27, 2012

The head agronomist at the Forestry Agricultural Investment Management (FAIM) farm in Rwamagana, Rwanda. FAIM is  applying its plant propagation technology to improve crop yields, and obtained a loan from OPIC in 2012 to support its work in Rwanda, the most densely populated country in Africa, where many families suffer from food insecurity and malnutrition. While a majority of Rwandans are
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