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The OPIC Blog
Featured photo: Support for Rwandan coffee growersFebruary 15, 2013Shyara washing station owned by OPIC client Westrock Coffee Holdings’ Rwanda Trading Co. (“RTC”). OPIC political risk insurance is supporting RTC’s coffee processing operations in Rwanda, which provides agricultural extension loans, seed, fertilizer, compost and technical assistance to help small local coffee producers across the country improve production processes and access international markets. RTC is also providing technical assistance to help 
Featured photo: Supporting small businesses in AfricaFebruary 08, 2013In Nairobi, Kenya, Equity Bank CEO Dr. James Mwangi (center) introduces OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield to Equity Bank agent Maureen Wambugu (right). One of the bank’s community branches is surrounded by several local businesses, including a second hand shoe trader, whose owner used an Equity Bank micro loan to expand his business. OPIC is providing $8.45 million in OPIC and GE partner to bring clean cookstoves to East AfricaFebruary 05, 2013Last Thursday, outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a new OPIC partnership with GE to finance a clean cookstoves project in East Africa – one of a select series of public-private partnerships producing sustainable solutions to key global challenges that she chose to highlight during her final week in office. Developmentally, the project addresses one of the world’s most Meeting the global unemployment challengeJanuary 31, 2013A report earlier this month from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) offered some staggering measures of worldwide unemployment. IFC said there are currently 200 million people unemployed around the world – a number roughly equivalent to the population of Brazil — and that the developing world will need to create some 600 million new jobs by the year 2020, just 
Featured photo: OPIC President Elizabeth Littlefield speaks at the World Economic ForumJanuary 25, 2013This image from a screen recapping events at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland captures a quote from OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield. She is speaking on a panel about Scaling Social Innovation, and is participating in multiple events at the Forum exploring ways to address transformative social and environmental change. OPIC returns to Davos for the World Economic Forum’s annual meetingJanuary 22, 2013OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield joins a large group of business and political leaders from around the world gathering in Davos, Switzerland this week for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). For more than 40 years, the event has focused high-level discussions around some of the biggest challenges facing the planet, and sought to identify solutions 
Small loan, big impactJanuary 22, 2013In 2012, OPIC committed a $3.5 million loan to Healthpoint Services Global India Ltd., an affiliate of the U.S. company Healthpoint Global Services Inc., to support the construction of small water treatment facilities to some 400 communities in India’s Punjab state that have limited access to safe drinking water. The project, which is expected to prevent waterborne diseases and other 
OPIC monitoring trip to Kenya: A revolution realizedJanuary 16, 2013An interdepartmental OPIC team traveled to Kenya last year to monitor the performance of three financial institutions whose microfinance lending is supported by the agency: Musoni, the Kenya Women’s Finance Trust DTM Ltd (KWFT), and Equity Bank. Over the course of three days, members of OPIC’s Office of Investment Policy, Portfolio Management Department, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Finance Department, and 
Ensuring accountability in international developmentDecember 20, 2012One of the key components of effective development is effective conflict resolution. Unresolved conflicts with local communities can result in higher costs, delays or even abandonment of projects. Last month, OPIC Director of Accountability, Dr. Keith Kozloff sat on a panel on Independent Accountability at the Washington Chapter of the Society for International Development (SID) to discuss the ways accountability 
OPIC’s profit per employee totals $1.2 million in 2012December 14, 2012Earlier this week, OPIC reported strong financial results for Fiscal Year 2012, including net income of $272 million, and a 30 percent increase in financial commitments to American businesses investing in emerging markets abroad. The fact that these results were achieved with a full-time staff of just 220 underscores the efficiency of OPIC’s operation. The agency’s profit-per-employee in 2012 worked |
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