 |
CONTACT US SUBSCRIBE TO NEWS OPIC BLOG |
|
|
||||
| Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) | |||||||
The OPIC Blog
OPIC monitoring trip to Kenya: Big plans becoming realityFebruary 19, 2013An interdepartmental OPIC team traveled to Kenya in 2012 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 
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 
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 
Featured photo: Improving financial inclusion through microfinanceOctober 26, 2012OPIC President & CEO Elizabeth Littlefield, Equity Bank founder James Mwangi (far left) and other bank representatives visit a branch in Nairobi, Kenya, to learn more about improving financial inclusion through microfinance and mobile banking technologies. The OPIC-supported Helios Sub-Saharan Africa Fund invested in Equity Bank, which has operations throughout East Africa. 
Expanding access to banking and credit in Sub-Saharan AfricaOctober 23, 2012Financial inclusion – the access to basic financial services like savings accounts and credit – can be essential to individuals trying to lift themselves out of poverty. Financial inclusion provides an opportunity to invest in a business, a home or an education. Rates of financial inclusion are low throughout much of the developing world, but particularly low in Sub-Saharan Africa. 
Featured photo: Students singing at Nairobi’s Ongata Pine Breeze AcademyOctober 12, 2012Lillian Alwi, right, leads students in song at the Ongata Pine Breeze Academy outside Nairobi, Kenya. As school director, Alwi has used two loans from the Kenya Women’s Finance Trust (KWFT) to build Pine Breeze into a bustling source of hope for more than 500 children from a poor community in the Ngong Hills – “my passion,” she says. OPIC 
OPIC monitoring trip to KenyaOctober 09, 2012An interdepartmental OPIC team traveled to Kenya in June to monitor the performance of three financial institutions whose microfinance lending is supported by the agency: Musoni, the Kenya Women’s Finance Trust, 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 Office of External 
Investing in better harvestsAugust 13, 2012Workers 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 
Featured photo: Blessings hair salon in Kawangware, NairobiJuly 13, 2012Jane Akoth, owner of Blessings Hair Salon in the Nairobi suburb of Kawangware, used a microloan from Musoni – a Kenyan microfinance institution that enables clients to manage their loans via mobile phones – to buy new dryers and other machines that have helped her business grow after theft almost ruined her a few years ago. Musoni’s technology enables Jane |
 |
