Microfinance
Microfinance refers to the provision of business-building services such as loans, savings, insurance, and training to those who have previously not been able to access them. With a thirty-year track record of stimulating economies from the bottom up, microfinance is now widely regarded as a just and sustainable approach to alleviating global poverty.

Throughout the developing world, there are millions of people with the dreams, abilities and work ethic to start small businesses and work their way out of poverty. They simply need a favourable business culture – access to capital through small loans, a secure place to put their earnings and insurance - in order to alleviate the costs of unexpected calamity and to get their enterprises up and running. While not everyone in the developing world is an entrepreneur, studies estimate that roughly 600 million individuals could benefit from the services that microfinance provides. Currently only 10 - 20% of the developing world has access to microfinance.

Microloans
Within Opportunity International, most microloan recipients begin as members of a Trust Group. A Trust Group consists of 15-40 people from one community who agree to co-guarantee one another’s loans, using mutual trust instead of material goods as their collateral on their loans. After members receive their loan funds, they meet with their Trust Group weekly for training sessions on topics ranging from business growth to leadership development. Loan clients with larger businesses may subsequently apply for more substantial, individual microloans.

As loans help local businesses grow, the benefits multiply: family incomes rise, children are better fed, homes are improved, and tuition comes within reach. Loan amounts begin as little as $60, and the loan repayment rate is typically around 98%. When loans are repaid, they are redistributed to other aspiring entrepreneurs – creating a cycle of economic growth.

Microinsurance
For many people in the developing world, a multitude of risks threatens to derail any progress they have made to work their way out of poverty. One loss of life or one crop failure can completely decimate a family’s savings and sustainability.

Microinsurance seeks to protect individuals living on low incomes against these perils. Until recently, it was next to impossible for the economically-marginalized to obtain insurance through a bank or insurance company. Even when insurance solutions were available, there were usually too complicated and expensive. Today, Opportunity offers relevant and affordable insurance that covers a range of risks: death, disability, loss of health, loss of livestock, fire, flood and drought. Through Opportunity's subsidiary MicroEnsure, more than 3.5 million lives have been insured!

Microsavings
Imagine having to keep the equivalent of all your savings buried in a hole behind your house, or all of your investments in the form of livestock – leaving the sum total of your assets vulnerable to loss, damage or theft. A majority of the developing world does not have access to banks, so personal savings are kept in insecure locations or held by collectors who charge hefty service fees.

By contrast, microsavings allow clients to earn interest on their savings in a safe, secure location. Often available without a minimum balance requirement, savings accounts enable families to prepare for unexpected expenses and longer-term goals, and also allow Opportunity to put that money to work as loan funds in their neighbourhood.