1,000,000 clients at Opportunity

Since I’m into posting press releases, here’s some phenomenal news which I just received.  Opportunity International has logged its 1,000,000th client!     

Opportunity International Honors One Millionth Client During Opening of Rwanda’s First Bank for the Poor

Kigali, Rwanda – Oct. 4, 2007 – With 100 well-wishers looking on, Clementineda Uzabakiriho and her husband Andre were bestowed with a ceremonial “key to the bank” of Urwego Opportunity Microfinance Bank (UOMB) as the one millionth active client of Opportunity International, one of the world’s largest microfinance organizations.

Todd Brogdon, CEO of the new bank, honoured the couple during the opening celebration of the organization’s 17th microfinance bank in the developing world. The crowd of employees and friends where told that that the oversized brass key was a symbol that Urwego Opportunity’s doors would always be open to the working poor and that its customers hold the key to the bank’s success. The bank is the result of a merger between World Relief, Hope International and Opportunity International. At the ceremony, Brogdon said the bank’s goal is to offer savings and expanded financial services to its 28,000 current clients and the people of Rwanda.

The morning’s festivities began with a gospel choir presenting a mini concert followed by refreshments in celebration of the bank’s second week of operation. Clementine and Andre opened their first savings account at the bank following the ceremony. “We started with one bag of sorghum,” Andre told the audience about their tiny business which netted $10 per week when they took out their first microfinance loan of $36. “I never thought our business would be so big, but now we are selling over 1,000 sacks per week.” With the increased profits, the couple has built a new house, bought furniture, purchased livestock and enrolled their children in school.

Bank CEO Brogdon reported that Clementine and Andre had been chosen as our one millionth active loan client worldwide because they are a stellar example. They employ 41 people, all of whom benefit from the business this hard-working couple has built in only a few years time. We celebrate the ‘ripple effect’ that our entrepreneurs can have in helping to alleviate poverty in some of the poorest countries in the world.”

Clementine and Andre also demonstrate another trait common to Opportunity International’s successful entrepreneurs – they give back to their community. Recently, they purchased bricks for the foundation and cement for the floor of a new church going up in their village of Rubindi.

Heiner and Claudia Ophardt of Hygiene-Technik Inc. along with Opportunity Canada’s President Gary Walsh traveled to Rwanda to monitor the start-up and to celebrate the successful merger of the NGOs. “Opportunity Canada has made a major commitment to this start up initiative,” Walsh said, “because there is great hope in this country today – hope for a growing economy and an end to poverty. With the increased income from their small businesses, our clients can provide for their families by putting better meals on their tables, buying books and uniforms to send their children to school, and even adopting orphans in their villages. Clementine and Andre represent the hopes of our one million clients for successful businesses and healthy, prosperous lives.”

While Opportunity International currently provides microfinance loans to one million clients in 28 countries, the organization has made more than six million loans during its 36-year history. Opportunity also has expanded into banks that provide savings accounts for over 200,000 of the working poor, 750,000 insurance policies covering 3.3 million lives in 10 countries.

Opportunity International is proud of this milestone, but our focus is on the future. We are committed to mobilizing $1 billion over the next six years to help 100 million people work their way out of poverty by 2015.

About Urwego Opportunity Microfinance Bank The Urwego Opportunity Microfinance Bank of Rwanda is a historic partnership of World Relief, which has operated Urwego Community Banking, the first and largest microfinance institution in Rwanda, since 1997; World Relief Canada and HOPE International, financial partners in Urwego for several years; and Opportunity International, which brings financial and technology expertise to the operation. The new banking hall using state-of-the-art technology is in the capital of Kigali. The combined operation has offices in 27 of the 30 districts in Rwanda, more than 28,000 loan clients and over 3,000 savings clients. UOMB has $4.5 million in equity capital and a loan portfolio of $1.7 million.

Now that’s something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend!!