Opportunity International has announced a philanthropic grant of US$1.2 million from Caterpillar Inc through the Caterpillar Foundation.
Caterpillar has provided a dozen moderate-sized grants to Opportunity International since 1994, and this latest donation represents the largest gift ever by Caterpillar to a microfinance organization. The grant will assist Opportunity International in expanding initiatives in China and six African nations.
A pioneer in microfinance since 1971, and today one of the largest microfinance organizations, Opportunity International offers small business loans, insurance, banking services and business training to the poorest of the working poor in 28 countries worldwide.
The grant comes as Opportunity International expands its presence in Asia and Africa. Approximately US$750,000 of the Caterpillar Inc funding is allocated to support Opportunity International's programs in China. The new funding is expected to create about 5,000 new jobs in the city of Hefei in Anhui province over the next three years, providing the capital to benefit about 25,000 people. The Caterpillar grant is the largest gift received by Opportunity International for its operations in China, where the organization opened an office in 2003.
The remainder of the grant will be distributed equally to Opportunity International's programs in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Mozambique, Malawi and Rwanda. In addition to providing credit in the form of microloans, Opportunity International has opened banks in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa that feature innovations such as biometric fingerprint identification technology, mobile ATMs, savings accounts, low-cost money transfers and health, life and even crop insurance for the poorest of the working poor. The Africa portion of the grant will help more than 28,000 poor people, bringing the total expected impact of the Caterpillar grant to benefit more than 53,000 workers, entrepreneurs and their family members.
The Caterpillar grant is the latest in a series of high-profile gifts to Opportunity International as it begins a new campaign to mobilize $1 billion over the next six years to benefit 100 million poor people by 2015.
