Opportunity International - History

History

In 1971, Al Whitaker left his job as president of Bristol Myers to found the Institute for International Development Incorporated (IIDI), a micro-enterprise organization. Barry Harper was IIDI’s first Executive Director and, along with development officer Dan Swanson, oversaw establishment of offices in Colombia, Peru, Honduras, Kenya, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia.

Australian philanthropist David Bassau founded Maranatha Trust and first used it to give loans in Indonesia in 1977. He came on staff with IIDI as the director of the Indonesia office in 1979 and began expanding its work in Asia. In 1988, IIDI changed its name to Opportunity International. Since that time, it has continued to grow.

Amid the weak economies and vast income gaps of the developing world, helping the poor find employment was nearly impossible. But the genius of microenterprise development was not in finding work, but in helping poor entrepreneurs create or expand their own businesses.

In 1992, Opportunity International began to focus on serving entrepreneurs at even lower levels of poverty. The Philippines program began to test the Trust Group lending method, and the Women’s Opportunity Network was formed and started to test and refine the Trust Group loan program across countries and cultures. Through small loans and business training, one person after another could begin to reverse the downward spiral of poverty and become providers for their families and leaders in their communities.

Convinced that no one group can tackle the issues of poverty alone, Opportunity began developing partners in various regions around the world-independent, self-governing organizations with a similar heartbeat. Linked together in 1998 as the Opportunity International Network-they now number 42 organizations in more than 20 developing countries with support partners in five countries (Australia, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Germany).

In 2000, Opportunity launched into what would become another distinction of its heritage. With more than 200,000 clients worldwide, Opportunity began establishing formal financial institutions (FFI) to broaden the financial services it can provide. FFIs take the form of commercial banks, development banks or credit unions and can accept deposits, borrow money and accept investments.

In 2002, Opportunity International began offering microinsurance through its subsidiary MicroEnsure. As the world’s first microinsurance intermediary, MicroEnsure provides protection against the many risks faced by those living in poverty. Innovative products cover policyholders with crop, health and life insurance–offering clients a safety net when an unexpected hardship or disaster occurs. With average premiums of about $1.50 per month for a family of five, MicroEnsure is making affordable life insurance available for the first time, exclusively to people living in poverty. Other innovations include policies covering persons infected with HIV/AIDS, weather-indexed crop insurance for rural farmers and affordable health insurance for the economically marginalized. MicroEnsure currently offers insurance in five countries. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided a generous grant to enable the agency to enter new countries and provide insurance to many more people.

On 24 January 2006, David Bassau gave the 10th Australia Day Address with the subject “A Giving Nation.”

In January 2008, David Bassau was named Senior Australian of the Year 2008. The esteemed awards recognize Australians excellence-citizens who have made a substantial contribution to the country and are considered inspirational role models for the Australian community. David was recognized for the significant role he has played in the global fight against poverty through his contribution to the world of microfinance.