Opportunity International Canada is a Support Partner in the Opportunity International Global Network. While the Canadian organization is a relative newcomer, receiving legal status in July 1997, the Opportunity International Network has been operating since 1971. Today, it includes 5 Support Partners serving 45 Implementing Partners in 28 countries – all of whom specialize in Microfinance Services.

The Opportunity International Timeline:

1971 – Al Whittaker, president of Bristol-Myers International Corporation, asked poor people, “What do you need?” They answered, “We need work. With jobs, we will solve our own problems.” Whittaker acted on that answer and founded the first Opportunity program in Latin America in 1971.

1976 - David Bussau, an Australian entrepreneur, founded a similar job creation program in Indonesia. Three years later, the two programs united, with Canadian Ross Clemenger having given out the first official Opportunity International loan to a client in Colombia in 1971.

1997 – Fuelled by the support of a dedicated group of entrepreneurial Canadian business people, Opportunity International Canada came into being.

Founding Board Chairman David Stiller was the driving force. Having chaired another Canadian relief agency, Stiller had been frustrated at the "inability of 'relief work' to make poor people any less poor."

Upon learning there were organizations empowering the poor to earn an income and provide for themselves through small business, he and other like-minded Canadians came together and formed the first Canadian Board.

Today - As of December 2007 1.1 million families around the world are improving their economic situations through Opportunity International microfinance services. Key figures as of December 2007 include:

• Value of loan portfolio is over $511 million
• Overall repayment rate is 98%
• 84% of loans are made to women
• 1.4 million jobs have been created or sustained

"I have not come across anything that makes more sense or is more effective in alleviating poverty than the small business program of Opportunity International...They are building the kingdom of God by helping to create thousands of small businesses…that the poor of the world own and run themselves."

- Dr. Tony Campolo, Professor of Sociology, Eastern College, St. Davids, Pennsylvania