Holiday “Giving Back” Episodes: How Opportunity International Uses Micro-loans to Eradicate Extreme Poverty

Running water. Sanitation systems. Electricity. A car to drive to the store. Enough food to feed your family. These are all things that we’ve likely taken for granted at one time or another — and they’re things that so many in the world live without every day. As part of our Holiday Giving Back Episode series, we talk with the VP of a charitable organization whose mission is to eliminate that level of extreme poverty worldwide. 

 

Mark Lutz is the Senior Vice President of Global Philanthropy at Opportunity International. He joined the organization in 1986 and grew private annual revenue from $1 million to more than $40 million. Mark grew up in South Africa with his missionary parents. Living for 20 years under apartheid shaped him to become an advocate for justice. He’s also the author of “UnPoverty: Rich Lessons from the Working Poor.”

 

Tune into the full conversation for more on Opportunity International’s unique method of making a difference in impoverished people’s lives, personal stories from Mark’s book that display the valuable lessons he’s learned from those living in poverty, success stories from the entrepreneurs Mark’s organization has worked with, and a lot more.

 

Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Learn: 

 

• How growing up in apartheid South Africa was the “germ” that later became Mark’s career in the nonprofit world 

• More about the lightbulb moment Mark had in which he realized he could leverage other people’s money to fight for justice and an end to poverty

• The definition of a “micro-loan”, how Opportunity International recipients typically use that kind of loan, and how those small loans snowball into bigger chances at breaking out of poverty

• Mark shares a story from his book involving a group of women from India and the valuable lessons that they taught him

• How much Opportunity International money has been loaned out to people in need — and how many individuals have been helped by those

• What one woman in the Philippines did with a $50 loan and what Mark learned from that story

• More info about what happens with donations to Opportunity International and how bank partnerships help 10x the impact of those donations

• Why today’s level of poverty can be the next “Berlin Wall”

• The power of a simple $30 donation

• The important distinction between giving money and giving a loan, and why that’s related to increasing people’s dignity

 

Resources Mentioned in This Episode: 

• Opportunity International website

• UnPoverty.org (Mark’s website)

• “UnPoverty: Rich Lessons from the Working Poor” by Mark Lutz

• Buy a copy of “Lost at CEO: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Strategy” by Carl J. Cox 

• 40 Strategy

• Contact 40 Strategy

• Carl J. Cox on LinkedIn