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“The most promising frontier market in the world today”

July 27, 2012

OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield told Congress on Wednesday July 25 that Africa presented extensive investment and development opportunities but that U.S. businesses remain underrepresented on the continent. During the panel discussion, Embracing Africa’s Market Potential, before the Africa Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Littlefield described how OPIC supports long-term U.S. investments in Africa through political risk insurance,
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Six questions about impact investing

June 05, 2012

By: Mitchell L. Strauss, Special Advisor Socially Responsible Finance Investors are increasingly talking about “Impact Investing,” but the practice is not new to OPIC, which has a 40-year history of transforming private capital into solutions for common social and environmental challenges around the world. This Q&A explains the concept of Impact Investing, and why it offers the potential for such strong
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OPIC’s increased commitment to small business

May 22, 2012

Small businesses are at the heart of the U.S. economy, and OPIC is committed to putting them at the heart of the global economy as well. This chart illustrates the progress OPIC has made in recent years. In fiscal year 2011, 78% of OPIC’s committed projects were with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). That represents an increase from 69% in
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Microfinance support for small businesses in Israel

April 11, 2012

Small businesses are so universally recognized as a key “engine of the economy,” that that very phrase has become cliché. But the fact remains that banks prefer lending money to established organizations. This recent Times of Israel story explores that dilemma as well as the “magic of microfinance” in helping those small businesses make it big. It also shows how
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OPIC: The bottom line

March 09, 2012

As the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, OPIC works with a lot of numbers. One of the numbers we are most proud of is the one on the bottom line of our income statement. In fiscal 2011, OPIC earned net income of $269 million.  And for the 34th consecutive year, OPIC helped reduce the federal budget deficit while operating at
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Expanding a successful program for small businesses

January 18, 2012

In 2012, OPIC will expand its popular Expanding Horizons event for small businesses, hosting seminars and workshops in multiple cities around the U.S. to help educate small businesses about the benefits of entering emerging markets abroad, and the ways that OPIC’s finance and political risk insurance products can help. OPIC has hosted Expanding Horizons around the country for the past six
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U.S. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen urges U.S. businesses to look beyond their borders

November 16, 2011

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen made introductory remarks at OPIC’s Oct. 26 Expanding Horizons seminar in Miami, where she told a group of small businesses that expanding internationally could be key to their growth and overall success. Ros-Lehtinen, who represents a U.S. Congressional District in South Florida, stressed that trade played an important role in the overall economic health of the
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U.S., Jordan commit to work together to support SMEs

October 27, 2011

On Oct. 25, OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield joined U.S. Ambassador to Jordan Stuart Jones, and Acting USAID Mission Director Kevin Rushing and Dr. Saleh Kharabsheh, Secretary General of the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, in committing to work together to support the development of Jordanian small and medium-sized enterprises to help create jobs and encourage economic growth. “Today’s
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Expanding Horizons: “We have to change our perspective of where our next customers are coming from.”

October 07, 2011

“A big business can walk into a bank, get in the door and probably even end up with financing for an overseas investment. But for a small business, it is particularly challenging,” Lawrence Spinelli, OPIC’s Director of Public Affairs, (pictured)  noted at the start of OPIC’s Expanding Horizons Seminar last month in Southern California. The Expanding Horizons event for small
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