Opportunity Finance internship, South Africa

About the organisation

Opportunity Finance is a global microfinance institution. Our mission is, through the provision of Microfinance Services, to provide opportunities for people in poverty to transform their lives. This mission is accomplished when clients earn liveable incomes, create new futures for their children and communities, and reclaim their hope and dignity.

Members are committed to loving and serving the poor and marginalised in the developing world, striving to enable lasting improvement in their lives, families, and communities. The needs, expectations, and wellbeing of the poor inspire everything we do.

Opportunity Finance has a customer base of 3500 clients across 7 branches.

This placement will work with the Opportunity South Africa team in Pietermaritzburg. In a highly entrepreneurial country Opportunity Finance is providing low income earners, small businesses and entrepreneurs, mostly from the rural areas, with access to loans for education, to build a home, or to grow their businesses. Details of the organisation can be found on the Opportunity Finance website.

About the internship

The aims of the internship are to conduct research into key areas of strategic importance for the business. This would cover, for example, market research, product development for the organisation. Your role will include gathering data (this may be through field work, visiting clients, conducting focus groups); analysing the data; presenting research findings; writing a report.

During the internship you will also get involved with:

  • Market research relating to clients product needs to help us develop appropriate loan products and improve our value proposition
  • Marketing – how to better communicate our value proposition 
  • Testing new products in the market to understand if they work 
  • Market research to understand why clients are leaving us 
  • Process analysis to see how we can improve our processes

The internship will last for 3-4 weeks, in June 2013. All costs will be covered by Global Challenge.

Due to the duration of this internship, it will not be possible to make any adjustments for mobility issues.

Qualifications and skills

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate:

  • Excellent skills in statistical analysis
  • Excellent skills in conducting field research
  • An understanding of accounting concepts  
  • A commitment to serving poor people and working in diverse teams
  • An ability and commitment to operate on the basis of respect for all people; valuing fully each client, and affirming personal dignity and uniqueness 
  • Ability to exercise a thoughtful and cost effective use of time, skills and finances 
  • Excellent skills in use of MS Excel and MS Word and computer literacy

The successful candidate must be fluent in English (reading, writing and speaking). They should preferably be studying in the field of economics, finance,or development economics.

You may wish to get in touch with the High Consul of the South African High Commission in the UK and Northern Ireland to research your visa options. 

Application instructions

Applications for this opportunity have now closed.