OAK BROOK, Ill. -- Opportunity International, one of the world’s largest microfinance organizations, today announced it has received a $24.2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funding will help Opportunity International's subsidiary, the Micro Insurance Agency, greatly expand its insurance products to the poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America and will enable the world's first stand-alone microinsurance agency to enter 11 new countries and provide life, health and crop insurance to 21 million poor people by 2012.