Working with the U.S. private sector, it helped U.S. businesses gain footholds in emerging markets, catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad. It achieved its mission by providing investors with financing, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds, when commercial funding could not be obtained elsewhere. Established as an agency of the U.S. government in 1971, OPIC operated on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers.