MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Cambodia’s Microfinance Loans Increase by 42% While Non-Performing Loans Decrease from 1.3% to 0.4%

According to data cited by Cambodian newspaper, the Phnom Penh Post, for 28 of the 30 members of the Cambodian Microfinance Association (CMA), outstanding microloans rose 41.5 percent from 2010 to 2011, from USD 648 million to USD 916 million.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Approves $10m Loan to MicroEnergy Credits (MEC) to Promote Clean Energy Microfinance

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency of the US government, has approved a loan of USD 10 million to MicroEnergy Credits (MEC), a US-based, for-profit firm, to assist microfinance institutions (MFIs) in launching clean-energy lending programs.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) to Offer Mobile Prepaid Product from Visa in Nigeria and Uganda

Visa Incorporated (Visa), a US-based payments technology company, has recently announced that it is offering under-banked consumers in developing countries prepaid, globally interoperable electronic payment accounts.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Launches “Global Engagement Call” Offering to Invest in Funds Operating in Emerging Markets

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency of the US government, has launched a Global Engagement Call, inviting proposals from qualified fund managers to invest in new, expanding or privatizing companies in any of the 150 emerging markets where OPIC operates [1].

MICROFINANCE EVENT: US Agency for International Development (AID) to Host Seminar, “Overview of Microfinance Markets and Investment Opportunities in Russia and China”, Washington, DC, USA, November 3, 2011, Available in Person and Online on Microenterprise Learning Information and Knowledge Sharing Microlinks, Knowledge-Driven International Development (KDID) Portal

Event Name: Microlinks After Hours Seminar #57: Overview of Microfinance Markets and Investment Opportunities in Russia and China

Event Date: November 3, 2011, 9:00am – 10:30am

Event Location: Online or at QED Group LLC, 1250 Eye Street NW, 11th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, USA

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to Loan Equivalent of $2m in Local Currency to Frontiers Microlending to On-Lend to Microfinance Institutions in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), an international financial institution headquartered in London, announced recently that it has committed to loan the equivalent of USD 2 million in the local currency, somoni, to Frontiers Microlending Company (Frontiers), a Kyrgyzstan-based non-bank microfinance institution, to serve the “lower end of the microfinance market in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan” [1].

MICROFINANCE EVENT: US Agency for International Development (AID) to Host Seminar, “Sound Expansion of Mobile Financial Services: A Risk Matrix Approach for Developing Enabling Environments”, Washington, DC, USA, October 21, 2011, Available in Person and Online on Microenterprise Learning Information and Knowledge Sharing (microLINKS), Knowledge-Driven International Development (KDID) Portal

Event Name: Sound Expansion of Mobile Financial Services: A Risk Matrix Approach for Developing Enabling Environments

Event Date: October 21, 2011, 9:00am – 10:30am

Event Location: Online or at QED Group LLC, 1250 Eye Street NW, 11th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, USA

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bill & Melinda Gates, Gatsby Charitable, Rockefeller Foundations and JP Morgan Invest $25m to Establish African Agricultural Capital Fund

Several members of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), a US-based nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the effectiveness of market-based solutions to social and environmental problems, together with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a government agency that provides international economic and humanitarian assistance, have created the African Agricultural Capital Fund (AACF), which is intended to boost Africa’s agriculture sector.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Swiss Re Commits to Offering Cholera Insurance in Haiti and Crop Insurance in Senegal, Clinton Global Citizen Awards Announced at CGI Annual Meeting

Swiss Re, a global reinsurer, announced during the recent 2011 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting its commitment to provide insurance against cholera for Haitian women entrepreneurs and an “insurance for work” program intended to help farmers in Senegal maintain food and income security amidst climate change.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Ahmed El Bardai of Egyptian Microfinance Institution Reefy Predicts Boom in Lending to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises to Boost National Economy

Mr Ahmed El Bardai, founder and chief executive of the Egyptian for-profit microfinance institution (MFI) Reefy, expects the country’s next government to focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to boost the economy that is facing a huge budget deficit and declining gross domestic product [1].

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BNP Paribas Loans $1.9m to Microfinance Institutions Fundación Espoir of Ecuador, Amret of Cambodia

BNP Paribas, a financial service provider based in France, recently made loans totaling the equivalent of USD 1.9 million to two microfinance institutions (MFIs): Fundación Espoir (Espoir) of Ecuador and Amret Company Limited (Amret) of Cambodia [1].

MICROFINANCE EVENT: Cloud Computing and Financial Services for The Poor: Promise and Perils of a New Computing Paradigm in Washington DC, USA, and Online, September 16, 2011

Event Name: Cloud Computing and Financial Services for The Poor: Promise and Perils of a New Computing Paradigm

Event Date: September 16, 2011; 9:00 am – 10:30 am EDT

Event Location: QED Group, 1250 Eye Street, NW 11th Floor, Washington DC, USA or online

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ADB’s Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI) Annual Report Covers Partnership with Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu

The Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI), an initiative established in 2006 by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), recently outlined in its annual report its efforts to “encourage private sector led sustainable economic growth” in developing countries in the Pacific by “improving access to financial services, updating business laws and upgrading the delivery of services by state-owned enterprises (SOEs).”

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Electronic “Global Disability Rights Library” Offered to Encourage Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Development Initiatives Including Microfinance

The Global Disability Rights Library (GDRL) project, an initiative of the US International Council on Disabilities and the University of Iowa’s WiderNet Project, with funding support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has announced a call for applications to receive a free digital GDRL [1].

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Habitat for Humanity Receives $45m Loan from Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), to Be On-Lent to Microfinance Institutions Through Housing Finance Programs

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a US government agency that supports private sector development, has approved a USD 45 million loan to Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), a nonprofit, US-based Christian organization that builds homes for poor people, to promote and expand housing microfinance lending.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kyrgyz Microfinance Institutions “Successfully Compete” with Banking Sector in Providing Access to Finance

President of Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbayeva, reportedly said at the recent Central Asian Microfinance Fair that microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Kyrgyzstan are emulating the banking sector in providing loans in the country.