Financial Sector Deepening Kenya (FSD Kenya), a Kenyan trust that seeks to develop the capacity of the financial services industry, in partnership with Microfinance Opportunities, a microenterprise resource center based in Washington, DC, recently hosted a workshop on “financial diaries”, which are year-long surveys that examine financial management in poor households. The following findings, based on the implementation of the diaries in Kenya, were announced: 1) low-income households handle “a lot of cash” on a weekly basis, 2) 95 percent of transactions are in cash, with the remaining 5 percent made through M-Pesa, 3) 80 percent of e-money flows are among family and friends, 4) 75 percent of M-Pesa remittances are cashed out, mostly within a day and 5) M-Pesa users are “less vulnerable to health shocks” [1].
Search Results for: india
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: SKS Microfinance Reconsidering Business Strategy to Rebuild Reputation
SKS Microfinance, a microfinance institution (MFI) that serves groups of impoverished women in India, is reportedly considering new business growth avenues in an attempt to increase revenue and improve its reputation. Along with collateral-free loans, four new products would be offered: loans using gold as collateral, housing loans, loans to buy mobile phones and loans to local grocery stores in a supply arrangement with the cash-and-carry chain, Metro. “The pilot projects have been yielding very encouraging results,” says Vikram Akula, chairperson and founder of SKS Microfinance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Habitat for Humanity, Microfinance Centre (MFC) for Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States Establish “Shelter Innovation Center” to Address Housing Needs in Europe, Central Asia
Habitat for Humanity (Habitat), a nonprofit housing organization based in the US state of Georgia that seeks to eliminate substandard housing, and the Microfinance Centre (MFC) for Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States, a regional network of 110 microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently agreed to work together to establish a Regional Center for Innovation for Shelter and Finance.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Microfinance and Social Investment; By Jonathan Conning and Jonathan Morduch; Published by The Financial Access Initiative (FAI) at New York University’s Robert F Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and Hunter College
By Jonathan Conning and Jonathan Morduch; published by Financial Access Initiative (FAI) at New York University’s Robert F Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and Hunter College; April 8, 2011; 30 pages; available at: http://financialaccess.org/sites/default/files/Microfinance%20&%20Social%20Investment_Conning&Morduch.pdf
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: G20 SME (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise) Finance Online Consultations Being Held Through June 17, 2011
The G20 SME (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise) Finance Online Consultations are now ongoing through June 17 to help shape the policy recommendations of the SME Finance Sub-Group, which was launched as part of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion to improve access to financial services for the poor. The Group of Twenty (G20) was established in 1999 to bring together finance ministers and central bank governors of “systematically important” industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Paper Gains on Early Investment in SKS Microfinance Largely Evaporate For Sequoia Capital
Since its initial investment in SKS Microfinance, an India-based microfinance institution (MFI), Sequoia Capital, a US-based venture capital firm, has experienced significant gains on paper followed by partial losses of those gains.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) Brief “Measuring Changes in Client Lives Through Microfinance: Contributions of Different Approaches” Finds Existing RCTs Insufficient to Prove Success of MicroCredit
A recent brief published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) examines different approaches to measuring changes in client lives that may be attributed to microfinance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) Release “Eastern Europe and Central Asia Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report 2010”
Two US-based nonprofits, the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) and CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) co-published the “Eastern Europe and Central Asia Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report 2010.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Opportunities to Partner With Opportunity International Bank of Malawi on Branchless Banking
Microfinance Opportunities (MFO), a microenterprise resource center based in Washington, DC, has announced a partnership with Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM), a Malawian microfinance institution (MFI) affiliated with US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, to implement its branchless banking program in Africa. OIBM joins Moble Transactions in Zambia, Financial Information Networks and Operation (FINO) Fintech Foundation in India and Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) in the Philippines as partners in MFO’s program, “Consumer Education for Branchless Banking” (CEBB).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: PlaNet Finance, Freie Universitat Berlin Accepting Applications for University Meets Microfinance (UMM) Scholarship Programme
PlaNet Finance, a French nonprofit, has issued a call for students to submit applications for its third University Meets Microfinance (UMM) Scholarship Programme.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) Publishes Working Draft of “Microfinance, Financial Crises, and Fluctuations in Food and Fuel Prices” by Adrian Gonzalez
Microfinance Information Exchange, a US-based, nonprofit data provider, recently drafted a paper entitled “Microfinance, Financial Crises, and Fluctuations in Food and Fuel Prices” that examines the potential impact of large-scale financial crises on the microfinance sector.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Asian Development Bank Argues in Favor of Greater Private Sector Involvement in Microinsurance
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a multilateral financial institution operating across Asia, recently convened a meeting of its Board of Governors during which a panel of experts reiterated the significance of microinsurance in protecting poor populations from economic shocks.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Vision Tanzania, MicroEnsure Partner to Launch Agricultural Microfinance Loans Bundled with Weather Index Insurance
World Vision Tanzania, a branch of US-based, Christian relief organization World Vision, in partnership with MicroEnsure, a subsidiary of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, has launched a pilot scheme to provide small-scale farmers in Tanzania with agricultural loans bundled with weather index insurance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroEnsure, PharmAccess Foundation Launch Health Microinsurance for Coffee Growers in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
MicroEnsure, a subsidiary of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, and PharmAccess Foundation, a Dutch nonprofit that seeks to strengthen health systems in sub-Saharan Africa, have partnered to launch a health plan serving members of the Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU), a group of coffee growers in the Kilimanjaro region of northern Tanzania.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Under Pressure Since February, Dr Muhammad Yunus, Founder of Bangladesh Microfinance Institution (MFI) Grameen Bank, Resigns as Managing Director
Dr Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank, a nonprofit microcredit organization in Bangladesh, has officially resigned from his post as managing director in accordance with a ruling of the country’s Supreme Court [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) Microfinance Blog Argues Importance of “Matching Types of Accounts to Types of Needs”
The CGAP Microfinance Blog, which is operated by US-based think tank CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), recently posted an article by President Bindu Ananth of IFMR Trust, an affiliate of India’s nonprofit Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), that argues the importance of “matching types of accounts to types of needs” based on several examples from India[1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Planet Rating Recognized as Microfinance Rating Agency by Philippine Central Bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
Planet Rating, a microfinance rating agency and member of the France-based PlaNet Finance Group, has been recognized by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, as a microfinance institution (MFI) rating agency. This recognition follows the company’s establishment of a regional office in Manila in 2009.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) Releases “2010 Sub-Saharan Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report”
The Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) recently released the “2010 Sub-Saharan Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report,” which covers information on 181 microfinance institutions (MFIs) that operate in 41 countries.