Source: Zawya.
Search Results for: Tunisia
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Enda Inter-Arabe Rolls Out Grameen Foundation’s Mifos Information Management Platform to 52 Branches with Assistance from Grameen-Jameel and ThoughtWorks
Grameen-Jameel Pan-Arab Microfinance Limited and Grameen Foundation (GF) have announced that enda Inter-Arabe of Tunisa (enda) has gone live on Mifos, the management information system for microfinance institutions. Mifos is an open source software program, meaning, among other things, the source code is accessible and the software is freely redistributable. The platform was developed by Grameen Foundation and launched in the Arab World by Grameen-Jameel. According to the press release in CSRwire, enda expects the investment in Mifos to assist it in managing its growth from the current 100,000-plus poor clients across Tunisia to its target of 300,000 by the end of 2012. The announcement was made at the 2009 Sanabel Microfinance Conference in Beirut, Lebanon, a gathering of microfinance practitioners and stakeholders in the Middle East and North Africa.
PAPER WRAP-UP: Arab Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report, 2008 by the Arab Microfinance Network, Sanabel and the Microfinance Information Exchange, Inc. (MIX)
Written by Ranya Abdel-Baki, Manager of Transparency at Sanabel and Charles Cordier, Analyst at the MIX, published by the Microfinance Information Exchange Inc. (MIX), February 2009, 17 pages, available at:
MICROCAPITAL STORY: The National Federation of Microcredit Associations (FNAM) in Morocco to form Committee to set up more Microcredit Associations; Calls for more Diversification of Microcredit Services
The National Federation of Microloan Assocation (FNAM), a Moroccan non-governmental organization (NGO), has called for the need to revise the existing microcredit strategy in Morocco in an effort to make microcredits accessible to more people, according to a press release on Magharebia, the news and information website about the Maghreb region in Africa. In this regard, the FNAM plans to set up a committee that would focus on establishing microcredit associations in those Moroccan regions that are greatest hit by poverty. The term Maghreb is generally applied to the countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The Magharebia web site is sponsored by the United States Africa Command, the military command responsible for supporting and enhancing US efforts to promote stability, co-operation and prosperity in the region.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Grameen-Jameel and Blue Orchard’s Arab Microfinance Investment Symposium Concludes that Microfinance in Arab World Totals US $5.5 billion
The Arab microfinance industry, with an estimated total market of USD 5.5 billion in the Arab world, remains a largely untapped area, it was reported in multiple Arab-based newspapers following the 2008 Arab Microfinance Investment Symposium held on November 30, 2008. The Symposium had a total of fifteen speakers, including speakers from Grameen-Jameel, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Blue Orchard Finance, and a variety of other organizations involved in microfinance, although the majority of the press focused on the presentation by Heather Henyon, the General Manager of Grameen-Jameel. The microfinance institutions (MFIs) on the MFI Panel included Jordan’s Tamweelcom, Egypt’s DBACD, Tunisia’s enda inter-arabe, and Pakistan’s Kashf Foundation. Additionally, more than 150 delegates from the UAE, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Morocco, Tunisia and Pakistan discussed the potential of the microfinance industry in the Arab region. The 2008 Arab Microfinance Investment Symposium was co-hosted by Grameen-Jameel, a social-oriented business based in Dubai, and BlueOrchard, a microfinance investment manager located in Geneva, Switzerland and was covered in this MicroCapital Event.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: US Private Equity Group Emerging Capital Partners Invests $28m in Financial BC SA of Togo, Parent of FINADEV, a Microfinance Institution
Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), an international private equity firm focused on investing in Africa, purchased a USD 28 million stake in Financial BC SA (FBC), a privately held Lomé, Togo-based regional commercial bank. The investment consists of common shares and convertible notes. FBC will use the funds to expand its presence through central and western Africa.
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: 2008 Arab Microfinance Investment Symposium
NOVEMBER 30, 2008, DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
The 2008 Arab Microfinance Investment Symposium is a day-long event focusing on microfinance as an emerging asset class and investment opportunities in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan. The symposium will take place on November 30 at the Godolphin Ballroom of the Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and it will be co-hosted by Grameen-Jameel, a social-oriented business based in Dubai, and BlueOrchard, a microfinance investment manager located in Geneva, Switzerland. Aramex and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have signed on as sponsors. The symposium has been marketed to asset managers, bankers, high net-worth individuals, family businesses and other interested investors.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: MicroRate Publishes Public Ratings of Microfinance Institutions Conducted Between January and September 2008
Forprofit microfinance rating company MicroRate has announced the completion of the following public microfinance institution ratings between January 2008 and September 2008:
MICROCAPITAL STORY: France’s Agency for Development Lends $4.7m to Jordan-based Société Générale de Banque – Jordanie to Support Jordanian Microfinance Institutions Tamweelcom and MEMCO
In its continued support of Jordan’s development efforts, France’s Agency for Development (AFD) loaned EUR 3 million (USD 4.7 million) to commercial bank Société Générale de Banque – Jordanie. The Jordanian bank plans to re-lend the capital to microfinance institutions (MFIs) Tamweelcom and Middle East Microcredit Company (MEMCO), allocating USD 2.8 million to Tamweelcom and USD 1.9 million to MEMCO. AFD’s financing is intended to help expand the geographical outreach of microfinance in Jordan, and to develop new microfinance products and services.
PRESS RELEASE: Microfinance in the Mediterranean Study Released at Event Held by Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP) and Sanabel Microfinance Network
Source: European Union.
PRESS RELEASE: Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX) Presents at Sanabel Microfinance Conference
Source: Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX).
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: 2008 African Development Bank Annual Meeting
The 43rd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (ADB) and the 34th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the The African Development Fund (ADF) will be held on May 14-15 at the Joaquim Chissano International Conference Center in Maputo, Mozambique. The meetings will focus on the following theme: “Fostering Shared Growth: Urbanization, Inequality, and Poverty”.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Forbes’ Special Feature on Private Investment in Microfinance Includes Top 50 Microfinance Institutions
Forbes, a American business and financial news magazine, presented the list of top 50 microfinance institutions (MFIs) of 2007 in its special feature on the private investment in the microfinance industry.
PRESS RELEASE: Grameen Foundation Engineers More Than $100m in Local Currency Financing
Growth Guarantee Program Secures Local Currency Loans and Spares Microfinance Institutions Foreign Exchange Risk
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Mifos, a Freely Available Open-source Management Information System for Microfinance Institutions
The New York Times recently published an article highlighting the Mifos Initiative; a microfinance-focused open-source software development community that is addressing the growing information management needs of microfinance institutions (MFIs) by engineering and distributing a freely available management information system (MIS). Their product, called Mifos, provides functionality that helps MFIs run efficiently and achieve scale in respect to data collection and management. MicroCapital first covered the Mifos framework in July 2005 while it was being developed in conjunction with a pilot credit bureau project in Morocco.
NEWS WIRE: USA: Back-Office Software Support for Busy Microfinance Institutions
“The microfinance industry — bankers to the poor — faces a paradox of scale, growing large in some ways but remaining small in others,” says the New York Times.
PRESS RELEASE: IBM Partners with Grameen Foundation to Expand Open-Source Microfinance Software Platform Mifos
Effort to expand Mifos functions to better serve broad array of microfinance institution (MFI) technology needs
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Centre for Arab Women Training and Research (CAWTAR) Publishes Directory of Arab Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
CAWTAR, a Tunisian non-governmental organization (NGO), has published a directory of organizations titled, “Directory of Poverty Reduction and Micro-credit for Women and Empowerment.” The document includes the contact information for 350 institutions, including microfinance institutions (MFIs), research organizaitons, NGOs, and government agencies across 22 Arab nations. In addition to contact information, the resource provides a description of targeted borrowers and the financial services of each MFI listed.