“The Answer is ‘Yes’—Cost and Willingness to Pay in India;” by Akhand Tiwari, Akhilesh Singh, Ann-Byrd Platt, Graham A N Wright, Minakshi Ramji and Sachin Bansal; published by MicroSave; 2011; 16 pages; available at http://ami.microsave.org/sites/default/files/research_papers/CWP_Summary…
Search Results for: Brazil
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: US Government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Inks $45m Investment in Habitat for Humanity Housing Initiative, Microbuild Fund
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a development finance agency of the US government, has finalized its commitment to issue a 10-year loan of USD 45 million to the Microbuild Fund, a Habitat for Humanity initiative to provide loans via microfinance institutions for poor people to improve their housing situations and funding for related technical support [1] [2].
MICROFINANCE EVENT: “Mobile Money: Connected Americas” to be held in Mexico City, March 26 – March 29, 2012
Event Name: Mobile Money Americas 2012
Event Date: March 26 – March 29, 2012
Event Location: Mexico City, Mexico
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Bank Agents: Risk Management, Mitigation, and Supervision;” by Kate Lauer, Denise Dias, Michael Tarazi; Published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor)
By Kate Lauer, Denise Dias and Michael Tarazi; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); December 2011; 24 pages; available at: http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.9.55781/
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Harvard Business School Hosts “ACCION Program on Strategic Leadership for Microfinance,” Boston, Massachusetts, USA, April 9 – April 14, 2012
Event Name: Harvard Business School-ACCION Program on Strategic Leadership for Microfinance
Event Date: April 9 – April 14, 2012
Event Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Microfinance Product Diversification, Over-indebtedness in Kosovo, Social Inclusion
“Making Microfinance Work: Managing Product Diversification” by Cheryl Frankiewicz, Craig Churchill; published by the International Labour Organization (ILO); December 2011; 612 pages; available for a fee at http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/ilo-bookstore/order-online/books/…
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Groupe Provoir Launches Prevoir Kampuchea Micro-life Insurance in Cambodia
Prevoir Kampuchea Micro-life Insurance Public Limited Company (PKMI), a subsidiary of French insurer Groupe Prevoir, has been launched in Cambodia after receiving an operating license from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Invest $1m in Equity in ACCION Microfinance China
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has signed an agreement with ACCION International, a US-based nonprofit organization, to invest USD 1 million in ACCION’s Chinese affiliate, ACCION Microfinance China (AMC).
MICROFINANCE EVENT: The Business Viability of Microinsurance, Webinar, November 24, 2011, Organized by the Microinsurance Innovation Facility of the United Nations’ International Labour Organization
Event Name: The Business Viability of Microinsurance
Event Date: November 24, 2011, 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm Central European Time (GMT +1 hour)
Event Location: Online
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Bank Compartamos of Mexico Seeking Acquisitions in Microinsurance, Mobile Banking Arenas
Mr Fernando Alvarez Toca, chief executive officer of the Mexican microfinance bank Compartamos Banco, reportedly has said that the bank is seeking to venture into “alternative products” such as microinsurance and mobile banking during 2012 either “through acquisitions in different countries or through organic growth” [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Invests $5.5m in Microfinance Institutions TBC Kredit of Azerbaijan, Kazmicrofinance of Kazakhstan; Microfinance Investment Vehicle ACCION Investments in Microfinance
responsAbility Social Investments AG, a Swiss investment company that manages four microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made debt and equity investments totaling the equivalent of USD 5.5 million in two microfinance institutions (MFIs), TBC Kredit of Azerbaijan and Kazmicrofinance Limited Liability Company (KMF) of Kazakhstan, and microfinance investment vehicle ACCION Investments in Microfinance, which was established by US-based nonprofit ACCION International [1].
SPECIAL FEATURE: Munich Re Foundation, Microinsurance Network Interview Howard Bolnick, Chair of International Actuarial Association Working Group on Microinsurance
Thank you to the Munich Re Foundation and the Microinsurance Network for sharing with MicroCapital their interview with Howard Bolnick, Chair of the International Actuarial Association’s (IAI’s) Working Group on Microinsurance, as a lead up to the Seventh International Microinsurance Conference, November 8 – November 10, 2011, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1. How did you become involved in microinsurance and what is your current role?
I became involved in microinsurance through my active role in the International Actuarial Association (IAA), which represents the actuarial profession in matters of interest to the worldwide profession.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Housing Microfinance Not a Viable Solution for Slums, Opines Ruban Selvanayagam
Mr Ruban Selvanayagam, a Brazil-based real estate and land consultant with EXITUS Construction Brazil, recently laid out a series of arguments against housing microfinance being the best solution to deal with the “wide and growing presence of slums, shanty towns and other forms of substandard housing” [1].
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Discovering Limits: Global Microfinance Valuation Survey 2011; By Frederic de Mariz, Xavier Reille, Daniel Rozas; Published by JP Morgan, CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor)
By Frederic de Mariz, Xavier Reille and Daniel Rozas; published by JP Morgan and CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); July 2011; 29 pages; available at: http://www.microfinancegateway.org/p/site/m//template.rc/1.9.52137
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fundación BBVA Microfinanzas to Rebrand Chilean Microfinance Institution Servicios Microfinancieros Credicoop as Emprende Microfinanzas
Fundación BBVA Microfinanzas (BBVA Microfinance Foundation), a Spanish nonprofit organization that supports a network of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America, is expanding its operations in the Chilean market by rebranding MFI Servicios Microfinancieros Credicoop SA as Emprende Microfinanzas.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Spurned by Commercial Banks, Indian Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) Raise Funds from Social Investors IFC, ACCION, MicroVest, ShoreCap, Aavishkaar, BlueOrchard
Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs), which have seen new lending from commercial banks dry up since the “Andhra Pradesh crisis” broke in late 2010, instead have been accessing funds from social and philanthropic investors including: International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group; ACCION International, a US-based nonprofit organization; MicroVest Capital Management, a US-based family of microfinance investment funds; Shore Capital, a UK-based investment banking company; Aavishkaar Goodwell India Microfinance Development Company Limited, an India-based financing company; and BlueOrchard Microfinance Investment Managers, a Swiss manager of microfinance funds.
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: Panel Discusses Balancing Profit, Mission, Impact at Microfinance USA Conference 2011, Presented by Opportunity Fund, ACCION, Kiva, in New York City, May 23 – 24
Opportunity Fund, a nonprofit organization based in the US state of California that offers microloans and microsavings primarily to people in the San Francisco Bay area; ACCION International, a microfinance organization that provides lending and financial education to small businesses in twenty-three countries; and Kiva, a US-based online portal that allows individuals to make loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs) for on-lending to poor people in sixty countries, hosted the Microfinance USA Conference 2011 on May 23 and May 24 in New York City.