Canada-based asset management company Deetken Impact and US-based nonprofit women’s development organization Pro Mujer recently announced they have raised USD 1.3 million from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for the Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund, which is active in Latin America and the Caribbean. Deetken plans to leverage a portion of the funding to attract private investment, adding a total of USD 5 m
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: SarvaGram Raises $10m from Elevation Capital, Elevar Equity for Microfinance in India
SarvaGram, a microlender in India, recently secured equity investments totaling USD 10.5 million in a funding round led by Elevation Capital, with participation from Elevar Equity. The terms of the investments have not been released. Elevar Equity previously invested USD 3.5 million in SarvaGram, which offers
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Creation Investments Launches Debt Fund in India to Focus on Microfinance, SMEs, Housing, Education
Creation Investments Capital Management, which is based in the US city of Chicago, recently opened an office in the Indian city of Bengaluru and launched a fund for lending to non-banking financial companies in the country. The target firms are those that
SPECIAL REPORT: Financial Inclusion for Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDPs) – Part 2: Regulatory Barriers, Segmenting Needs
(This 
is the companion feature to an earlier piece on a European Microfinance Week conversation on serving refugees.)
Swati Mehta Dhawan of Germany’s Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt argued for building up legal frameworks to allow forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) to escape “infinite limbo” by accessing documentation for identification purposes, working legally and integrating with host populations. She offered the example of a person displaced to Kenya, who has been there for 15 years without being allowed to work. Hans-Martin Zademach, also of Catholic University, noted many are “stuck in survival mode,” more in need of a reliable income source than methods for managing money.
However, Ms Dhawan explained that FDPs’ needs for financial services often increase as years go by. A common trajectory is
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Gender Data in Financial Inclusion,” Published by CGAP’s FinEquity
This brief argues that research and analysis of sex-disaggregated data can allow stakeholders to accelerate the financial inclusion of women, bridging the gaps in women’s account ownership and finance for women-owned micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Building on its 2018 Data Bootcamp on
SPECIAL REPORT: Danone, Incofin, Water.org: WASH Sector is Already Investible
During one of the Friday sessions of European Microfinance Week 2020, Dina Pons of Belgium-based Incofin Investment Management explained a partnership with France-based food company Danone through which the organizations are building a 10-year equity fund to invest in expanding access to clean water in developing countries. Since 2007, the Danone Communities arm of Danone – mostly funded by its employees – has invested in access to drinking water on a proof-of-concept basis. Now Danone believes the sector has matured from the incubation stage to the investible stage. The company selected Incofin to help it invest in proven models, with a technical assistance component and monitoring of factors such as affordability, limiting plastic usage and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: US Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Approves $1b for Health, Food Security, Financial Services, Small Business
The government-backed US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) recently approved the disbursal of a total of USD 1 billion to 12 projects in emerging markets in Africa, Latin America and the Indo-Pacific region that seek to strengthen health systems; food security; employment opportunities; technology; education; and access to financial services for underserved groups such as women and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Sixty percent of the funding is
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Fintech and Insurtech Innovator Summit (FINNOSUMMIT) for Innovation on Financial Services in Latin America; September 28-30, 2021; Virtual; NEW DATES
Originally scheduled to take place in Mexico City in September 2020, this virtual event offers speakers, panels and workshops related to financial technology (fintech) and insurance technology (insurtech). The scheduled speakers include Sean Ringstead, the Chief Digital Officer at US-based publicly traded insurer Chubb, and Shuy Nyatta the Managing Partner at
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Amid Pandemic, Fintechs Pause Some Projects, But Innovate to Care for Customers, Staff
MIX, an NGO based in the US city of Washington, recently surveyed 25 financial technology (fintech) providers and investors regarding their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past two months, investment in fintech providers has fallen, as has their revenue, due to lower remittance and lending volumes. The fees that fintechs charge are also down, sometimes at fintechs’ choosing, but sometimes by government decree. Clients have more incentive to use mobile money due to travel restrictions, branch and agent closures, and the potential transmission of germs via cash. However, they have less money to transact. One study found that four in five business owners in Kenya did not
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Banco Central de Brasil Launching Instant Payment Platform Pix for Merchant, P2P, G2P Payments
By November 2020, Banco Central de Brasil aims to roll out an instant payment platform called Pix, which will use images known as
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Invest in Visions’ IIV Mikrofinanzfonds Loans $11m to Microfinance Institution ASA International India
Mikrofinanzfonds, a fund managed by Germany’s Invest In Visions (IIV), recently loaned EUR 10 million (USD 11 million) to ASA International India, a microlending unit of ASA International. ASA India was founded in 2008 and serves
MICROFINANCE EVENT: FINNOSUMMIT, Connecting Fintech Leaders Across LatAm; December 3 – 4, 2019; Miami, Florida, USA
FINNOSUMMIT, whose name refers to the concept of a “Fintech and Insurtech Innovator Summit,” brings together those interested in new ideas in financial technology (fintech) and insurance technology (insurtech) in Latin America. The session topics include: Forging the Future of Money with Fintechs: Visa’s Vision for the Next Five Years of Payments Innovation; Blockchain as Payments Infrastructure;
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MFIs in Africa, Asia, Latin America Borrow $42m from C-Quadrat Dual Return Vision Microfinance Fund, Including ASA International’s Institutions in Ghana, Uganda
Two microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the ASA International network, those in Ghana and Uganda, recently accepted local-currency loans from the Dual Return Vision Microfinance-Local Currency sub-fund of Austria-based C-Quadrat Asset Management. That sub-fund, together with the Dual Return Vision Microfinance sub-fund issued a total equivalent to USD 42 million during October. The other borrowing MFIs are located in Cambodia,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IsDB Funds WPDI Youth Peacemaker Network to Empower Youth, Promote Peace, Boost Sustainable Development in Northern Uganda
The Saudi Arabia-based Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) recently donated USD 1.9 million in to the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative’s (WPDI’s) Youth Peacemaker Network to support the creation of a “community learning center” in Karamoja, a region of Uganda that has experienced “decades of conflict, instability, poverty, and inconsistent climatology.” At the center, WPDI plans to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: OPIC Commits $10m to Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund, Managed by Deetken Impact and Pro Mujer, for Entrepreneurship, Housing, Leadership, Microfinance, Value Chains
The Overseas Private Investment Cooperation (OPIC), an agency of the US government that promotes economic partnerships in countries deemed important to US interests, recently announced that it has committed senior debt totaling USD 10 million to the Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund, an investment vehicle managed by Canada-based private equity firm Deetken Impact and US-based nonprofit Pro Mujer. Various Canadian foundations, credit unions and other investors, which have not been identified publicly, previously invested USD 15 million in the fund. Of the USD 25 million now committed to the
SPECIAL REPORT: “Conference Report: European Microfinance Week 2018,” published by European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP)
This is a summary of a report presented by Laura Hemrika and Christoph Pausch; published by the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP); March 2019; 92 pages available at:
http://www.european-microfinance-week.eu/_dbfiles/lacentrale_files/1000/1085/e-MFPrapport-2018-web.pdf
European Microfinance Week 2018 featured 450 attendees from 69 countries discussing a wide range of topics, focusing on “digital inclusive finance.” This included how to expand and improve
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Financial Inclusion Global Initiative (FIGI) Symposium; January 22 – 24, 2019; Cairo, Egypt
Session titles at the 2019 Financial Inclusion Global Initiative (FIGI) Symposium include: Data Privacy in Digital Finance, Policy Considerations Relevant to Digital ID in Finance, and Data Analysis to Understand the Reach of Digital Financial Services. Speakers will also address
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “The Rise and Fall of Global Microcredit – Development, Debt and Disillusion;” Edited by Milford Bateman, Stephanie Blankenburg, Richard Kozul-Wright
This is a summary of a book edited by Milford Bateman, Stephanie Blankenburg and Richard Kozul-Wright; published by Routledge; September 2018; 290 pages; available for purchase at https://www.routledge.com/The-Rise-and-Fall-of-Global-Microcredit-Development-debt-and-disillusion/Bateman-Blankenburg-Kozul-Wright/p/book/9781138714120
The authors of this book discuss the history, concepts and adverse impacts of microfinance as it has been deployed in the Global South since the 1980s. Contrary to the intent of microcredit and associated economic policies to enable low-income people to benefit from entrepreneurship,