K-Rep Bank, a commercial bank that directly targets low income clients in Kenya, received a Kshs 174.8 million (USD 2.2 million) investment from the African Development Bank (AfDB) during May 2009. This financial support will also include technical assistance related to capacity building. K-Rep Bank provides various banking services and specializes in loans to low income, small and micro entrepreneurs. K-rep plans to create 10,000 new jobs by 2011 of which 55 percent would involve women entrepreneurs.
Search Results for: "USAID"
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Oikocredit Loans $2.3m to Microfinance Institutions Kitunda SACCO, Intellekt, FMFB Tajikistan, and PMRCA Perelik
For the month of April, the Netherlands-based Oikocredit Ecumenical Development Cooperative Society, a microfinance funding source, reported four loans to the CGAP Microfinance Dealbook, a monthly report on microfinance capital market transactions. Oikocredit granted a one-year USD 75,000 loan to the Kitunda SACCO in Tanzania, a four-year loan of USD 91,000 to Intellekt of Russia, a three-year loan of USD 2 million to the First Microfinance Bank of Tajikistan (FMFB), and a three-year USD 132,000 loan to PMRCA Perelik in Bulgaria. Oikocredit provides loans to about 500 microfinance institutions in 70 countries around the world. Between January and March 2009, Oikocredit provided USD 19.2 million in new loans in 69 countries. The organization currently funds 758 projects of which 501 are microfinance projects, the rest involving other types of social service. Through microfinance alone, Oikocredit claims to reach 16.8 million people. Oikocredit distributes its funding as follows: 40 percent in Latin America, 14 percent in Africa, 27 percent in Asia, 18 percent in Central and Eastern Europe, and 1 percent elsewhere. In November, MicroCapital reported that USAID and Oikocredit would partner together to contribute USD 36.2 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) over the next ten years.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Accion International Wins Inter-American Development Bank’s First Juscelino Kubitschek Award
ACCION International has been awarded the Juscelino Kubitschek Award by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) along with two other institutions for their contribution to development in Latin America and the Caribbean. ACCION won the prize in the field of economics and finance which drew nominations from 30 institutions. The criteria used to select the winner for the field of economics and finance was based on the magnitude of its social impact. The award recognizes contributions in two areas: economics and finance, and in the cultural, social and scientific fields. Fe y Alegría and Associacao Vaga Lume will share the award for the social, cultural and scientific category, which received 115 nominations.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Bolivan Microbank Trade Association ASOFIN Projects Slowed But Positive Growth in 2009
In an interview with Business News Americas (BN Americas), the Association of Financial Entities Specialized in Microfinance (ASOFIN)‘s Executive Secretary, Fernando Prado Guachalla, remarks, “Fortunately, we haven’t felt the [financial] crisis in the microfinance sector in Bolivia.” ASOFIN, established in 1999, is an association of eight microfinance institutions (MFIs) regulated by the Superintendence of Banks and Financial Entities (SBEF) in Bolivia. BN Americas reports that members of ASOFIN expanded their loans 42 percent overall in 2008 while maintaining an average interest rate of 19.5 percent. However, Mr. Prado discloses that loan growth rates might slow to 20 to 30 percent because “It’s not adequate at this time to maintain annual growth rates of 40 percent.” Mr. Prado is ASOFIN’s highest ranking official and a Bolivian economist with 28 years of experience. He served as Chief of Party on USAID’s SEFIR project in Bolivia and was Director of the Microfinance Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), a Latin American bank.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: European Investment Bank (EIB), Gates Foundation, and Dutch Development Agency to Provide Technical Assistance Grants to AfriCap Microfinance Fund and FinTech Africa
The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced it is providing a EUR 2 million (USD 2.6 million) grant to support the AfriCap Microfinance Fund through FinTech Africa, to fund capacity building for early-stage and greenfield microfinance institutions across Africa. In addition to the EIB grant, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will contribute a USD 5 million grant to FinTech Africa, the non-profit organization that manages AfriCap’s technical services facility, and the Dutch development agency, FMO, will provide a USD 0.75 million grant.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: ‘Microfinance most Cost-effective, Efficient way of Reducing Poverty’, interview of Sam Daley-Harris, Microcredit Summit Campaign Founder
Sam Daley-Harris, Microcredit Summit Campaign founder is interviewed by the Economic Times of India about how useful microcredit is and his reaction to its criticisms. The full interview can be found here.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: US President Barack Obama Announces $100m Microfinance Growth Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean at Fifth Summit of the Americas
US President Barack Obama opened the fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago with a speech outlining his administration’s policy toward the Western Hemisphere. As part of his response to the global economic crisis, the President announced a newly-formed Microfinance Growth Fund to jump start lending to small businesses in the region.
NEWS WIRE: Palestine: LendforPeace.org Microfinance Platform Experiences Success
Source: Transcapitalist
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Women Advancing Microfinance NY Present Women’s World Banking’s new publication Panel Discussion New York, April 16th
Transforming the Landscape of Leadership in Microfinance: Maintaining the Focus on Women
April 16, from 6:00-8:00 p.m.
WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder of BRAC (the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee)
Fazle Hasan Abed is the founder and chairperson of BRAC (formerly the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee), the Bangladesh based development organization dedicated to poverty alleviation and rural empowerment. BRAC was founded in February 1972 an almost entirely donor-funded, small-scale relief and rehabilitation project to aid post-Liberation War Bangladesh and has now expanded into a private development organization dedicated to poverty alleviation and empowerment of the poor, serving an estimated 100 million Bangladeshis with presence in all 64 districts of Bangladesh.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Microfinance Loans Help Iraqi Business
According to a report in the Financial Times, fledgling microfinance projects are helping to revive the Iraqi economy after years of public sector dominance, a decade of sanctions, and six years of violence. The US, and specifically its military, is actively involved in these microfinance schemes as part of its war on terrorism. The projects typically involve loans of a few thousand dollars given to people with between one and three employees. By the end of January 2009, the US had made 41,728 loans, totaling USD 59.7 million.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Microfinance Seminar: Exploring Impact of Global Financial Crisis on Migration and Remittances April 15, 2009 in Washington, D.C.
“Are Remittances Still Resilient? Exploring the Impact of the Global Economic Downturn on Migration and Remittances”
Wednesday, April 15, 2009, Washington, DC, USA
Join Dilip Ratha (World Bank), Kathleen Newland (Migration Policy Insititute), Kai Schmitz (Microfinance International Corporation) and Borany Penh (US Agency for International Development/Microenterprise Development Office) for a discussion of how the current global financial crisis, which has affected both home and host countries, has affected the flow of remittances.
This event, presented by the USAID Microenterprise Development Office, will take place from 4:00 to 5:00 PM (Eastern US Time) at the offices of QED Group LLC, 1250 Eye St NW, Washington, DC 20005.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: SKS Microfinance in India Plans to Launch Operations in China
SKS Microfinance, the largest microfinance provider in India in terms of assets, is planning to launch operations in China, in a move to expand its reach beyond India. According to a press release on The Economic Times, SKS reckons this would be the ideal time to enter the Chinese market. The export driven Chinese economy has been impacted by the global meltdown and several vocationally-trained rural employees in China have lost jobs. SKS plans to give credit to these unemployed groups in China and help them start their own ventures. In this regard, the release quoted the chief executive officer and managing director of SKS Microfinance, Mr. Suresh Gurumani as saying that SKS was looking to expand in China primarily because it was a ‘large country with a significant population that was poor’. Mr. Gurumani also stated that the expansion was a move to share SKS’ knowledge in the field of microfinance to benefit ‘a larger section of people’. SKS’ foray into China would make it the first overseas expansion for an Indian microfinance institution (MFI).
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “A Study Analyzing the Effects of Fuel and Food Inflation on Microfinance Institutions and Borrowers,” by MF Analytics
Written by MF Analytics Ltd. (MFA) and published by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), data is based on three case studies conducted by MFA in Nicaragua, Haiti and Bangladesh, released January 2009, 38 pages, full text available at: http://www.cgap.org/gm/document-1.9.7450/Impact_and_Implications_of_Food_Crisis.pdf
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.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Setting Standards and Sticking to Them: When Microfinance Network NGOs Decide to Exit,” edited by Elissa McCarter and Andree Simon
Published by the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network, “Setting Standards and Sticking to Them: When Microfinance Network NGOs Decide to Exit,” is a collection of four case studies, each written by a different author, that focus on the central theme of exit strategies for microfinance network NGOs. Broadly speaking, microfinance network NGOs are large-scale apex organizations that start-up and/or support microfinance operations in different countries with financial investments and grants, capacity building, and monitoring. The first three case studies discuss the processes underwent by the Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF), Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), and the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) to divest from their respective microfinance operations in a particular country. The fourth outlines the general process in which Women’s World Banking (WWB) disaffiliates from a microfinance subsidiary. Full text of the article is 31 pages, and is available here. What follows is a brief summary of each case study.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Shedding Light on Microfinance Equity Valuation – Past and Present, by Nicholas P. O’Donohoe, Frederic Rozeira de Mariz, Elizabeth Littlefield, Xavier Reille, and Christoph Kneiding, Part I of II
The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a policy and research center housed at the World Bank dedicated to advancing financial access to the world’s underprivileged, released a path breaking report in February 2009 entitled, “Shedding Light on Microfinance Equity Valuation – Past and Present,” produced with limited analytical support from banking firm JPMorgan Chase & Co. The white paper is notable in providing an empirically grounded analysis of how financial valuation methods are actually applied by external actors to MFIs and other lending institutions with poverty alleviation goals. This is made possible by CGAP’s collection of information on 144 private equity transactions, the largest such dataset gathered to date, as well as information on 10 MFIs and other low income focused lenders that have raised funds through the issuance of securities. The original report is available at: http://www2.cgap.org/gm/document-1.9.9021/OP14v3.pdf
MICROFINANCE EVENT: The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) and SourceMedia Co-Sponsor the 4th Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum on June 1st-3rd, 2009 in Dallas, Texas, USA
The 4th Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum
June 1st-3rd, 2009, the Westin Galleria, Dallas, TX, USA