The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a unit of the World Bank Group, is providing a USD 65 million loan and USD 10 million in equity capital to MTN Afghanistan, a subsidiary of MTN Dubai and part of the South Africa-based MTN Group Ltd. The investment is meant to support the expansion of MTN’s mobile telephone network to meet growing mobile phone service demand in Afghanistan. The expansion is focused on low-income populations. Details of the loan and equity investment were not available for this story, however James Ramadan, MTN Group’s Regional Vice President for Middle East and North Africa stated that the IFC was providing “long-term funding.” The IFC hopes its investment will encourage other investors into the sector in Afghanistan.
Search Results for: Brazil
MICROCAPITAL STORY: The Role Of Rural Microfinance In Improving Food Security – Experiences of the Agricultural Credit Corporation in Jordan
In Omar Omeidat’s report in the Jordan Times on a regional conference in Amman on agricultural banks and rural microfinance, HRH Princess Basma was reported to have highlighted the importance of funding for rural projects, particularly in view of the global economic crisis, which she said has had a negative impact on food security programmes. The Princess indicated that due to local and global economic circumstances and a shortage of water resources, the agricultural sector in Jordan faces several challenges, which have led to a drop in the sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) and work force. Jordan’s water crisis was the focus of a recent article on the AlertNet-Reuters network, which disseminates information about humanitarian disasters and emergencies across the globe. The IRIN portal, which provides information on humanitarian affairs under the auspices of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, recently reported that whilst the water and related food crisis in Jordan is not yet critical, a range of measures and projects need to be implemented as soon as possible to contain the problem.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Pioneer in Microfinance Investing, Triodos Bank, Wins 2009 Sustainable Banking Award by Financial Times (FT) and International Finance Corporation (IFC); MicroEnsure and Root Capital Also Take Prizes
The Financial Times (FT) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced the winners of the 2009 Sustainable Banking Awards. Triodos Bank of the Netherlands was named Sustainable Bank of the Year. Other microfinance programs were recognized, with MicroEnsure winning the award for Achievement in Basic Needs Financing, and Root Capital taking the Achievement in Banking at the Bottom of the Pyramid award.
NEWS WIRE: United Kingdom: Triodos Bank Among Winners of 2009 Financial Times Sustainable Banking Awards
Source: Financial Times.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Invests over $514m in Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Initiatives During 2008
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, provides investment and advisory services to developing countries. Created in 1956, the IFC seeks to foster sustainable economic growth by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Within its Global Financial Markets sector, the IFC supports microfinance in order to promote successful and sustainable economies in low and middle income countries. The IFC provides direct and indirect investment and advisory services to the microfinance sector. Its focus is on creating and supporting commercially viable microfinance institutions (MFIs) that can attract private capital thereby responding to unmet demand for micro loans. Furthermore it seeks to demonstrate the business case for commercial microfinance and also promote it as an asset class to private institutional investors. During 2008 the IFC invested USD 513.8 million in micro small and medium enterprise (MSME) initiatives and provided USD 840,000 worth of advisory services. Following is detailed information about IFCs activities in the microfinance arena.
NEWS WIRE: United Kingdom: Financial Times Releases Sustainable Banking Report
Source: Financial Times.
NEWS WIRE: United States: Melinda Gates Touts Microsavings in Newsweek
Source: Newsweek.
NEWS WIRE: India: Banks Building Innovative Distribution Channels Through Microfinance Institutions to Reach the Bottom of the Pyramid
Source: Outlook Business (India).
PAPER WRAP-UP: Will the Bottom of the Pyramid Hit Bottom? The Effects of the Global Credit Crisis on the Microfinance Sector, by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
By Barbara Magnoni and Olga Jennifer Powers of EA Consultants, published by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), March 2009, microReport number 150, 54 pages, available at:
The produced report by USAID provides an assessment on the impact of the financial crisis on the microfinance sector. The paper provides a framework for assessing the impact of the crisis on the microfinance sector by analyzing the effects on both the liabilities side (access to finance, cost of funding, financial risk) and the asset side (portfolio growth, portfolio risk, portfolio quality) of an MFI’s (Microfinance Institutions) balance sheet in order to determine the extent that MFIs may have been impacted.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: 85 Percent of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and 61 Percent of Microfinance Investors Say MFIs Should Offer More than Financial Services According to Microfinance Insights Survey
A new survey of 150 microfinance institutions and investors conducted by Microfinance Insights, an international print magazine published by Intellecap, shows that 85 percent of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and 61 Percent of microfinance investors say MFIs should offer more than financial services. Of the MFIs polled, 79 percent offer “products and services that are consciously seeking to create social impact beyond simple financial inclusion,” including 63 percent that offer community development, 60 percent that seek inclusion of minorities, and 53 percent that offer better employment and labor conditions. Over 83 percent of the MFIs polled said their primary goal was poverty alleviation and 78 percent stated their main objective was women’s empowerment. Complete survey results can be found in the May/Jun 2009 issue of Microfinance Insights which can be purchased at www.microfinanceinsights.com/magazine_index.asp.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: ACCION International’s CEO Maria Otero To Be United States Under Secretary of Democracy and Global Affairs
The White House has nominated the president and CEO of ACCION International, Ms. Maria Otero, to assume the position of Under Secretary of Democracy and Global Affairs in the US Department of State. Although the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has yet to approve the nomination, Ms. Otero has indicated that she will accept the position should her nomination be successful. Ms. Otero has been profiled in MicroCapital’s Who’s Who in Microfinance series in May 2007. Her position at ACCION International will be filled temporarily by Ms. Catherine Quense, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Deputy, while a committee searches for Ms. Oteros successor. Ms. Diana Taylor, Vice Chair of the ACCION Board, comments, “Her nomination as Under Secretary comes as no surprise to those of us who know her and her deep commitment to social and economic justice, and we know that she now has an even more effective platform from which to help build better lives for the world’s citizens.” Ms. Otero was born and raised until the age of 12 in La Paz, Bolivia, whereupon she and her family moved to Washington DC. She holds a BA in Literature from the University of Maryland and an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins. She has been with ACCION since 1986 and became CEO in 2000. ACCION International is a microfinance organization founded in 1961 and consisting of 27 partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 20 countries. The position of Under Secretary of Democracy and Global Affairs was established under Section 161(b) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995. In total, there are five Under Secretaries of State in the Department of State, headed by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Venezuelan Government Bank BANDES To Open Branch in Angola
Jesus Alberto Garcia, Venezuelan ambassador to Angola, stated in an interview with Radio Nacional de Angola that Banco de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Venezuela (BANDES), the state development bank of Venezuela, will open a branch in Angola. He added, “This is one of the main things President Chavez wants to do with Africa.” Branches of BANDES outside of Latin America and the Caribbean include Syria and the Republic of Mali. Mr. Garcia expects that the Angola branch may be open by next year. In 2005, BANDES became an independently managed institution under the supervision of the government’s Ministry of the People’s Empowerment in Economics and Finance and is currently 75 percent government owned. BANDES provides microcredit and funds development projects in Venezuela as well as abroad.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) invests USD 10.1m, including USD 1.6m in Microfinance, in Latin America and the Caribbean during March and April 2009
The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), administered by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is one of the largest public sector Development Finance Institutions (DFI) in the Americas. DFIs are government owned bilateral or multilateral development agencies whose investments include microfinance deals. DFIs make either direct or indirect investments. Direct investments are in microfinance institutions (MFIs) and indirect investments are in microfinance investment vehicles such as private investment funds. The majority of investments are direct and in hard currency (USD).
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: IDB and Fundación Telefónica Present Report on Mobile Communications and Access to Financial Services in Latin America and the Caribbean
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Fundación Telefónica have recently presented a report on mobile communications and access to financial services in Latin America. The report is a result of a dialogue between public and private sector leaders, carried out through a series of workshops organized by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) – a division of the IDB – and Fundación Telefónica. The report analyses the level of development of mobile technologies and financial services in eight countries throughout Latin America and the Carribean. A copy of the report was still unavailable at the time of this release.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Microfinance Continues to Play a Key Role in Developing Economies as Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean Decline in 2009.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IBD) predicts 2009 with be the first year that remittances will decline in Latin America and the Caribbean after a decade of growth. The IBD has been tracking these flows since 2000. Remittances are transfers of money by foreign workers to their home countries. With the already shaken international banking system, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, Immigrants are feeling the credit squeeze as they reduce money sent to family in their home countries.
PAPER WRAP-UP: 2008 Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), (Part II of II), by The Economist Intelligence Unit
Published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, October 2008, available at:
The Economist Intelligence Unit released a 62 page report that provides a framework of the microfinance business environment in Latin America and the Caribbean. The report was commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Corporacion Andina de Fomento and also looked at three major individual features that provide greater insight to the microfinance arena. The three categories are as follows: regulatory framework, investment climate and institutional development. The indicator scores are aggregated to produce an overall score ranging from 0 to 100 (note, 100 being the best score). While these scores are provided, the report utilizes these figures in a “strengths” and “challenges” framework.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Challenges to Regulation of Mobile Transaction Services, E-Money, and other Branchless Banking Technologies
In March 2007, when Kenyan cellphone service provider Safaricom launched its mobile payment service M-Pesa (‘M’ for mobile; ‘Pesa’ meaning money in Swahili), it predicted the service would attract 450 thousand customers by January 2008. The service caught on, and fast. When January 2008 rolled around, M-Pesa had more than doubled its goal, registering more than 1 million users in ten months. People began using M-Pesa credits to pay for everything from well water to cab fare. According to Wired magazine, almost a third of Kenya’s population now pays their electricity bills via mobile device. M-Pesa has now registered over 5 million users, and continues to register 10 thousand more each day. As discussed in this MicroCapital article, many banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs), such as Equity Bank in Kenya, have begun to adopt cellphone cash-transfer services as a way to minimize administrative costs and penetrate markets otherwise unreachable by traditional banking. Mobile transaction services, e-money, and other branchless banking technologies have also flourished in a number of developing nations beyond Kenya, most notably Brazil, India, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Russia, and Colombia. However, where the rapid growth of branchless banking has sparked the imagination of many, others’ optimism is shadowed by apprehension and concern that inadequate regulation in the nascent industry may place customers’ already vulnerable finances at risk.