by Lori Curtis -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Uganda’s Global Trust Bank Plans Expansion Throughout East Africa

Global Trust Bank, owned by the Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc of Nigeria and the National Insurance Corporation of Uganda (NIC) is contemplating opening branches in Rwanda, Burundi and Southern Sudan but says that expansion throughout Uganda’s rural areas is not part of its plan.  Global Trust Bank has been described as a “new indigenous Ugandan commercial bank” in East African Business week, after it acquired Uganda’s Commercial Microfinance Limited (CMF) in July 2008. IGI of Nigeria made the purchase of CMF in order to start up Global Trust Bank, which began operations in November 2008.  MicroCapital covered the initial acquisition and additional information can be found here.  Global Trust Bank has inherited CMF’s eight branches and six agencies throughout Uganda and recently named Richard Byarugaba as its CEO.

by Iyanna Holmes -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Equity Bank Wins Best Micro Finance Bank in Africa Award at the African Bankers Awards In Washington DC

Equity Bank, the largest Kenyan bank with 48% of the nation’s bank accounts, has won the Best Micro Finance Bank in Africa award at the African Bankers Awards in Washington DC.  Other nominees for the award were ACCION  Microfinance Bank, Barclays, Development Bank of Mauritius, and Swazibank.  The event, the second of its kind, was hosted by London-based IC Publications, publishers of African Banker magazine and endorsed by the World Bank.  Sponsors included the African Development Bank,  3i Infotech, Ecobank, and the Bank of Industry. 

by Yrenilsa Lopez -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Fina Bank Continues Expansion into Uganda with Microfinance Focus

Fina Bank, a Kenyan-based commercial firm will be expanding its branches into Uganda starting October 2008. This decision by the bank comes as part of a larger regional expansion which began when they first ventured outside of Kenya into Rwanda in 2004. Since then Fina Bank has expanded upon this strategy and plans to open five branches within Uganda within five months. It is also on a domestic expansion, as 12 new branches will be opened in Kenya by the end of 2008. Branches in Rwanda will be renovated and placed in areas where more microenterprises have been established.

by Sarah Knapp -

MICROFINANCE EVENT: CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) and the Microfinance Management Institute (MFMI) Host “Funder” Training Course in Croatia

CGAP/MFMI FUNDER TRAINING COURSE

SEPTEMBER 8-12 2008 DUBROVNIK, CROATIA

Organized by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) and nonprofit management training organization the Microfinance Management Institute (MFMI), the “Building Inclusive Financial Systems: How Can Funders Make a Difference” course will provide an overview of microfinance as well as practical recommendations, techniques and tools for building micro-financial systems, encouraging microfinance policy, and developing microfinance projects.

by Stephen Son -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Documentary on Legatum Pioneers of Prosperity Africa Prize Released, Involves $350k Award for East African Entrepreneurship Sponsored by Legatum and John Templeton Foundation

In a push to generate interest in the idea of African enterprises as investment opportunities, the sponsors of an East African entrepreneurial award competition have just released a documentary online about the selection process for the inaugural Legatum Pioneers of Prosperity Africa prize – which resulted in awards totaling USD 350,000 to six up-and-coming, home-grown companies.  The prize was funded by Legatum, an international private investment group, and the John Templeton Foundation, a philanthropic organization, and also involved partners OTF Group, a competitiveness consulting firm; the S.E.VEN Fund, a non-profit that promotes enterprise-driven solutions to poverty; and the Inter-American Development Bank, a multi-lateral financial institution.

by the MicroCapital Team -

PRESS RELEASE: Développement International Desjardins (DID), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to Deploy Four Financial Centres for Entrepreneurs (CFEs) in Latin America, Caribbean

Source: Développement International Desjardins (DID).

by Anthony Busch -

WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA)

Founded by microfinance pioneer Dr. John Hatch in 1985, The Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) has been active in the global microfinance industry since its first microcredit program in El Salvador for low-income women in 1986. Operating in 21 countries with 2006 total assets of USD 252 million and a stated commitment to serving the poorest of the poor, FINCA relies on its grounding in Hatch’s Village Banking methodology, which dictates that local customers are the most knowledgeable regarding the management of their own assets. The model calls for cooperatives of 30 to 60 people to form around their mutual interest in pooling funds for inter-member loans and other financial services. Cooperatives gain access to additional capital by borrowing from financial institutions as a group, and then on-lending the funds to individuals, collateral-free.

by Anthony Busch -

MICROFINANCE EVENT: The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the Microfinance Management Institute (MFMI) to Hold Funder Training Course in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

CGAP/MFMI FUNDER TRAINING COURSE

APRIL 7-11, 2008, ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

The complete title of this event is “Building Inclusive Financial Systems: How Funders Can Make a Difference” and it is the first of three courses on the same subject to be held in 2008. The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the Microfinance Management Institute (MFMI), a joint venture of CGAP and the Open Society Institute (OSI), are offering the session which will be “a hands-on training course on building financial systems for the poor,” according to the brochure. Both the enrollment form and the brochure are available on the CGAP Donor Information Network Center (CGAP DIRECT) Web site.

by Steven Craig -

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.

by Amy Rennison -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Compassion International Invests USD 5 Million in Opportunity International to Develop Microfinance in Africa

Compassion International, one of the world’s largest Christian child development organizations, will invest USD 5 million over the next five years in fellow Christian microfinance institution (MFI) Opportunity International. With this funding Opportunity International will expand its microfinance operations in Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda, offering microloans, savings accounts, insurance and business training to the families of Compassion-sponsored children and other community members.