HSBC Amanah, the global Islamic banking division of HSBC group, has partnered with Islamic Relief, an international development and relief organization, to offer Islamic Microfinance in Pakistan. Islamic microfinance, just like Islamic banking, will provide financial services to devout Muslims in accordance with the Shariah, the Islamic law. HSBC Amanah will provide both training and funding for Islamic Relief’s microfinance projects, starting in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
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PRESS RELEASE: UN and Social Development Fund to Establish Microfinance Network in Yemen
Source: MediaGlobal.
WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: Anne Hastings of Haiti’s Fondasyon Kole Zepol (Fonkoze)
Anne Hastings is the Executive Director of Fondasyon Kole Zepol (Fonkoze), Haiti’s largest microfinance institution (MFI). Fonkoze or “Haiti’s Alternative Bank For the Organized Poor” has 34 nation-wide branches with total assets of USD 6.7 million as of December 31st 2007. According to its MIX Market Profile, at year end 2007, Fonkoze had 20,916 active borrowers and 30,509 active savers. Fonkoze also offers microinsurance with Alternative Insurance Company (AIC), a Haitian insurance company.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Central Bank of Liberia Grants License to AccessBank Liberia Limited, a Commercial Microfinance Bank
Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has granted provisional license to AccessBank Liberia Limited (ABL), a microfinance bank established in 2008, to operate as a commercial entity. AccessBank Liberia will open with an initial paid-in capital of USD 6 million, the minimum capital required by the CBL of banks operating in Liberia. AccessBank will focus on microfinance lending while also provide short and medium-term lending to small and medium enterprises.
PAPER WRAP-UP: Central Asia Benchmarking Report, 2006, Scott B. Gaul and Olga Tomilova
Authored by Scott B. Gaul, the Microfinance Information eXchange’s (MIX) Product Development Manager and Lead Analyst for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA), and Olga Tomilova, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor’s (CGAP) Consultant for ECA, a joint publication of the Central Asian Microfinance Center (CAC), CGAP, the Microfinance Centre for Central & Eastern Europe and the New Independent States (MFC), and the MIX, released February 2008, 20 pages, available at http://www.mixmbb.org/Publications/002-REG/EASTERN%20EUROPE%20AND%20CENTRAL%20ASIA%20(ECA)/02-Central%20Asia%20Benchmarking%20Reports/Central%20Asia%20Benchmark%20Report%20-%20English%20-%20Final.pdf
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Pakistani Government Agency PPAF (Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund) Launches USD $45 million PRISM (Program for Increasing Sustainable Microfinance)
Pakistan’s PPAF (Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund), a government program to support poverty alleviation, recently launched PRISM (Programme for Increasing Sustainable Microfinance). PRISM’s main objective is to assist Pakistani microfinance institutions that largely rely on donor funding in forging new partnerships with commercial funders. The program’s establishment represents an acknowledgement by policy makers that Pakistan’s microfinance institutions have proven themselves to be commercially viable enterprises and worthy targets of commercial investment in lieu of grant support. The PRISM program has an operating budget of USD $45 million, and involves partnerships with 72 organizations working in 33,000 villages. In addition to government support, PRISM was financed by a USD 35 million loan from IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development).
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Microfinance Institution MBEG (Myanmar Business Executive Group) to Support Burmese Cyclone Victims with $45k in Microloans
The Myanmar Business Executive Group (MBEG), a nonprofit organization operating in Myanmar, has announced a plan to assist victims of Cyclone Nargis that struck Myanmaar in May 2008. The organization’s management said MBEG would provide small loans to cyclone victims so they can rebuild houses and restart businesses. MBEG plans to offer loans between MMK 50,000 (USD 42) and MMK 200,000 (USD 167) in size, depending on how badly the client was affected by the cyclone. Loans will have a six-month term, and will incur a fee of 1 percent per month. Borrowers will be granted loans on the strength of recommendations from five other individuals. Collateral is not required. MBEG has budgeted MMK 50 million (USD 45 thousand) for the project.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: The International Disaster and Risk Conference (IDRC) 2008 to be Held in Davos Switzerland will Explore Microfinance as a Tool for Disaster and Risk Management
INTERNATIONAL DISASTER AND RISK CONFERENCE (IDRC) DAVOS 2008
AUGUST 25-29, 2008, DAVOS, SWITZERLAND
The International Disaster and Risk Conference (IDRC), titled “Public-private partnership – Key for integral risk management and climate change adaptation”, will address the use of microfinance as a tool for risk management and disaster and hold special sessions focusing on microfinance. The conference is themed around exploring strategic responses and methods of risk management in response to threats and disasters such as natural hazards, climate change, pandemics and terrorism. Throughout the conference, and in a special session entitled Microinsurance in Risk Management, microfinance specifically will be focused on as a method to cope with risks and promote economic and social recovery. IDRC will discuss microfinance’s current role in risk management as well as future opportunities in using microfinance and microinsurance as tools for disaster and risk management.
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: The Boulder Institute of Microfinance (BI) and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in the United Kingdom to Offer a Five-day Training Program Entitled “Integrating Microfinance in Development” at the University of Sussex
Integrating Microfinance in Development
September 1-5, 2008, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
The Boulder Institute of Microfinance (BI), a nonprofit organization which grew out of microfinance training programs initiated in 1995, and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), a research organization connected with the University of Sussex, will jointly host “Integrating Microfinance in Development,” a training program designed to educate practitioners involved in a wide range of development fields on the principles of a sustainable microfinance program and how to incorporate it in their operations.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: St Thomas Credit Union of Jamaica (STCCU) to Launch Micro and Small Enterprise (MSE) Unit
St Thomas Co-operative Credit Union Limited (STCCU), a non-profit financial cooperative based in southeastern Jamaica, launched its Micro and Small Enterprise (MSE) unit. The initiative is funded by Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP), a five year technical assistance programme co-funded by the European Union and the Government of Jamaica. In addition to providing financial assistance, the unit will also provide technical assistance including micro-enterprise training programmes and business counselling.
NEWS WIRE: United States: In Harvard International Review, Eric Thurman Argues “Africa Needs Microfinance”
Source: Harvard International Review.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Nigerian Nonprofit Microfinance Institution, Development Exchange Centre (DEC), Loans Approximately $2.5m to Women in Northern Nigerian States
Development Exchange Centre (DEC) of Nigeria recently loaned NGN 292 million (approximately USD 2.5 million) to 30,000 women in various Nigerian northern states. In a set of statistics released by DEC, the organization said the loan was made in hopes to reduce poverty and enhance the economic status of women in the affected states.
WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: Mr. Shafiqual Haque Choudhury of the Association for Social Advancement (ASA) in Bangladesh
Shafiqual Haque Choudhury is the founder and President of the Association for Social Advancement (ASA), a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Dhaka, Bangladesh serving over 5.5 million borrowers and reporting a loan portfolio of BDT 32.4 billion, or USD 482.5 million, in April 2008. Additionally, he recently served as an Advisor to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh (December 2006 through 2007) with responsibility for the Ministry of Agriculture, Youth & Sports, and Cultural Affairs.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Vietnamese Microfinance Sector Crippled by Government Lending Programs
In a speech given at the 2008 Global Summit of Women in Ha Noi, Vietnam, US Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral emphasized the need for more opportunities for women in Vietnam to access microfinance, citing the importance of microcredit in poverty reduction in Asian countries. The US Treasurer stated that since Vietnamese women played an important role in the household economy, credit would help women to be more active players.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: New Youth Microfinance Initiative, Youth Knowledge Consortium, Launched by Silatech, the Dubai School of Government, Gallup, ImagineNations Group, the International Labour Organization, the Issam Fares Institue, The Wolfensohn Center for Development and the Global Partnership for Youth Investment
A new initiative, the Youth Knowledge Consortium, targeting youth micro-enterprises in the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) was recently launched at the two-day Doha Summit for “Young People and Employment in the Arab World” in Qatar. The summit was arranged by Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, the wife of Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the ruler of Qatar. The founding organizations of the Consortium include: Silatech, the Dubai School of Government, Gallup, ImagineNations Group, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Issam Fares Institute (IFI) at the American University of Beirut, the Wolfensohn Center for Development and the World Bank’s Global Partnership for Youth Investment (GPYI).
NEWS WIRE: Zimbabwe: CARE Suspended for “Political Activity”: Food, Microfinance and Other Programs Halted
MICROCAPITAL STORY: United Bank for Africa Group Plc (UBA) of Nigeria Invests $25m to Establish Microfinance Subsidiary, UBA Microfinance Bank Limited
United Bank for Africa Group Plc (UBA) of Nigeria, the largest financial services institution by total assets in West Africa, recently announced that it will invest USD 25 million in initial capital to open a microfinance subsidiary, UBA Microfinance Bank Limited. UBA Microfinance was established to provide poor people who are un-banked or under-banked with access to financial services. UBA’s Chief Executive Officer, Tony Elumelu adds, “We have people in small businesses and they need some advisory services to enable them to run their business right. They have the potentials, the economic conditions are right; but they don’t know how to go about it.”
MICROCAPITAL STORY: The Government of Ghana Loans GHS 300,000 (USD 303,797) to Entrepreneurs in Upper West Region through MASLOC, the Micro-finance and Small Loans Centre
The Ghanaian Government recently loaned GHS 300,000 (USD 303,797) via its Micro-finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC). The GHS 300,000 was divided into loans of between GHS 2,500 (USD 2,532) and GHS 3,000 (USD 3,038), to be distributed to 164 groups of the Upper West Region of Ghana. The loans were given to groups throughout each district of the region. The government aims at providing for both small business and farming activities of 2,270 individuals.