by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: Sounding Alarm Bells on Financial Health: Inclusion Is Not Sufficient

e-MFP logoOn Friday in Luxembourg, a panel of experts sounded alarm bells on trends in financial health. Amrik Heyer of FSD Kenya noted that financial health in Kenya, for example, has gone down significantly since 2016, the first year for which her data are available. This has occurred while usage of digital financial services (DFS) has gone up.

The panel was adamant that financial inclusion alone does not boost financial health, which encompasses the ability to meet current needs, absorb shocks and pursue financial goals. In fact, Jaspreet Singh of the UN Capital Development Fund argued that

by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: European Microfinance Week Is Almost Here!

e-MFP logoEuropean Microfinance Week (EMW) 2022 is fast approaching, and we’re delighted that it will be in-person again, with a hybrid component for remote speakers and participants. EMW2022 offers more than 30 sessions organised across several thematic streams, including “Finan­cial Inclusion that Works for Women” – the topic of the European Micro­finance Award 2022 – as well as green and climate-smart finance, digital­isation, funding, financial health, and social performance and impact. Other subject areas include agri-insurance, women’s leadership, fund regu­la­tion, mobile money, biodiversity, refugee finance, WASH, food security and more. To give MicroCapital readers a sense of what they can look forward to, here are some details of just three of the EMW2022 thematic streams:

Climate and Green Finance
Climate change represents one of the greatest issues the world faces today. While the changing climate impacts all countries, sectors and people, they are not all affected in the same ways. Climate change is par­ticularly threatening to poor and marginalised communities. Tackling the issue requires battling on many fronts – not just on the mitigation side (mini­mising the actual climate change that takes place), but on the adap­ta­­tion side too. The financial inclusion sector has an important role in increas­ing the resilience of communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and EMW2022 will feature a variety of related sessions, including:

by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: Christoph Pausch of e-MFP on European Microfinance Week 2022, Luxembourg & Virtual, November 16-18

Christoph Pausch, e-MFPMicroCapital: European Microfinance Week (EMW) 2022 will be in-person for the first time in 3 years. What can we expect?

Christoph Pausch (pictured): We’re very excited to be going back to an in-person conference at the beautiful Abbaye de Neumünster in Luxembourg. For the last two years, EMW has been virtual, and we are very proud of how both editions went, but – as I think everyone agrees – an online conference, however professional and comprehensive, can never entirely substitute for meeting in-person. You cannot fully replicate the richness of dis­cussion within a room or the opportunities for exchange, debate and networking that gathering face-to-face allows.

You’ll see some innovations at EMW2022, as we’re taking much of what worked over the last couple of years and incorporating it into the in-person event. Among other things, that means some sessions will be in a hybrid format, so attendees and speakers who cannot come to Lux­em­bourg can take part. Also this year, the conference proper starts on Wed­nesday at lunchtime, so that our opening will be timezone-suitable for more remote participants.

MC: What range of sessions can attendees choose from?

CP: As always, EMW sessions have been put forward largely by our members and organised across several thematic streams, such as “Financial Inclusion that Works for Women” (the topic of the Euro­pean Microfinance Award), climate-smart finance, digitalisation and

by the MicroCapital Team -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kiva Lends $2m to Migrante, Provider of Vehicle Loans to Migrants from Venezuela to Chile

Kiva Capital, a unit of the US-based NGO Kiva, recently informed MicroCapital that it has loaned USD 2 million to Migrante, a lender to migrants and refugees in Chile, through its Kiva Refugee Investment Fund. Founded in 2018, Migrante is a financial technology (fintech) firm with 27,000 borrowers, mainly

by Benjamin Greissman -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Loans Banca Transilvania $25m to Support Businesses in Romania Adjusting to War in Ukraine

The multilateral European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently lent EUR 25 million (USD 25 million) to Banca Transilvania (BT), a Romania-based bank, to on-lend to enterprises affected by the war in Ukraine. The loan is a part of

by Saulius Ramanauskas -

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Leveraging Digital ID and e-KYC for the Financial Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced Persons: Risks and Opportunities;” Published by Alliance for Financial Inclusion

The authors of this paper discuss the use of electronic know-your-customer (e-KYC) procedures and digital forms of identification (ID) to support financial inclusion for forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) in Eswatini, Mauritania and Rwanda.

In Eswatini, refugees and asylum-seekers may apply for refugee ID cards and non-Swazi ID cards, respectively. After acquiring IDs, individuals may access

by Hasnat Aslam -

MICROFINANCE EVENT: 24th MFC Annual Conference: Microfinance Investing Through Uncertainty; June 29-30, 2022; Istanbul, Turkey

The conference is slated to cover investment opportunities and other strategies for addressing “gender, green finance and technological challenges” related to inclusive finance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event features seminars with titles such as

by the MicroCapital Team -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: PayPal Expanding Money Transfer Options, Waiving Fees in Ukraine; Cutting Service in Russia

The US-based money transfer firm PayPal recently announced that Ukrainians in their home country and elsewhere will be able to receive British pounds, Canadian dollars, euros and US dollars into PayPal accounts to make purchases or transfer funds to bank accounts, credit cards and debit cards. Previously Ukrainians could

by Adhya Singh -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Lends Local-currency Equivalent of $445k to Microfinance Institution VisionFund Uganda

VisionFund Uganda has borrowed EUR 400,000 (USD 445,000) from the Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, an NGO headquartered in Luxembourg that seeks to reduce poverty by providing funding and technical assistance to microfinance institutions and other social businesses. Established in 2012, VisionFund Uganda is a microlending unit of VisionFund International, which, in turn, is owned by

by the MicroCapital Team -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: L-IFT Adds Features to Finbit Financial Diaries App

The Netherlands-based company Low-income Financial Transformation (L-IFT) recently added several features to its Finbit system for creating financial diaries to track the transactions and various attributes of individuals and small enterprises. Finbit includes both an app for Android phones and a portal for accessing the data collected.

The app can act as a financial diary, tracking every daily expense and instance of incoming funds, including purchases, savings, loan disbursements and loan payments as well as number of hours worked. Its new features are more oriented toward the owners of small businesses, including

by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: SIDI Credits the SAM Investors’ Fair with Seeding Partnerships with Emerging MFIs in Burundi, Ethiopia, Mozambique

During the SAM (Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance – African Micro­­finance Week in French) in October, the 2021 Investors’ Fair will build on the 2019 Investors’ Fair, during which 120 microfinance institu­tions (MFIs) and 24 investors met in over 500 “speed-dating” sessions to explore whether they might be compatible partners. Of the MFIs, which represented 24 countries, about half were for-profit firms, and about half were organized as cooperatives or NGOs.

At the 2019 event, Altemius Millinga, the Managing Director of Tanzania’s Yetu Microfinance Bank, told MicroCapital that the Investors’ Fair “was the best part of the SAM because I was able to interact with investors, while at the same time sharing experiences immediately with other MFIs. The SAM gave me the opportunity to meet investors and make several preliminary proposals on funding; it was surely worth the investment!”

FEFISOL, an Africa-focused fund launched by SIDI, has had a presence at all four of the SAM Investors’ Fairs to date, and its repre­sentatives will return this year. The CEO of SIDI, Dominique Lesaffre, reports that his institution has leveraged the Investors’ Fair not only to develop relation­ships with “successful institutions such as Centenary Bank in Uganda or Kafo Jiguinew in Mali – with their massive social-financial outreach – but also with emerging MFIs such as Microbanco Confiança of Mozam­bique, Ishaka of Burundi and Buusaa Gonofaa of Ethiopia.”

Edmund Higenbottam, the Managing Director of Verdant Capital, also

by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: Financial Inclusion for Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDPs) – Part 2: Regulatory Barriers, Segmenting Needs

(This European Microfinance Platformis 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

by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: Working with Central Banks to Extend Microfinance to Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDPs)

At European Microfinance PlatformThursday’s European Microfinance Week session on serving forcibly displaced persons (FDPs), Mariam Jemila Zahari of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), a Malaysia-based network of financial regulators from 90 countries, described her organization’s work in Afghanistan, Mauritania and Rwanda. The Central Bank of Mauritania, for example, used AFI’s peer-learning model to

by Romil Pandey -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Edgar Martinez Named CEO of VisionFund International, Provider of Microfinance in 28 Countries

In January 2021, Edgar Martinez will take the positions of President and CEO at VisionFund International (VFI). The organization, which is owned by US-based NGO World Vision, provides microfinance services

by Madigan Ruch -

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Financial Literacy for Migrants: Mapping and Needs Assessment,” by Heghine Manasayan et al, from CRRC-Armenia

The authors of this paper seek to understand the needs for financial education among three groups of migrants in Armenia: (1) people who moved to Armenia or within the country for work, including workers’ family members; (2) official refugees to Armenia and those moving to the country for similar reasons; and (3) Armenian citizens who migrated to another country but then voluntarily returned or were deported back to Armenia. The methodologies were group discussion with migrants and the review of government data, such as

by MicroCapital Research -

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Humanitarian Cash Transfers and Financial Inclusion, Lessons from Jordan and Lebanon;” published by CGAP

Since 2014, cash and voucher assistance (CVA) has played an important role in the management of humanitarian crises. Worldwide, CVA has grown to constitute

by the MicroCapital Team -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: 40 Funders Commit $75m via World Economic Forum COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs

The World Economic Forum, a Switzerland-based nonprofit, recently convened the COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs, through which 40 organizations are aligning their efforts to reduce the economic and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These 40 organizations support 15,000 entrepreneurs who have served a total of 1.5 billion customers in 190 countries by “protecting livelihoods; mitigating millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide; improving access to health, sanitation, education and energy; [and having] driven social inclusion movements for the disabled, homeless or those with refugee status.”

The alliance members have committed a total of USD 75 million in response to the pandemic. In addition, they are working together to assess needs; increase recovery funding; coordinate legal, technological and