Source: Financial Times.
Original article available here.
SÃO PAULO and NEW DELHI, November 14 – When the Progesar Foundation microfinance office offered to lend her 4,000 pesos at an interest rate of 5 per cent per month, Nilda Peralta could hardly believe her luck. “It seemed there was a trick because the rate they were charging was so low,” says the 57-year-old Argentine shopkeeper. “If I had borrowed from the money lenders I would have had to pay 28 per cent.”
MicroCred SA of France (MicroCred Holding) has established two new subsidiaries: MicroCred Nanchong in the southwestern Sichuan Province of China and MicroCred Senegal in Dakar.
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) program, “NOW,” covered a story in September 2007 on microfinance entitled “Who’s Making Money from Microcredit?” The twenty minute segment explores the financial success of Mexican microfinance institution (MFI) Compartamos and its April 2007 initial public offering (IPO) that generated over USD 400 million for investors. Supporters of the Compartamos IPO hail the transaction as an achievement that signifies the emergence of the microfinance industry in mainstream financial markets. However, critics accuse the microfinance lender of exploiting the poor in an effort to reap profits.
The Dignity Fund, a private partnership founded in 2005, brings capital to the microfinance industry in an effort to advance the upward mobility of the poor. The Dignity Fund seeks to increase the number of poor households with access to credit, savings and other financial services by providing debt financing to microfinance institutions (MFIs).
United Parcel Service (UPS), a global package delivery service founded in 1907, has created a Centennial Grants Fund in honor of UPS’s 100 year anniversary. UPS’s fund has issued USD 1 million to three microfinance organizations that support micro-entrepreneurs across the globe. ACCION International will receive USD 400,000, Opportunity International will receive USD 390,000 and FINCA International will receive USD 210,000. The creation of the Centennial Grants Fund is the first time UPS has dedicated such a large portion of its corporate philanthropy to microfinance and micro-lending.
Financiera Independencia, a Mexican microfinance institution (MFI) founded in 1993, has announced plans in a recent prospectus for a public offering of up to 20 percent of the company through primary and secondary offerings in Mexico and international markets. According to estimates on CNNMoney.com, the offering will raise up to 3.26 billion Mexican pesos or equivalent USD 305.6 million through the sale of 136 million shares which includes a provisional over-allotment of 17.7 million shares. Financiera Independencia will use net proceeds from the primary offering to fund new lending, expand its branch network, and for other corporate development initiatives.
Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA), a digital distribution company for the independent music community and one of Fortune magazine’s 25 Breakout Companies of 2005, has collaborated with actress Natalie Portman (of ‘Star Wars’ and ‘V for Vendetta’ fame) to compile tracks for a 16-song benefit compilation called ‘Big Change: Songs for FINCA.’ The compilation is currently available for download at the iTunes Store for USD 7.99. This is the first-ever charity album offered by iTunes. Net proceeds will benefit the Village Banking Campaign, FINCA’s charitable fund raising campaign.
IFAD, IDB present first global map of remittance flows to developing nations
The Microfinance Capital Markets Newsletter of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the MIX, the microfinance information clearinghouse, reported responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund, a Luxembourg-based fund, has issued a loan of USD 500,000 to microfinance institution (MFI) Thaneakea Phum (Cambodia) Ltd and a loan of USD 4 million to PRASAC MFI Ltd.
The Microfinance Capital Markets Newsletter of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the MIX, the microfinance information clearinghouse, reported responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund, a Luxembourg-based fund, has granted a loan of USD 1.02 million to Edpymes Proempresa, a Latin America microfinance institution (MFI).
A new index commissioned by multilateral financial institutions Inter-American Development Bank (IADB or IDB) and Andean Development Corporation (Corporación Andina de Fomento or CAF) debuted in El Salvador at the 10th Inter-American Microenterprise Forum (October 3-5). The IDB and CAF commissioned the index, called “Microscopio” or “Microscope,” from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a specialized service of The Economist that provides country, industry and management analyses. Microscope uses 13 criteria relating to investment climate, regulatory framework and degree of institutional development for microfinance to rate the favorability of conditions in a country for microfinance. The index is designed to allow for comparison between countries and analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the business climate for microfinance in each country.
The Microfinance Capital Markets Newsletter of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the MIX, the microfinance information clearinghouse, reported responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund, a Luxembourg-based fund, has booked a series of loans totaling over USD 2.1 million to three microfinance institutions (MFIs). Fondo de Desarrollo Regional (Fondesurco) and Fundación ESPOIR, two Latin American MFIs, borrowed USD 200,000 each. LOKMicro, a MFI based in Eastern Europe, received a loan of approximately USD 1.7 million. The three separate transactions occurred in August of this year.
Shabby Apple, a designer dress company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is releasing their new fall line of fashions, and will be donating 5 percent of its proceeds to Unitus, a non profit organization dedicated to alleviating poverty by increasing access to microfinance. The money will specifically be utilized to aid women entrepreneurs in India.