The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group that aims to improve the living standards of people in developing countries, recently announced that it will partner with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a US-based nonprofit that supports innovations in health and education, to provide advisory services valued at USD 3.9 million to Airtel Uganda, a subsidiary of Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel.
Search Results for: ifc
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Advans SA Raises $27m from Existing Shareholders in Third Round of Fundraising
Advans SA, a Luxembourg-based organization that provides financial services to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), recently raised EUR 20 million (USD 26.8 million) in its third round of fundraising.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Issues $8.7m in Bonds to India’s Satin, $6.8m to Cambodia’s Prasac, $2.7m to MicroCred China
Symbiotics Group, a Swiss for-profit provider of microfinance-related and other investment services, recently issued impact bonds in the amount of USD 8.75 million to Satin, a microfinance institution based in Delhi, India; USD 6.78 million to Prasac, a microfinance institution offering financial services to people with low incomes in Cambodia; and USD 2.75 million to MicroCred China, a unit of France-based MicroCred Group.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: African Development Bank Group (AfDB) Approves $5m Line Of Credit for AB Microfinance Bank Nigeria
AB Microfinance Bank Nigeria (ABN), a microfinance institution (MFI) offering financial services to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), recently acquired access to a Line of Credit (LOC) in the amount of USD 5 million, equivalent in NGN, from the African Development Bank (AfDB), a multilateral institution providing loans and grants to governments and private companies.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “The Road to Inclusion: A Look at the Financially Excluded and Underserved;” Published by MasterCard
“The Road to Inclusion: A Look at the Financially Excluded and Underserved;” Published by MasterCard; May 2014; 18 pages; available at http://newsroom.mastercard.com/asia-pacific/documents/the-road-to-inclusion-a-look-at-the-financially-excluded-and-underserved
This report, published by US-based financial services corporation MasterCard, seeks to shed light on how people manage with limited financial services in Egypt, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines and Vietnam.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Borrowing in Cambodia from Microfinance, Commercial Banks Forecast to Increase by 147% to $14b by 2020
The latest outlook published by the Credit Bureau of Cambodia (CBC), a provider of credit information to organizations and consumers in Cambodia, forecasts that the total number of customers of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and commercial banks will increase from 1.9 million to 3.3 million individuals by 2020 and that these customers will borrow a total of USD 14 billion by that time, up from USD 5.7 billion [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank Group to Provide Funding of $42m to Lao People’s Democratic Republic to Support Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), Hydropower and Mining Sectors
The World Bank Group (WBG), a group of five multilateral organizations that invest in developing countries, recently approved plans to disburse a total of USD 42 million to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the hydropower and mining sectors of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lok Capital, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Bellwether Microfinance Fund Exit Janalakshmi Financial Services of India
Lok Capital, a Mauritius-based venture capital fund; the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, a US-based philanthropic organization that seeks to improve the lives of poor urban residents in India, South Africa and the US; and the Bellwether Microfinance Fund, an Indian investor of equity and in start-up and medium-sized businesses, reportedly have exited their private equity investments in Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: United Nations’ International Labour Office, World Bank Group (WBG) to Provide Index Microinsurance in Developing Countries in Africa, Asia
The International Labour Office (ILO), an agency of the United Nations
that deals with labour standards, and the World Bank Group (WBG), a
group of five multilateral organizations that invest in developing
countries, reportedly have entered into a three-year partnership with
the aim of providing index microinsurance products in Africa and Asia
through ILO’s Microinsurance Innovation Facility (MIF), which provides grants to organizations to develop microinsurance products, and WBG’s Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF), a trust fund that supports disaster and weather index insurance markets.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Rwanda’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank (KfW) Launch $4m Microfinance Challenge Fund to Support Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda (MINECOFIN), the Rwandan government’s authority on finance; Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR), a Kigali-based investment company that promotes financial inclusion in Rwanda; and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank (KfW), a German development bank, recently have launched the Microfinance Challenge Fund Rwanda (MCFR), which will deploy EUR 3 million (USD 3.98 million) as loans to support microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Rwanda.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Likely to Loan Morocco’s Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP), Affiliates $133m for On-lending to Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, is considering disbursing a loan of up to EUR 100 million (USD 133 million) to Banque Centrale Populaire, a member of the Moroccan mutual banking group Groupe Banque Centrale Populaire (GBCP), as well as to 10 affiliated “regional popular banks”[1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank Group Donating $22m to, Investing $2m in Agriculture Commercialization in Tajikistan
The International Development Association (IDA), the arm of the World Bank Group (WBG) that offers interest-free credits and grants to the world’s 82 poorest countries, is planning to disburse a grant of USD 22 million to support the “Tajikistan Agriculture Commercialization Project”[1] of the government of Tajikistan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microbanks Share Software Through Association of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Rwanda
The Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR), a group of 62 member microfinance institutions (MFIs), is implementing a computer system to help its members improve their microfinance operations.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Issues $30m in Bonds to MicroCred China; India’s Arohan, Grameen Koota, Annapura Microfinance
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based investment company that focuses on emerging markets, has completed bond transactions worth a total of USD 30 million with MicroCred China, an affiliate of the France-based MicroCred and PlaNet Finance groups; Arohan Financial Services Private Ltd., an Indian financial services company; Grameen Financial Services Private Ltd., a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI) also known as Grameen Koota; and Annapurna Microfinance Private Ltd., an MFI based in the Indian state of Odisha.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Effects of Female Leadership on Microfinance Institutions (MFIs); Impact of Microcredit in Morocco; Social Performance Management Guide
“Female Leadership, Performance, and Governance in Microfinance Institutions;” by Reidar Øystein Strøm, Bert D’Espallier and Roy Mersland; published by Elsevier; 2014; 16 pages; available for purchase at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378426614000284
This report examines the relationship between the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and whether women occupy high management positions, including CEO, chair or director, in those MFIs.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government-Backed Dutch Good Growth Fund Launches with $950m, Aims to Support Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the Netherlands, Developing Nations
The Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), a Netherlands-based loan fund that is funded with EUR 700 million (USD 947 million) from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has opened for business as of July 2014.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank Group (WBG) Loans $12m, Donates $12m to Government of Mozambique for Financial Sector Reform, Including to Boost Financial Inclusion
The World Bank Group (WBG), a US-based multilateral financial institution recently approved a USD 25 million financing package consisting of a loan of USD 12.5 million and a grant of USD 12.5 million to support the “First Programmatic Financial Sector Development Policy Operation (DPO)”[1] of the government of Mozambique.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Development (DFATD) Commits $20m to Ukrainian Agriculture
The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) has announced the launch of a business development project in Ukraine with the aim of supporting the country’s agricultural sector.