International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment-arm of the World Bank Group, recently announced it will make an equity investment of USD 4.6 million and a medium-term loan of USD 9 million in Caja Nuestra Gente, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Peru owned by Spain’s BBVA Microfinance Foundation (FMBBVA).
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Jonathan Lewis of Opportunity Collaboration Responds to Complaints that “Microcredit Does Not Solve Poverty”
The Huffington Post, a US-based news website, recently published an editorial series by Jonathan Lewis, founder of the annual Opportunity Collaboration retreat for social investors, titled “Social Impact Evaluation: Useful? Utopian?”, which responds to suggestions by members of academia and the media that “microcredit does not solve poverty.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Malaysian Government Budgets $10m to Establish Microfinance Lender Malaysian Chinese Women Entrepreneurs Foundation
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak reportedly has announced that the Malaysian government has injected USD 10 million to set up the nonprofit Malaysian Chinese Women Entrepreneurs Foundation (MCWEF) to provide microcredit to low-income Chinese women starting their own businesses.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: MFTransparency Hosts “Uganda Data Launch Webinar” to Present Microloan Pricing Data, July 27, 2011
Event Name: MFTransparency Uganda Data Launch
Event Date: July 27, 2011, 10:00 am Eastern US Time EDT/5:00 pm Uganda time
Event Location: Online
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Costs Decrease, Account Openings Increase via India’s Branchless Banking Model, Microfinance Institutions Remain Excluded
The National, an English-language newspaper owned by the Abu Dhabi government, recently reported that the branchless banking model in which local agents, or business correspondents, use handheld computers to offer banking services in areas of India with no traditional banking branches is “transforming lives”.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Imp-Act, MicroSave Launch Guidance Notes on Social Performance Management for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
Imp-Act, a UK-based consortium of nine organizations focused on the social performance management (SPM) of microfinance institutions (MFIs), and MicroSave, a for-profit technical assistance, training and resource center in India, recently introduced two new “guidance notes” in English, French and Spanish, titled “Strategic Planning: Integrating SPM into Microfinance Capacity Building” and “Governance: Integrating SPM into Microfinance Capacity Building”. According to the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF), an initiative of CGAP
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microsavings and Payments Innovation Initiative (MPII) Offering Research Grants on Savings Products, Payment Channels in Developing Countries
The Microsavings and Payments Innovation Initiative (MPII), a program administered by Yale University of the United States and its nonprofit sub-grantee Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), is accepting expressions of interest for grants to conduct field research on savings and payment innovations and their impact on poverty alleviation.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Loans $6m in Local Currency to Microfinance Institution AccessBank Tajikistan
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based development finance institution, has agreed to make a four-year, local-currency loan of TJS 29 million (USD 6 million) to AccessBank Tajikistan, a bank that specializes in financial services for micro- and small enterprises (MSEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Loans $8m to Kompanion of Kyrgyz Republic, Eskhata of Tajikistan, XacBank of Mongolia
responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility), a Swiss asset management company that invests in microfinance institutions (MFIs) and microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), recently reported to MicroCapital that it made debt investments totaling USD 8 million through MIVs it manages in the following institutions: USD 3 million to Kompanion Financial Group Microfinance Closed Joint Stock Company, an MFI in Kyrgyzstan; USD 2 million to Eskhata Bank, an institution in Tajikistan that lends to micro- and small businesses; and USD 3 million to XacBank, a community development MFI in Mongolia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN) Loans $902k to Fundación de Apoyo Comunitario y Social del Ecuador (FACES), Federación Regional de Asociaciones de Pequeños Cafetaleros Ecológicos del Sur del Ecuador (FAPECAFES), Asociación de Productores Agropecuarios del Valle Alto Mayo (APAVAM) of Peru
Working Capital for Community Needs Incorporated (WCCN), a nonprofit organization that organizes financial partnerships among individuals and organizations in Latin America and the US, recently reported to MicroCapital that it made debt investments totaling USD 902,000 to the following organizations: USD 400,000 to Fundación de Apoyo Comunitario y Social del Ecuador (FACES), an Ecuadorian microfinance institution (MFI); USD 370,600 to Federación Regional de Asociaciones de Pequeños Cafetaleros Ecológicos del Sur del Ecuador (FAPECAFES), a coffee cooperative in Ecuador; and USD 131,600 to Asociación de Productores Agropecuarios del Valle Alto Mayo (APAVAM), a coffee cooperative in Peru.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Dual Return Fund of Vision Microfinance Loans $3m to Microfinance Institutions in Mongolia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Ecuador
Absolute Portfolio Management GmbH, an Austrian investment company that specializes in microfinance, recently reported that its Dual Return Fund, a sub-fund of Vision Microfinance, made debt investments totaling USD 3 million in unnamed microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Mongolia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Ecuador.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Defaults, Questionable Disbursements at Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) Slow Microfinance in Ghana
A local news report indicates that Ghana’s microfinance sector is “on the verge of collapse” due to defaults and poorly monitored spending at the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), a microfinance scheme created as part of the governmental Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kyrgyz Microfinance Institutions “Successfully Compete” with Banking Sector in Providing Access to Finance
President of Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbayeva, reportedly said at the recent Central Asian Microfinance Fair that microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Kyrgyzstan are emulating the banking sector in providing loans in the country.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Microfinance Investment Transparency and Evaluation in Washington DC, USA, and Online, July 20, 2011
Event Name: USAID Microenterprise Development Office After Hours Seminar #53 – Microfinance Investment Transparency and Evaluation
Event Date: July 20, 2011; 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm EDT
Event Location: QED Group, Washington DC, USA or online
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Dutch Microfinance Investor Oikocredit Names Sharlene Brown National Director of US Arm
Oikocredit USA, the United States arm of Dutch cooperative investor Oikocredit, announced today that it has named Ms Sharlene Brown as its new national director.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Inter-American Development Bank, Deutsche Bank, Calvert Foundation, Monarch Community Fund Loan $3.6m to “Fund for Small Rural Producers in Latin America” or “Fondo para los Pequeños Productores Rurales en América Latina” (FOPEPRO)
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a US-based development finance institution, has arranged a USD 3.6 million syndicated loan to the “Fund for Small Rural Producers in Latin America” or “Fondo para los Pequeños Productores Rurales en América Latina” (FOPEPRO), to provide access to finance for associations of small-scale farmers and other producers in nine Latin American countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Reduces Fees, Loosens Branch Restrictions to Promote Financial Inclusion in the Philippines
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Republic of the Philippines, reportedly is proposing to cut the fees for opening new bank branches and to lift restrictions on the opening of bank branches in the eight “restricted areas” of metro Manila.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC), Microsave Publish Deposit Assessment Reports for Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently commissioned “The South Asia Deposit Assessment” studies.