by Chinq Yee Chong -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG STORY: South Africa’s Blue Financial Services Obtains USAID $10 Million Loan Portfolio Guarantee And Expands Microfinance Services In Africa

It was recently reported that Blue Financial Services (Blue) [1], an MFI headquartered in South Africa and established in 2001, received a loan portfolio guarantee of up to USD 10 million from USAID [2] for their small business lending operations. The facility will cover 50 percent of any loss experienced by Blue on small, medium and micro enterprise or SMME loans within the USAID-backed loan portfolio. The guarantee is valid for the next 10 years.

by Zoran Stanisljevic -

MICROCAPITAL.ORG PAPER WRAP-UP: Elevated Food Prices – Impact on Microfinance Clients by Zaved Ahmed and Camilla Nestor

By Zaved Ahmed and Camilla Nestor, Grameen Foundation, published by the MixMarket Microbanking Bulletin, Issue 18, Spring 2009, pages 14-16, available at: 

http://www.themix.org/sites/default/files/MBB%2018%20Spring%202009.pdf

According to the report in the Spring 2009 MixMarket Microbanking Bulletin, food prices in developing countries remain elevated (above international market prices) and continue to negatively impact microfinance clients.  Amazingly enough, approximately 1 billion people (nearly one-sixth of the world’s population) subsist on less than USD 1 per day.  Both Ahmed and Nestor of the Grameen Foundation note that increasing food prices have the greatest effect on the poor populations that spend between 70 and 80 percent of their household income on food.

by Sally Levy -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Grants $23.9m to Afghanistan for Rural Microfinance and Livestock Support

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency, has announced a grant of USD 23.9 million to create the Rural Microfinance and Livestock Support Program in Afghanistan. This is the first IFAD program in Afghanistan and will be implemented in the northern region. The microfinance portion of the program will tailor microfinance services to the rural population, especially farmers who lack access to microcredit. It will be implemented in partnership with the Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA).The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) will be the lead agency for the livestock part of the program which will focus on women headed households and pilot various private-public partnership models. It is not clear how the funding will be split between the two sections of this program.  

by Jaclyn Berfond -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: New Microfinance Institution AccessBank Tajikistan Established with Investments Totaling USD 11 million from Access Microfinance Holding, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW)

Several international finance organizations have invested in a new microfinance institution, AccessBank Tajikistan.  Access Microfinance Holding AG (AccessHolding) will hold a majority stake in the new bank, and international investors including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) will invest a total of USD 11 million for equity stakes.  AccessBank Tajikistan will launch operations in late 2009 in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.

by Uyen Tran -

WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: Catherine Quense, ACCION International’s Interim President and CEO

Catherine Quense, ACCION International’s Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Deputy, will take over as interim president and CEO, replacing Maria Otero, who has left to join the Obama Administration as Under Secretary of Global Affairs in the US State Department. Ms. Quense will direct ACCION in line with its 2008-2011 strategic plan and the key initiatives launched under Ms. Otero’s direction, “ACCION’s Model for Social Change” from its 2007 annual report. The four issues the plan addresses are “low income, poor quality of life, vulnerability and lack of dignified solutions,” through which the provision of financial services to low-income households will address. ACCION will broaden and reach beyond its target audience from informal-sector microentrepreneurs in urban Latin America for a greater global reach. The new areas include Inner Mongolia, China and Nigeria.

by Jaclyn Berfond -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Gives USD 20m to World Bank to Establish Agriculture Finance Support Facility

The World Bank Group has announced the establishment of an Agriculture Finance Support Facility to support the expansion of rural finance in developing countries. The Facility is made possible by a USD 20 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through their Financial Services for the Poor program.

by Sally Levy -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: SEEDFINANCE Corporation of the Philippines receives $1m Microfinance Investment Loan from MicroVest I during May 2009

SEEDFINANCE Corporation, a microfinance lender headquartered in Manila, the Philippines, received a USD 1 million loan from MicroVest I (MVI) in May 2009.  SEEDFINANCE provides wholesale financing to Filipino microfinance institutions (MFIs) and loans to small enterprises. MicroVest is an investment firm which raises funds to invest in MFIs in emerging markets. This is its first loan to SEEDFINANCE and in the Philippines. This deal was reported to the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) Microfinance Dealbook, a monthly report on microfinance capital market transactions.  

by Zoran Stanisljevic -

PAPER WRAP-UP: Will the Bottom of the Pyramid Hit Bottom? The Effects of the Global Credit Crisis on the Microfinance Sector, by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

By Barbara Magnoni and Olga Jennifer Powers of EA Consultants, published by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), March 2009, microReport number 150, 54 pages, available at: 

http://collab2.cgap.org//gm/document-1.9.34169/11Will%20the%20Bottom%20of%20the%20Pyramid%20Hit%20Bottom_The%20Effects%20of%20the%20Global%20Credit%20Crisis%20on%20the%20Microfinance%20Sector.pdf

The produced report by USAID provides an assessment on the impact of the financial crisis on the microfinance sector.  The paper provides a framework for assessing the impact of the crisis on the microfinance sector by analyzing the effects on both the liabilities side (access to finance, cost of funding, financial risk) and the asset side (portfolio growth, portfolio risk, portfolio quality) of an MFI’s (Microfinance Institutions) balance sheet in order to determine the extent that MFIs may have been impacted.

by Goda Thangada -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: ACCION International’s CEO Maria Otero To Be United States Under Secretary of Democracy and Global Affairs

The White House has nominated the president and CEO of ACCION International, Ms. Maria Otero, to assume the position of Under Secretary of Democracy and Global Affairs in the US Department of State. Although the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has yet to approve the nomination, Ms. Otero has indicated that she will accept the position should her nomination be successful. Ms. Otero has been profiled in MicroCapital’s Who’s Who in Microfinance series in May 2007. Her position at ACCION International will be filled temporarily by Ms. Catherine Quense, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Deputy, while a committee searches for Ms. Oteros successor. Ms. Diana Taylor, Vice Chair of the ACCION Board, comments, “Her nomination as Under Secretary comes as no surprise to those of us who know her and her deep commitment to social and economic justice, and we know that she now has an even more effective platform from which to help build better lives for the world’s citizens.” Ms. Otero was born and raised until the age of 12 in La Paz, Bolivia, whereupon she and her family moved to Washington DC. She holds a BA in Literature from the University of Maryland and an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins. She has been with ACCION since 1986 and became CEO in 2000. ACCION International is a microfinance organization founded in 1961 and consisting of 27 partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 20 countries. The position of Under Secretary of Democracy and Global Affairs was established under Section 161(b) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995. In total, there are five Under Secretaries of State in the Department of State, headed by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton.

by Sally Levy -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Alitheia Capital, Goodwell Investments and JCS Investments Limited Open West African Microfinance Fund Targeted at $50m

A fund targeted at USD 50 million has been opened by Alitheia Capital, Goodwell Investments and JCS Investments Limited in Lagos, Nigeria.  The fund will invest in and develop microfinance banks and organizations in Nigeria and Ghana. These three investment organizations will pool funds to provide commercial long-term capital which will support the start up and growth of microfinance institutions (MFIs). In addition, support to management teams and access to global microfinance expertise would be provided. The goal of the fund is to increase the outreach of MFIs and provide investors with a market rate of return.

by Laura Anderson -

MICROFINANCE EVENT: Emerging Microfinance in Anglophone West Africa: May 6, 2009

Emerging Microfinance in Anglophone West Africa: May 6, 2009, Lagos, Nigeria 

See Our Comprehensive Event Calendar Here:

http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events 

Cost: N/A 

Summary of Event: Alitheia Capital, DARC, JCS Investments and Goodwell Investments have, with the support of First Bank, performed an in-depth study of the potential of the microfinance market in Anglophone West Africa.  The event will feature a presentation of the study results as well as an introduction to a new microfinance equity fund to be launched this year.  Prominent speakers from the regional and international microfinance community will participate in a panel discussion and answer questions from the floor.

by Laura Anderson -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Government of Sudan Issues Directives Requiring Banks to Allocate 12 Percent of Portfolio to Microfinance

According to the Sudan Vision Daily, The Central Bank of Sudan(CBOS) has issued a circular note detailing directives regarding microfinance to Sudanese Banks.  A copy of the circular was not available for this report.  As part of its 2009 Central Bank Policy the CBOS has encouraged the development of microfinance aimed at social needs such as housing and agriculture, as well as the deepening of Islamic banking.

by Laura Anderson -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Muhammad Yunus Warns of the Dangers of Foreign Currency at Sa-Dahn Microfinance Conference

Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Laureate who made microfinance a success in Bangladesh, has warned of the pitfalls for microfinance institutions relying on foreign money.  The comments, reported by The Hindu Business Line, came at the recent Sa-Dahn National Microfinance Conference 2009 in New Delhi, India.

by Yanni Hao -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: CDC Group Invests $30m in Microfinance Funds: India Financial Inclusion Fund and Catalyst Microfinance Investors

CDC Group, the British government-backed, private equity fund of funds with net assets of 4 billion USD, has invested into two microfinance funds to the tune of 15 million USD: the India Financial Inclusion Fund, managed by Caspian Capital Partners, and the Catalyst Microfinance Investors, managed by Catalyst Microfinance Investment Company. By investing in MFIs, the fund aims to provide low-income persons access to a wide range of financial services, including credit, savings, and fund transfers.