Source: Catalyst Microfinance Investors.
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PRESS RELEASE: Grameen Foundation Engineers More Than $100m in Local Currency Financing
Growth Guarantee Program Secures Local Currency Loans and Spares Microfinance Institutions Foreign Exchange Risk
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Global Non-profit Microfinance Network Opportunity International Launches Microschools for Opportunity
Opportunity International, a Christian microfinance organization, has announced the expansion of its microfinance school loans program “Microschools for Opportunity.” “Microschools” provides loans to “edupreneurs” who open schools in poor neighborhoods where children, especially girls, would otherwise be unable to access public education. As of June 2007, the Opportunity International Network had over one million active clients globally and a loan portfolio of USD 450.2 million. As of December 2006, the organization had USD 31.7 million in total assets and USD 534,000 in total liabilities.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Westpac Sponsor Workshop to Increase Microfinance to Women Entrepreneurs, Exim Bank and MI-BOSPO Attend
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Westpac Banking Corporation, the fourth largest bank in Australia, are sponsoring a four-day workshop designed to encourage micro-lending to women business-owners in developing countries. International women bankers gathered in Sydney, Australia on October 2 to exchange global best practices on serving women entrepreneurs. Attendees included representatives from several of IFC’s client financial institutions: Exim Bank Limited (Tanzania), Access Bank (Nigeria), dfcu Limited (Uganda), Business Partners (South Africa), and MI-BOSPO (Bosnia).
MICROCAPITAL STORY: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Citigroup Loan USD 16.4 Million to ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank in Armenia
This is another story coming courtesy from the latest issue of the Microfinance Capital Markets Newsletter of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the MIX, the microfinance information clearinghouse. ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank (ACBA), an Armenian microfinance institution (MFI), has received two loan investments totaling over USD 16.4 million. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based international financial institution, provided half of the investment in a USD 8.2 million loan. Citigroup has matched EBRD’s USD 8.2 million loan, however lent ACBA the finances through EBRD’s A/B loan structure. According to the EBRD website, the A/B loan structure allows EBRD to sign off as the official lender of record, while Citigroup receives the lender’s benefits that would have otherwise gone to EBRD. The combined loans add to ACBA’s gross loan portfolio of 90.4 million, an increase of 18.1 percent. ACBA now has over USD 158.5 million in total assets (see “Financial Data”).
NEWS WIRE: Liberia: Waifem Begins Micro-Finance Course Tomorrow
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Incofin Announces Creation of Rural Impulse Fund, an Investment Fund to Target Rural Microfinance; BIO, EIB, IFC, FMO Invest
Incofin is a social investment company based out of Antwerp, Belgium that specializes in microfinance investment in developing countries. Its two core activities are direct investments in microfinance through loans, stock participations and guarantees; and fund management. In this capacity, Incofin currently manages Impulse Microfinance Investment Fund, the first private Belgian commercial microfinance investment fund, and the microfinance investments of Volksvermogen, a Belgian investment fund.
Incofin announces the creation of a new investment fund to target rural microfinance institutions (MFIs), the Rural Impulse Fund (RIF). Specifically, as fund advisor, Incofin will guide the RIF to make equity and debt investments in rural MFIs (see IFC’s RIF summary). The RIF aims to increase the supply of rural microfinance by extending commercial funding and strengthening the financial structure of MFIs which have both successfully provided financial services to rural poor and been financially sustainable. “Rural MFIs will be selected on the basis of a methodology, measuring the presence of the MFIs’ points of sales in rural areas. RIF will invest in financially sustainable MFIs, which, moreover, outperform in terms of outreach and social performance,” says
WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: Ecobank
Ecobank is an independent regional banking Group in West and Central Africa serving wholesale and retail customers. It has a network covering 18 countries namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tchad and Togo, with plans to establish presence in East and Southern Africa. The Group has a network of over 320 branches and offices established in the last nineteen years. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) the parent company of the Ecobank Group plays a central role in the definition and implementation of common policies and standards on the basis of a “one bank” concept across the group’s network.
NEWS WIRE: Microfinance: The way forward for poverty eradication
NEWS WIRE: Seedvest Microfinance Bank Comes on Board
Source: BusinessDay Online, Oluyinka Alawode
Article available here.
Another microfinance bank with the passion to boost the economic emancipation of the nation especially at the grassroots level has come on board. Seedvest Microfinance Bank Limited commissioned weekend in Ibadan, Oyo State had in attendance representatives of the deputy governor, financial sector surveillance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Tunde Lemo and other financial institutions department, trade unions and associations.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Ecobank and ACCION International to Launch New Microfinance Banks in 20 African Countries
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, an African regional bank and parent of the Ecobank Group, and ACCION International, a global microlending organization, announce completion of plans to open microfinance banks in at least 20 countries across
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Integrated Microfinance Bank Limited (IMFB) has won the Lagos State Enterprise Award for Best Microfinance Bank in year 2007
In a competition organized by the Lagos Ministry of Commerce and Industry, along with Saint Paul International, a consulting firm based in Lagos, Integrated Microfinance Bank Limited came out first among microfinance institutions such as Mic and Susu microfinance banks, and won the Lagos State Enterprise Award for best microfinance bank, based on its success in becoming Nigeria’s leading microfinance bank and its outreach to over 50,000 clients. According to the organizers, the award ceremony was designed to promote the culture of advancement, recognize and reward organizations who have developed enterprise, and in turn contribute to the economic development of the Lagos State.
Continue reading “MICROCAPITAL STORY: Integrated Microfinance Bank Limited (IMFB) has won the Lagos State Enterprise Award for Best Microfinance Bank in year 2007”
US MicroCredit Enterprises Lends $300,000 to CREDIT of Cambodia and $500,000 to Norwegian Microcredit of Azerbaijan for Microfinance Investments
MicroCredit Enterprises has lent $300,000 to CREDIT of Cambodia and $500,000 to Norwegian Microcredit (Normicro) of Azerbaijan.
MicroCredit Enterprises was established in 2005 and is based in Sacramento, California, USA. It is a nonprofit organization that leverages private capital to lend to nongovernmental microfinance organizations abroad. Since its inception it has guaranteed over $4.8 million in microloans. As of October 2006 it has 7 active microfinance investments in Bolivia, Cambodia, Ecuador, Nigeria, Peru, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan.
Continue reading “US MicroCredit Enterprises Lends $300,000 to CREDIT of Cambodia and $500,000 to Norwegian Microcredit of Azerbaijan for Microfinance Investments”MicroCredit Enterprises Issues Loans Totaling $1.9 Million to IMON, LAPO, Associacion Benefica PRISMA, and EDPYME CONFIANZA
MicroCredit Enterprises loaned $800,000 to the Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO), $500,000 to International Micro-Loan Fund (IMON), and $300,000 each to Associacion Benefica PRISMA and EDPYME Confianza.
Established in 1991, LAPO is a Nigerian non-profit organization whose clients are 98% women. According to its MIX Market profile, it had 54,460 clients, assets worth $5.3 million, and a total loan portfolio of $3.4 million at year end 2005. As well, its debt to equity ratio stood at 138% and return on assets was 12%.