NilePay PLC, an electronic financial services company in South Sudan, and the local member of the Zain Group, a Kuwait-based mobile telecommunications firm, are launching a licensed mobile money service in South Sudan. The NilePay service will allow customers to
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sanad Fund for MSME Launches Equity Sub-Fund II with $23m from BMZ, EU to Invest in Financial Inclusion, Job Creation in Middle East, North Africa
The Sanad Fund for MSME, a Luxembourg-domiciled investor in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), recently launched its Equity Sub-Fund (ESF) II, to invest in financial intermediaries with the aim of increasing financial inclusion and job creation in the Middle East and North Africa. The sub-fund’s mandate includes
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sanad Fund for MSME Loans $500k in Local Currency to Vitas Egypt for Microfinance
Sanad Fund for MSME, a Luxembourg-based investment vehicle, recently loaned the equivalent of USD 500,000 in local currency to Vitas Egypt, a microfinance institution (MFI) that was launched in 2018. The MFI is a
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sanad Fund for MSME Loans $5m to Al Majmoua for Enterprise, Housing Microfinance in Lebanon
Sanad Fund for MSME, a Luxembourg-based investor in lenders to micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), recently loaned USD 5 million to Al Majmoua, a provider of financial and business development services to underserved groups in Lebanon. The funds are to be on-lent to low-income individuals for housing improvements and to very small enterprises for business needs.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Produce Firm El Roda Benefits from Trade and Competitiveness, SEMED Youth Employment Programmes Entering Egypt
The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently agreed to lend El Roda, an Egyptian producer and exporter of fruits and vegetables, an unspecified amount of funding to expand its packing facility and purchase additional grape varieties and cultivation machinery such as irrigation equipment. The company
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: OPIC Loans $150m to Vitas Lebanon for Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs); Women; Rural Microfinance
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency of the US government that facilitates investment by US-based firms in developing countries, recently loaned USD 150 million to the local member of US-based Vitas Group for on-lending to “small, medium-sized enterprises, women, and rural borrowers, and to groups that face substantial barriers to financial services in Lebanon.” Vitas Lebanon has loan products designed for consumption,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sanad Fund for MSME Loans $5m to The National Bank (TNB) of the Palestinian Territories for Microfinance
Sanad Fund for MSME recently loaned USD 5 million to The National Bank (TNB), a public-private partnership in the Palestinian Territories, to fund loans from TNB to low-income households as well as micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). In addition
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat’s Dual Return Vision Microfinance Fund Lends in 11 Countries, Including for Women in Bolivia, Farmers in China
C-Quadrat Asset Management, a unit of Austria-based C-Quadrat Investment, recently informed MicroCapital that it disbursed loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 11 countries during December 2018. The identities of the MFIs and the amount each borrowed remain confidential.
One of the MFIs is a Bolivian NGO providing health and financial services to women via 70 urban and rural locations. The MFI offers loans, financial education, health education and testing for cervical
SPECIAL REPORT: 15k Refugees in Uganda Receive Assistance via AirTel Mobile Money, Cutting Delivery Costs by 47%, Boosting Speed by 42%, Reducing “Money Truck” Problems: UNCDF Reports at European Microfinance Week
At 
this month’s European Microfinance Week in Luxembourg, Pamela Eser of the UN Capital Development Fund described her team’s rollout of mobile money to 15,000 refugees in Uganda and 1,800 in Zambia. Most refugees in these countries lack mobile phones, and very few of the participants had
SPECIAL REPORT: RUFI Crosses Border with Refugees from South Sudan, Opens Doors in Uganda; Breaking MFIs’ Stereotypes About Victims of Conflict – Insights from European Microfinance Week
Friday at European Microfinance Week, Resi Janssen of Dutch NGO Cordaid described her institution’s Rural Finance Initiative (RUFI), which had been working in South Sudan when violence in 2016 caused most of its clients to flee to Uganda. With no license to accept deposits in Uganda, RUFI became an agent of Centenary Bank so it could continue to provide savings and other services to its customers – albeit in a different country – at a time of great need.
Not long after relocating, some of RUFI’s customers started asking how they could keep their children from being recruited as fighters. RUFI secured
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Société Générale de Banque au Liban to Borrow $50m from EBRD for On-lending to Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises in Lebanon
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, recently agreed to loan Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL), a Lebanese bank, USD 50 million to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas and another USD 50 million for firms involved in importing and exporting. The latter allocation falls under EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP), which was launched in 1999 and is intended to promote trade among Eastern Europe, North Africa, and Central and Western Asia. As of 2018, TFP engages approximately 100 issuing banks in 28 economies, with total approved financing limits exceeding EUR 1.5 billion (USD 1.8 billion). TFP also works with approximately 800
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Finance for Refugees: “Making it Work;” September 7, 2018; The Hague, the Netherlands
Organized by the NpM Platform for Inclusive Finance, which was formerly known as the Netherlands Platform for Microfinance, this event will explore ways financial service providers can deliver products and services to refugee communities. One of the primary goals of the conference is to encourage private-sector investment in financial inclusion for refugees
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EU Funding Expansion of EBRD Women in Business Programme to Morocco
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, is expanding its Women in Business Programme to Morocco, where it will offer training sessions, networking opportunities and internet-based mentoring for women entrepreneurs in the country.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Arab African International Bank (AAIB), Sanad Fund for MSME Launch Microfinance Institution Sandah in Egypt
The Arab African International Bank (AAIB), which is held in equal parts by the Central Bank of Egypt and the Kuwait Investment Authority, recently launched Sandah, a microfinance institution intended to promote “financial inclusion to accommodate the low-income disenfranchised segments” by funding
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Calvert Impact Loans $5m to Global Communities’ Vitas Palestine, Ryada for Housing Microfinance, Mortgages in West Bank, Gaza
Calvert Impact Capital, a US-based NGO that raises money for organizations with “a social and/or environmental focus,” recently disbursed a three-year loan to Global Communities, a US-based NGO that provides financial, health, urban-management and other services in 43 countries. Global Communities will use the funds to support housing lending in the West Bank and Gaza via its for-profit holding company, the Vitas Group.
Calvert Investments Director Songbae Lee said, “This investment is interesting to us because it expands our traditional microfinance investing with a focus on
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Organization Crystal of Georgia, VisionFund’s Monte Credit of Montenegro Borrow $3.6m from Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation
The Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation (GCAF), whose head office is in Luxembourg, recently informed MicroCapital that it has disbursed three-year loans denominated in euros to two microfinance institutions. Crystal Microfinance Organization, a joint stock company in Georgia, borrowed the equivalent of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fransabank Borrows $20m from Sanad for Rural SMEs, Poor Households in Lebanon
Fransabank SAL, a Beirut-based commercial bank with 124 branches in nine countries, recently received a loan of USD 20 million from the Sanad Fund for MSME (micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises), a European investor in North Africa and the Middle East. Fransabank plans to use the funds to
SPECIAL REPORT: Clients Come Clean on Sneaking Contraception, Practitioners Move from Serving Women to Empowering Households as European Microfinance Week Closes
During the closing day of European Microfinance Week
, Imran Matin of the US-based nonprofit Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) stressed the importance of not just whether women will use financial services, but “what account ownership will translate into in terms of achievement.” Foreshadowing a theme of the session, he added that “intra-household dynamics is very important and also particularly difficult to measure.”
Bdour Al-Hyari of Jordan’s Microfund for Women (MFW) described a long-running insurance product offered by her microfinance institution (MFI). The coverage provides cash to clients who are hospitalized or have a family member who is. While health issues were a major cause of default in the past, women who got “hospital cash” from MFW reportedly repaid their loans at a rate of