by Stephen Son -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: New York Times Magazine Surmises Cell Phones Can Transform Developing World in Similar Vein as Microfinance

An article in the Apr. 13 issue of the New York Times Magazine examines the proliferation of cell phones in the developing world and their potential to profoundly impact the global economy in years to come. Significantly, the trend, like microfinance, is seen as a bottom-up approach to development, with the poor taking advantage of emerging opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty.

by Jennifer Lee -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: ING Review of American International Group (AIG) and Its Partnerships with ACCION, FINCA, MicroCred, Pro Mujer, and Pak-Oman Microfinance Bank

The Dutch Bank ING published its updated 2008 study on commercial bank microfinance activity, called “A Billion to Gain? The Next Phase”. A MicroCapital review of the paper can be read here. MicroCapital is reviewing the microfinance activities of several of large international banks covered in the study, such as American International Group (AIG).

by Anthony Busch -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will Extend a $30m Syndicated Loan to the Micro Finance Bank of Azerbaijan (MFBA) for On-lending to Micro Enterprises

The Board of Directors of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), an international bank utilizing investment tools to encourage democracy and market economies from central Asia to central Europe since 1991, will discuss an upcoming syndicated loan to the Micro Finance Bank of Azerbaijan (MFBA) on May 12th. The loan will be worth USD 30 million, as reported by the Azeri-Press Agency (APA). The EBRD will finance USD 10 million of the loan and the remaining USD 20 million will be offered to the syndication market on “B loan” terms.

by Melissa Duscha -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: IMON Receives USD 1.5 million in Investments from Incofin and MicroCredit Enterprises

 The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) recently reported International Microloan Fund (IMON), a non-bank microfinance institution based in Tajikistan, received loan investments of USD 500 thousand from US-based MicroCredit Enterprises and USD 1 million from Incofin of Belgium this past February 2008.

by Anthony Busch -

PAPER WRAP-UP: Capital Markets: A Long-Term Solution to Financial Freedom, Gil Crawford and Lauren Clark

Co-authored by Gil Crawford, CEO of MicroVest, a Washington, DC-based private microfinance investment firm, and Lauren Clark, the Communications Manager for MicroVest, released July 2007 as Volume 10-Number 1 of Microenterprise Development Review, a publication of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 11 pages, available at http://www.microvestfund.com/docs/microenter_dev_%207-16-07.pdf

by Stephen Son -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: South African Microfinance Institution (MFI) Blue Financial Services and Nigeria’s Intercontinental Bank to Launch $25.9m Microfinance Bank

Blue Financial Services (BFS), a South African microfinance institution (MFI), and Intercontinental Bank Plc, Nigeria’s largest commercial and retail bank by assets, are collaborating to launch a Nigerian microfinance bank capitalized at NGN 3 billion (USD 25.9 million), the largest such institution in the country.

by Priya Rajdev -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Old Mutual and South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Launch USD 12.9M Microfinance Initiative, Isivande Women’s Fund (IWF)

The Department of Trade and Industry of South Africa (previously reported) has teamed with Old Mutual Group’s Masisizane Fund to launch the Isivande Women’s Fund (IWF), financing women-run enterprises in the country. The new fund is the result of a 2006 study conducted by the DTI’s Gender and Women Empowerment Unit, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and FinMark. The study found that although women are more responsible managers of credit than men (p 5), they only receive 30 percent of loans, with black women receiving the least funding. Yet the data indicate that it is this particular group that is becoming increasingly important to the South African economy: approximately one million black women are self-employed, running mostly informal businesses (often referred to as “hawking”). This latest project targets this group with the goal of legitimizing informal businesses through finance.

by Anthony Busch -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Crédit Agricole Contributes €50m for the Creation of a Non-Profit Foundation in Cooperation with Grameen Bank of Bangladesh

Crédit Agricole, the largest bank in France, announced that it will contribute EUR 50 million towards the establishment of a non-profit foundation in cooperation with Grameen Bank, a Bangladeshi micro-bank. The foundation will finance micro credit providers worldwide through credits, guarantees, and equity capital. In 2009, the foundation will create a fund, open to investors, in order to raise an additional EUR 100 million for operations, according to Crédit Agricole, as reported by Forbes.com.

by Mary Fu -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM) Lends USD 6 Million to Micro Finance Bank of Azerbaijan (MFBA)

Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM), on behalf of Swiss Confederation, granted a six-year USD 6 million loan to Micro Finance Bank of Azerbaijan (MFBA), marking the first deal between the two entities. The loan will be applied toward financing micro, small, and agricultural businesses of Azerbaijan; a minimum of USD 3 million will be used exclusively for granting agrarian credit, a bank product that MFBA first launched in August 2007. By supporting Azerbaijan’s agricultural sector, SIFEM hopes to foster a diversification of the Azerbaijan economy away from oil and gas sectors.