Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management recently launched an insurance plan with Nicaraguan microfinance institutions (MFIs) Fundacion para el Desarrollo de Nueva Segovia (Fundenuse), Financiera Fundeser and MiCrédito to help 6,000 coffee and grain farmers be better prepared for climate change. The program utilizes “satellite imagery to
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Buys $30m in Bonds from Satin Creditcare, Supporting Microfinance Institution’s Expansion in Rural India
Indian microfinance institution (MFI) Satin Creditcare Network recently raised USD 30 million through a bond sale to Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a development bank controlled by the Dutch government,
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Presents “Metrics from the Ground Up;” February 18 – 19, 2019; Merida, Mexico
Metrics from the Ground Up focuses on measuring the impact of small and growing businesses (SGBs) and developing strategies to increase that impact. Its organizer, the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), is an adoption partner of the
SPECIAL REPORT: Matching Rules of Thumb with Clients in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Financial Education at EMW
Today 
at European Microfinance Week (EMW), Ewa Bankowska of the Microfinance Centre (MFC), a Poland-based network of approximately 100 microfinance institutions (MFIs), described her organization’s response to lackluster results from the financial education it has delivered to 200,000 people in 22 countries over 15 years.
Evidence suggests that changes in financial behavior are more likely when learners are given simple “rules of thumb,” such as putting a euro in a jar after every shopping trip. Based on this idea, MFC is developing a system to determine which rules of thumb should be suggested to which clients. The organization has drafted an online tool with 13 questions that categorize users into one of four categories. Based on the person’s category, she is given a
SPECIAL REPORT: Measuring the Impact of Energy Access, Bringing Climate Data into Agricultural Lending Methodologies with the Yapu App at European Microfinance Week
During the first day of European Microfinance Week, Natalia Realpe Carrillo of Germany-based social network platform Hedera and Giulia Corso of Germany-based MicroEnergy International discussed the World Bank’s Multi-Tier Framework for Measuring Energy Access and the Progress out of Energy Poverty Index. Key factors include whether energy sources are adequate, reliable, legal and safe. To address impact, it is important to consider factors such as families’ energy spending, income generation and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. These frameworks also align with the work of the Netherlands-based Global Off-Grid Lighting Association.
Davide Forcella of the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (CERMi) walked attendees through a simulation using the Yapu app to make lending decisions for a smallholder farmer with and without crop and climate data. For example, the agricultural data included
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Zambia: “State of the Digital Financial Services Market 2017,” by Nandini Harihareswara et al, Published by UNCDF-MM4P
This is a summary of a paper written by Nandini Harihareswara, Zerubabel Junior Kwebiiha, Uloma Ogba, Anne Duijnhouwer and
SPECIAL REPORT: A Model from Cambodia for Preventing Overheating – Not Just Multiple Lending; to be Presented at European Microfinance Week; November 14-16, 2018
Since 2016, the 95-member Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA), Incofin, MIMOSA, the Credit Bureau of Cambodia, and several other stakeholders have been developing the CMA Lending Guidelines, under which microfinance institutions (MFIs) are working together to prevent over-indebtedness in Cambodia. The project is funded by Incofin, PROPARCO, BIO, FMO and ADA.
MicroCapital: How long have you been concerned about possible overheating in the Cambodian microfinance market?
Kea Borann: Concerns of the market overheating started at least as early as 2015. Since then, the total outstanding portfolio of the industry has been growing at an average of 25 percent per year, even as the number of loans has remained unchanged at 2.3 million. This seems to mean that the same clients are taking on more debt when their loans are renewed. The average loan size grew from USD 1,691 to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Point-of-sale Service Provider Yoco of South Africa Raises $16m in Equity from Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund, FMO, Paratech
Yoco, a South African point-of-sale payment enabler, recently raised USD 16 million through its Series B funding round, which was led by US-based venture capital firm Paratech.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Arranges $15m in Debt Financing for Pay-as-you-go Solar Power Provider Kingo of Guatemala
The Netherlands Development Finance Company, a public-private bank also known by its Dutch acronym FMO, recently arranged USD 15.5 million in local-currency financing for Solesco Centroamérica, a Guatemalan solar company that primarily serves rural areas under the brand name Kingo. The funding comes in the form of a seven-year, local-currency loan with funding equivalent to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Extending $450k Convertible Grant to Kenyan Fintech Firm Lendable
The Netherlands Development Finance Company, a public-private bank also known by its Dutch acronym FMO, recently agreed to extend a convertible grant of USD 450,000 to Lendable, a Kenyan firm that offers financing and analytics services to organizations such as leasing companies; pay-as-you-go energy service providers; and lenders to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises. Convertible grants allow investors
SPECIAL REPORT: Lucia Spaggiari, Laura Foose on Sustainable Performance Management for SME Lenders
MicroCapital: How is it different evaluating lenders to SMEs versus microlenders?
Lucia Spaggiari: One difference is the language used. For instance, SME lenders speak of “sustainable performance” more than “social performance.” Beyond language, a key difference is scale. By definition, SME lending requires a larger balance sheet, and this means complying with prudential regulation and attracting investors expecting to earn (at least) market returns.
Laura Foose: Based on investor demand expressed at the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) Investor Action Group meeting at European Microfinance Week 2016 and the March 2017
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO, Rabobank Foundation Invest $500k in Apollo Agriculture, Provider of Loans, Insurance, Training to Smallholder Farmers in Kenya
The Netherlands Development Finance Company, a public-private bank also known by its Dutch acronym FMO, and Rabobank Foundation, the “social fund” of the Dutch Rabobank Group, each recently disbursed USD 250,000 to Apollo Agriculture, a Kenyan startup that provides financial and technical assistance to smallholder farmers in Kenya.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC, Azerbaijan to Expand Digital Financial Services in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with Funding from Switzerland’s SECO
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently began working with the government of Azerbaijan to implement a cashless payment system in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, a self-governing territory in Azerbaijan.
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Asian Development Bank (ADB): “Embracing the E-commerce Revolution in Asia and the Pacific”
This is a summary of a paper published by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), June 2018, 101 pages, available at:
https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/430401/embracing-e-commerce-revolution.pdf.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD, UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Training Farmer Cooperatives in Serbia
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based development bank, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an Italy-based organization of the UN dedicated to addressing world hunger, recently have united to support farmer cooperatives in Serbia. With assistance from the Serbian government,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Loans $33m in Local Currency to Exim Bank Tanzania for Micro-, Small, Medium-sized Enterprise (MSME) Financing
The Netherlands Development Finance Company, a public-private bank also known by its Dutch acronym FMO, recently loaned TZS 75 billion (USD 33 million) to Exim Bank Tanzania Limited, a commercial bank active in Tanzania, Comoros, Djibouti and Uganda. The bank has allocated the funds for lending to micro-,
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Microfinance Centre-European Microfinance Network (MFC-EMN) Annual Conference; October 3-5, 2018; Bilbao, Spain
Co-hosted by the Poland-based Microfinance Centre (MFC) and the Belgium-based European Microfinance Network (EMN), this event’s theme for 2018 is “People and the Digital Revolution: Advancing Our Social Mission through Technology.” Although the agenda of conference is still in development, it will include
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government Policy Moves BancABC, CRDB, NMB to Cut Interest Rates on Loans in Tanzania
Tanzania’s government recently implemented the following measures with the goal of reducing customer borrowing costs: (1) cutting the Bank of Tanzania’s short-term rates on loans to banks to 6.89 percent; (2) lowering the longer-term discount rate to 9 percent; (3) reducing banks’ minimum deposit reserve requirement to 8 percent; (4) creating a credit reference system; and (5) “paying…audited debts to reduce non-performing loans.” In a recent speech,