The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group; the government-backed Netherlands Development Finance Company (which is also known by its Dutch acronym FMO); and Singapore-based SBI-FMO Emerging Asia Financial Sector Fund recently placed equity investments totaling USD 22 million in Sri Lankan-based Sanasa Development Bank (SDB Bank).
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Telkom Kenya Shutting Down Its Orange Money Mobile Money Service
Telkom Kenya, a telecommunications provider in Kenya, recently announced that July 4 will be the last day it will offer the mobile money service Orange Money.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Vodacom Paying $2.6b to Its Majority Shareholder, Vodafone, for 35% Equity Stake in Owner of Kenya’s M-Pesa Mobile Money Service, Safaricom
Vodacom, a unit of UK-based Vodafone Group Plc that provides mobile communications services to 61 million subscribers in Africa, is paying Vodafone ZAR 34.6 billion (USD 2.6 billion) for a 34.94-percent stake in Safaricom, a Kenyan mobile network operator.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: 3rd Sankalp Southeast Asia Summit; September 19 – 20, 2017; Jakarta, Indonesia
Event Name: Third Sankalp Southeast Asia Summit 2017: Local Problems, Global Solutions
Event Date: September 19 – September 20, 2017
Event Location: Hotel Bidakara; Jakarta, Indonesia
Summary of Event: The focus of the summit is to “strengthen Southeast Asia’s entrepreneurship ecosystem,” and the theme of this year’s iteration is “Local Problems, Global Solutions.” Discussions will address topics such as policy, health, energy, financial services and agriculture.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat’s Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $46m, Largely in Asia, Panama, Tanzania
C-Quadrat Asset Management, an arm of Austrian fund manager C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that its Dual Return Vision Microfinance and Dual Return Vision Microfinance-Local Currency funds loaned a total approximately equivalent to USD 46 million to unidentified providers of financial services in Cambodia, India, Panama, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CreditAccess Asia Raises $103m in Equity from Investors Including Asian Development Bank, Istituto Atesino di Sviluppo, Olympus Capital
CreditAccess Asia, which is based in the Netherlands and provides microfinance services in four countries in Asia, recently acquired new equity investments totaling EUR 95 million (USD 103 million). The investors include the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Italian private equity firm Istituto Atesino di Sviluppo. Olympus Capital Asia, a previous equity investor in CreditAccess, was among the investors increasing their stakes through the conversion
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Quona Capital Management Raises $141m for Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund from Chase, MaserCard, AXA, Prudential, MetLife
Quona Capital Management, which is based in the US city of Washington, recently announced that it has raised USD 141 million from multiple investors for the Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund (AFIF), a fund backed by the US-based nonprofit Accion and managed by Quona Capital. The participating funders are US-based corporates including JP Morgan Chase & Co., MasterCard, Prudential Financial
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Whole Foods Market’s Whole Planet Foundation Raises $2.2m to Support Microfinance Institution Partnerships in 11 Countries, Including Expanding Work with Grameen America to New York, Miami
The Whole Planet Foundation, an affiliate of US-based grocer Whole Foods Market, announced it has secured donations of USD 2.2 million (as of March 17) towards its goal of raising USD 3.2 million by the end of March 2017 to grant for microlending through
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Lending $3m to Philippines’ Microfinance Institution One Puhunan
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch development bank, recently announced that it will disburse a loan of USD 3 million from the Dutch government’s MASSIF Fund to the Microfinance Philippines Financing Company, which is also known as One Puhunan. The microfinance institution
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Syndicates $44m in Debt from BIB, Incofin, MicroVest, Symbiotics for KazMicroFinance (KMF) of Kazakhstan
KazMicroFinance (KMF), a microfinance institution operating in Kazakhstan, recently borrowed USD 44 million syndicated by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) in an effort to enable KMF to expand its lending to small businesses. Of the total, IFC is providing USD 5 million
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $9m in Ecuador, Honduras
C-Quadrat Asset Management, a unit of Austrian fund manager C-Quadrat, today informed MicroCapital that its Dual Return Vision Microfinance and Vision Microfinance-Local Currency funds extended credit totaling approximately USD 9 million to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat’s Dual Return Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $63m to Various MFIs
Austria’s C-Quadrat Asset Management informed MicroCapital today that its Dual Return Vision Microfinance and Dual Return Vision Microfinance-Local Currency funds loaned a total approximately equivalent to USD 63.5 million during December to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in countries including Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Mongolia and Sri Lanka. The
SPECIAL REPORT: Recommendations from the Mekong Financial Inclusion Forum
At
the 2016 Mekong Financial Inclusion Forum, Ms. Claire Van der Vaeren, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Cambodia, said that financial inclusion is a vital enabler that can help unlock the potential of the poor and underserved, enhance women’s economic empowerment and catalyse a range of national development objectives. Its importance is shown in references to six of the seventeen UN sustainable development goals.
Ms. Van der Vaeren also was impressed by level of private and public engagement in
SPECIAL REPORT: Realizing Potential and Minimizing Risk through Client Protection and Developing Financial Capability in Southeast Asia
A diverse set of panelists at this session of the Mekong Financial Inclusion Forum agreed that providing financial education can be expensive and yet often fails to produce measurable outcomes. Jayshree Venkatesan, a financial inclusion consultant, stated that “results from financial literacy campaigns are at best mixed.” Shane Nichols, Program Director for Good Return, said that the rise of randomized controlled trials has helped his organization discover that although “we used to do pre- and post-tests showing people gained knowledge…sustained behavior-change was virtually non-existent.”
Ms. Venkatesan explained that “there are a number of things that limit these efforts. They cost a lot of money. Most of these tend to be
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Digital Financial Services: Are We Realising Their Full Potential?; January 19, 2017; London, UK
Event Name: Digital Financial Services: Are We Realising Their Full Potential?
Event Date: January 19, 2017
Event Location: Citigroup Centre, 33 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, UK
Cost: There is no registration fee, but in order to attend you must purchase a membership to the Financial Inclusion Forum unless it is your first time at one of the organization’s events.
Summary of Event: This event will address concerns regarding digital financial services and how to move beyond the focus on payments to increase the availability and usage of savings, credit and insurance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat’s Dual Return Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $22m in Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Paraguay, Sri Lanka
Austria’s C-Quadrat Asset Management informed MicroCapital today that its Dual Return Vision Microfinance and Dual Return Vision Microfinance-Local Currency funds loaned a total approximately equivalent to USD 22 million during November to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in
SPECIAL REPORT: The Impact of Finance on the Development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam
This discussion of supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) centered on (1) building systems to boost institutions’ confidence in lending to the sector; and (2) the non-financial needs of MSMEs.
Gerald Sun, Vice President, Head of Sales for Commercial Payments Asia/Pacific at MasterCard Worldwide, said “the banks have trouble making a risk assessment cheaply enough. They lend to big organizations based on their income. For SMEs [small and medium enterprises], they revert to looking at assets as they would for consumer lending. The bank can value a house or car, but not a ton of fertilized chicken eggs.” MasterCard is addressing this issue by
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Foundation, Freedom from Hunger Announce Merger
Two US-based nonprofit organizations, the Grameen Foundation and Freedom from Hunger, recently announced they will merge into a single organization, retaining the name of the Grameen Foundation.