MicroVest, a debt-focused asset manager owned by US-based DAI Global, recently agreed to lend USD 6 million to Khan Bank, which serves individuals and companies of all sizes in Mongolia. The goal of the loan is to boost
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MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Platforms, Livelihoods and Inclusive Finance,” Published by Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion
Ms El-Zoghbi and Ms Michaels explore the role of digital platforms in supporting financial inclusion and livelihoods. Their background research indicates that such platforms have transformed some economies significantly by (1) helping businesses recover from the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic; and (2) providing employment opportunities for disadvantaged populations such as youth, women and rural residents. In particular, e-commerce, gig working, social media and agricultural platforms have been found to improve the livelihoods of low-income consumers as well as increase the strength of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises. The
SPECIAL REPORT: AFI SDG Rating Analyst Pratibha Singh, FINCA Tajikistan CEO Sergey Kim Discuss the AFISAR Rating, Microfinance, Impact and Much More!
This is part of a series of features sponsored by Agents for Impact (AFI), a German impact investing firm whose products include the AFI Sustainability Alignment Rating (AFISAR©) Tool. The AFISAR© rating is a trust mark – in microfinance and other forms of social business – signifying a commitment to positive and enduring change for people and the planet based on the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework.
AFISAR© helps MFIs leverage the market’s growing focus on sustainability performance to raise capital from international investors and, particularly, impact investors. The rating helps investors and social businesses understand their strengths and weaknesses and devise effective strategies to minimize negative impact and maximize positive impact to the benefit of the organization – its employees, clients and other stakeholders – as well as the environment.
The active dialogue and engagement embedded in the AFISAR© rating process enables the MFI as well as asset managers to embark on a journey that leads to long-term sustainable development. A rating above the sustainability threshold on the scale (see below) is favorable for the disbursement funds. To date, AFI has used the AFISAR© Tool to rate 30+ microfinance and SME finance institutions in the Caucasus, Central and South Asia, East Africa and Eastern Europe, helping the institutions demonstrate their SDG competency and alignment.
Pratibha Singh (pictured): How did you become interested in microfinance?
Sergey Kim: My professional career started in 1998 in the field of microfinance. I was working as a loan officer for a UN microcredit project, which made it possible for me to have a close look at the ground-level realities concerning credit operations. After finishing my graduate degree, I chose FINCA because the job was close to people.
I have worked with FINCA since 2006 and have been in Tajikistan for the last 12 years. FINCA Tajikistan has been active since 2004 and is now amongst the top
MICROFINANCE EVENT: 24th MFC Annual Conference: Microfinance Investing Through Uncertainty; June 29-30, 2022; Istanbul, Turkey
The conference is slated to cover investment opportunities and other strategies for addressing “gender, green finance and technological challenges” related to inclusive finance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event features seminars with titles such as
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Microfinance & NBFCs Exhibition (MINE) cum Conference; March 11, 2022; Chennai, India
This conference will include speakers from the government and the private sector on topics such as the effects of COVID-19 on microlending and the ways new forms of technology can boost the field’s “overall reach and profitability.” Sample topics include the
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Investment Bank Launches EIB Global to Expand in Africa, Asia, Latin America
The EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB) recently launched a new unit, EIB Global, to expand its operations in Africa, Asia and Latin America with support from Team Europe, an initiative launched by the EU to help countries worldwide adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic. To support its expanded geographic scope,
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Impact Investing World Forum; April 28-29, 2022; London, UK
This conference will cover topics such as investing in gender equality and mitigating and adjusting to climate change. The speakers are to include representatives from organizations such as Big Issue, the EU, Goldman Sachs, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland), and the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation. Among the session topics are “The Anatomy of a Deal During COVID-19 and Beyond,” “Investing in Housing as Part of Criminal Justice Reform,” “Impact Investing in
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Association of Ethiopian Microfinance Institutions (AEMFI) Biennial Microfinance Conference; January 25-28, 2022; Bahirdar, Ethiopia
The 11th edition of this conference is themed “Promoting Digital Finance and COVID-resilient Financial Services towards the Achievement of Financial Inclusion.” Researchers and practitioners will present their papers and experiences on topics such as client protection; debt moratoria; partnering with banks and financial technology (fintech) firms; governance; regulation; and funding renewable energy, clean water and sanitation. Sessions will also cover
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Northern Arc Capital to Provide Research, Modeling, Reporting Services to Nasira, FMO Program that Guarantees MSME Lending to Youth, Women, Migrants
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership, recently finalized an agreement with Northern Arc Capital, an Indian financial firm, to support Nasira, a risk-sharing program through which FMO encourages retail financial institutions to lend to entrepreneurs in Africa and parts of Asia. In particular, Nasira guarantees lending to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises whose owners fall into one or more of the following
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “The Power of Jan Dhan: Making Finance Work for Women in India,” Published by Women’s World Banking
This paper concerns a pilot savings program for women that was designed as an add-on to the Indian government’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (Jan Dhan) scheme, which allows any previously unbanked person to open a savings account at any bank in the country. Jan Dhan accounts have no minimum deposits or balances to maintain, and the customer earns interest on his or her savings. Jan Dhan was launched in 2014, and it has been credited in the rise in percentage of women with access to financial services from 26 percent in 2011 to 77 percent in 2017. One of the successes of Jan Dhan is its reach to illiterate customers due its minimal paperwork requirements.
The pilot program was to offer “Jan Dhan Plus” accounts in an effort to encourage more women to save. The new accounts offer users a credit facility of INR 10,000 (USD 134) if they
SPECIAL REPORT: Aligning Incentives, Setting Realistic Expectations for FSPs’ Outcomes Measurement at the e-MFP Investors Action Group
During European Microfinance Week last week, Célia Fernandez of the French NGO Comité d’Echange, de Réflexion et sur les Systèmes d’Epargne-Crédit (CERISE) described LabODD, a project to help mission-driven organizations measure their progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). LabODD is a four-year project funded by the French government’s Agence Francaise de Developpement. Among its outputs is a brief due out in December 2021 that will cover outcomes management for financial services providers (FSPs). Cécile Lapenu, also of CERISE, described several trends that will be presented in the brief.
The demand of impact investors for accountability from FSPs is growing. However, the focus now is more on measuring outcomes – which can be associated plausibly with the work of FSPs – rather than impacts – which must be shown to result from
SPECIAL REPORT: Networks in Nigeria, Latin America & Caribbean Boost Trajectory of Women Staff, Clients of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
At a session titled “Professional Women’s Networks and Women’s Leadership in Financial Inclusion,” Mariana Martinez of FinEquity, a platform hosted by CGAP that promotes women’s financial inclusion, described the platform’s new Spanish-language arm, FinEquityALC. FinEquityALC focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean, serving as a pilot project that could lead to FinEquity establishing other regional projects. The goals of FinEquityALC are to improve public policy that impacts women’s financial inclusion as well as financial products and financial education that are targeted at women. Its 1,100 users span 250 institutions.
Barbara Magnoni of Andares and EA Consultants described how Andares connects
SPECIAL REPORT: PAYGo Firms Struggle Less with Nonpayment, More with Supply of Solar Products, Equity Funding Since Onset of Pandemic
Mariama Kamara of Smiling Through Light, a women-run provider of solar products in rural Sierra Leone, stayed in business during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to emergency funding from the Shine Campaign. Demand is high for Smiling Through Light’s products, but the last shipment of solar appliances from the manufacturer took five months to arrive, causing a delay in paying staff. Only since the onset of the pandemic – and at the request of customers
SPECIAL REPORT: European Microfinance Week Opens with Daniela Konietzko of Fundación WWB Colombia Arguing Business Leaders Must Fight Gender Inequality
As part of the first day of European Microfinance Week 2021, Daniela Konietzko of Fundación WWB Colombia today discussed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the brunt of which have fallen on women. There has been more domestic violence, neighbors have quarreled more over land disputes, and pregnant women and children have suffered the worst increases in malnutrition. Meanwhile children have missed school, and women have taken on greater unpaid caregiving responsibilities.
As COVID-19 threatens to undo the gains made against poverty in recent years, Ms Konietzko argued that we need to address development with a gender lens for many reasons. Women invest triple
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: HDFC Bank to Lend $100m to Micro-, Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in India – Half Led by Women – with Support from DFC, Mastercard, USAID
HDFC Bank, an affiliate of India’s Housing Development Finance Corporation, recently agreed to lend USD 100 million to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in India to support their usage of digital payments, including to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic. Half of the credit facility is
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Pro Mujer Launches Emprende Platform to Incubate Women-owned Microenterprises in Latin America
The US-based social enterprise Pro Mujer today launched the pilot phase of its Emprende platform, a Spanish-language resource for women running “subsistence” enterprises. Pro Mujer chose 600 women from 3,000 applicants to participate in the three-month pilot, which offers “pre-incubation” and incubation services in three categories:
Skills – Based on the idea of lifelong learning, Emprende offers learning opportunities, including via “edutainment,” with new content to be developed based on customer requests.
Collaboration – The platform includes a “collaborative hub,” with content partners such as the US-based technology firms Microsoft and Platsi. Platsi is a trilingual
SPECIAL REPORT: European Microfinance Week – Christoph Pausch Discusses the Main Event, November 17-19, Plus 2 Bonus Training Days
MicroCapital: European Microfinance Week (EMW) 2021 – like in 2020 – will be virtual. How is it possible to make an online conference a success?
Christoph Pausch: Like last year’s successful first virtual conference and in the years before it, EMW2021 remains primarily a member-led event, and the programme is developed based on what members propose and consider important. This is as true as ever. There are things we learned from last year’s event, and there will be some changes based on what we observed – and based on feedback from attendees, of course. But fundamentally the idea remains the same: a programme covering a wide range of topic streams and presented via a whole array of different session models, chosen depending on the subject matter, the audience and the objectives of the session. That means plenaries, traditional panels, workshops, topic lounges, publication launches and Action Group meetings – among others. As much as possible, we help our members put together sessions that are current, relevant, important and interactive. Beyond this, there are
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Building Financial Resilience: How Financial Service Providers Can Help Low-income Customers to Manage Risk,” by Alexandra Sanchez et al, Published by Savings at the Frontier
The authors propose that financial services providers (FSPs) have opportunities to enhance the resilience of users of informal saving mechanisms (ISMs) by developing services that help ISMs manage risk. In this context, resilience is defined as