The Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, has announced disbursing a loan of EUR 600,000 (USD 600,000) to the Montenegro-based microfinance institution (MFI) Monte Credit. Monte Credit focuses on
Tag: Women
SPECIAL REPORT: Bancamía of Colombia, Banco FIE of Bolivia, Kashf Foundation of Pakistan Shortlisted for $100k European Microfinance Award on Financial Inclusion for Women
From the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP): On the 21st and 22nd September 2022, the Selection Committee for the European Microfinance Award 2022 (EMA 2022) on “Financial Inclusion that Works for Women” chose the three finalists that will go on to compete for the EUR 100,000 (USD 100,000) prize: Bancamía from Colombia; Banco FIE from Bolivia; and Kashf Foundation from Pakistan.
For decades, financial inclusion has ostensibly been about women’s empowerment and autonomy. But too often the sector has paid only lip-service to what this means, focusing merely on
MICROFINANCE EVENT: MEDA Convention: Celebrating Entrepreneurship; November 2-6, 2022; Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
With the aim of advancing the success of entrepreneurs, this event offers plenary sessions such as: (1) Revolutionizing Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Bridging the Finance Gap for Women Entrepreneurs; and (2) Food Security: Addressing the Risks in Our Global Food Systems and What It Means for Entrepreneurs. On November 5, the MEDAx Pitch Competition offers prizes
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Invest in Africa Summit; May 16-17, 2023; Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Themed “Unlocking Digital Transformation, Investments and Trade Opportunities in Africa,” this event will encourage business deals in Africa, with content covering topics such as
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Gender Lens Investing Forum and Foro Latinoamericano de Inversión de Impacto (FLII); November 7-10, 2022; Antigua, Guatemala
The Gender Lens Investing (GLI) Forum will address advancing investment from a gender perspective in order to promote equality and economic growth. The agenda will address five central areas: (1)
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Making Finance Work for Women Global Summit; May 24-25, 2023; Mumbai, India – NEW DATES AND LOCATION
The goal of this event is to find new ways to assist women in accessing financial services and thus economic empowerment. Although the detailed agenda has yet to be released, the 2020 virtual edition of the summit offered programming on topics such as the effect of world crises on low-income women, digitized wages, inclusive insurance, resilience, leadership and diversity, government-to-person (G2P) payments, gender-lens investing, and regulatory technology (regtech).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: DFC, Citibank Invest $300m in Access Bank for SME Financing in Nigeria
The US government’s International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) recently deployed USD 280 million in favor of Nigeria’s Access Bank to support about 4,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a focus on women-owned and “climate-change focused” businesses. US-based Citibank is
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fusion Microfinance Borrows $4m from Crédit Agricole CIB for Group Lending to Rural, Women-owned Businesses in India, Guaranteed by GCA Foundation
Fusion Microfinance, an India-based microfinance institution (MFI), recently borrowed local currency approximately equivalent to USD 4.4 million from Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB) India, a unit of France-based Crédit Agricole. The loan, which is guaranteed by the Luxembourg-based Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, is for
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Loans $105m to CRDB Bank to Increase Funding for MSMEs – Especially Women-owned Enterprises – in Tanzania, Burundi
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently announced a loan equivalent to USD 100 million – half in local currency – to Tanzania-based Cooperative Rural and Development Bank (CRDB Bank) and a loan of USD 5 million to CRDB Bank Burundi. The goal of the loans to these two members of the CRDB Bank Group, whose head office is in Tanzania, is to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank Providing $52m to Lesotho to Boost Financial Access, Resilience of MSMEs – Especially Women-, Youth-owned Enterprises
The World Bank recently issued a USD 45 million loan to the government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, supported by a USD 7.5 million grant from the World Bank’s Global Risk Financing Facility. The purpose of the project is to: (1) provide “business support services and financial products” to 500 micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), of which half are to women-owned and a quarter are to be youth-owned; and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: KOMIDA Secures $3m from Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation for Microfinance for Women in Rural Indonesia
Koperasi Mitra Dhuafa (KOMIDA), a microfinance institution in Indonesia, recently borrowed local currency equivalent to EUR 3 million (USD 3 million) from the Luxembourg-based Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation. The wholesale loan is to be used to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Khushali Microfinance Bank, Sindh Graduates Association Partner on Financial, Vocational Education for Women in Rural Pakistan
Pakistan’s Khushali Microfinance Bank recently initiated a collaboration with Sindh Graduates Association (SGA), an organization mobilizing university graduates in the Pakistani province of Sindh, on a program intended to increase women’s living standards. In particular, the programme targets the female population in the Sindh village of Mirpurkhas with training in tailoring and financial topics such as how to use
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Invests $6m in Peer-to-peer Lender Amartha from Inclusive Finance Fund, Microfinance Enhancement Facility (MEF) to Increase Group Lending to Female Entrepreneurs in Rural Indonesia
Amartha, a firm offering peer-to-peer lending and other services in Indonesia, recently gained access to USD 6 million in debt financing from the Belgian impact investing firm Incofin Investment Management in an attempt to boost access to financial services for women entrepreneurs in rural Indonesia. Two thirds of the total invested comes from the Microfinance Enhancement Facility (MEF), and the remainder is sourced from
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CreditAccess Grameen Seeking $50m in Debt from IFC for Financial Inclusion of Women in India
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently moved to lend as much as USD 50 million in the form of a three-year senior loan to CreditAccess Grameen, a unit of CreditAccess India. The objective of the loan is to boost enterprise lending to women who live in
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Loans $3.1m to KRK of Kosovo for Microfinance, Especially for Women Entrepreneurs
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral development finance institution, recently provided loan funds totaling EUR 3 million (USD 3.14 million) to Kreditimi Rural i Kosoves (KRK), a microfinance firm in Kosovo. The government of Sweden is supporting the loan with an unspecified amount of funding for grants and technical assistance. Of the loan package, one third is slated for women-owned businesses. The other portion
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UNCDF, Quizrr, Ulula, Wagely Supporting Financial, Digital Literacy for Garment Workers in Bangladesh
The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) recently committed approximately USD 556,000 to support pilot training programs for workers in the Bangladeshi garment industry. The funding will pay for technical assistance and performance-based grants for three firms seeking to promote financial and digital literacy skills and hence financial and digital inclusion for 135,000 individuals working in the sector, mostly women. UNCDF’s implementing partners for the project are
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government of Belize, ICDF, IDB Seek to Create Employment, Aid Pandemic Recovery Among MSMEs, Especially Women-led Firms
The multilateral Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) and Belize’s government recently agreed to collaborate on an effort to facilitate job creation and the growth of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Belize. With a focus on female entrepreneurs, the program targets MSMEs with investments to “finance
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Banco Compartamos Borrows $50m from IDB Invest to On-lend to Micro-, Small Enterprises in Mexico, Focusing on Female-run Enterprises
IDB Invest, the private-investment member of the US-based Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, recently announced a local-currency loan totaling the equivalent of USD 50 million to Banco Compartamos, one of the seven units of Mexico-based Gentera. Compartamos provides