The official program of the RI Convention included a breakout session on June 16th entitled “New Frontiers of Microfinance” which was hosted by Steven D. Rickard (steve@propertytaxes.com), the President of RAGM, and was attended by over 600 people. First on the list of presenters was philanthropist Phillip B. Smith (PhilipBSmith@sbcglobal.net), the co-author of A Billion Bootstraps, a book which was published in April 2007 and addresses why microfinance “permanently changes poverty and ensure[s] the reader that an ordinary person can ‘accelerate the revolution’ while earning substantial returns on microfinance investments (MicroCapital article).” Mr. Smith provided the attendees with an overview of the scale of extreme poverty (4 billion people living on USD 4 per day or less as he stated) as well as the nature of the poor’s monetary requirements and sources from which they draw cash in times of need. After briefly explaining typical microfinance operations, Mr. Smith presented the weaknesses (potentially high administration costs, limited access to capital, etc.) in addition to the strengths (community benefit from foreign investment, value-added support system provided by many MFIs, etc.) of microfinance. See pages 4-15.

Next to take the floor was Christopher A. Crane (ccrane@opportunity.org), the President and CEO of Opportunity International, a Christian-affiliated nonprofit which was founded in 1971 and operates in 28 countries through 45 partner organizations and reports a 2007 total loan portfolio of USD 702.3 million for its entire Opportunity International Network (OIN). Mr. Crane stressed the fact that MFIs can offer their clients much more than simple loans, thereby facilitating a social transformation through the provision of a wide array of products such as savings, insurance, mobile banking, biometrics identification technology for secure transactions, and even the building of private “micro schools” and affordable “micro clinics and pharmacies” in poor, remote areas. See pages 16-31.

To illustrate this effect, Crane shared several anecdotes, including the success of the Oak Brook, Illinois-based Micro Insurance Agency, a holding company operating through “fully-owned subsidiaries in the countries of operation.” An Opportunity International company, the institution insures crops, funerals, health, livestock, and property, and has been operating since 2002, when it was a part of the OIN, and became its own organization in 2005. As of November, 2007, the Micro Insurance Agency had “over 750,000 policyholders covering 3.3 million lives in 10 countries (MicroCapital article).” Financial information was not available for the insurance provider.

Crane also mentioned the accomplishment of a private Ghana micro school pilot project that has produced a student body scoring higher, on average, in standardized tests than public counterparts. However, it was unclear how schools would be able to pay back a loan plus interest.

As of December 2007, the OIN had close to 306,000 voluntary savings accounts and 84 percent of its loans went to women. Opportunity International reports to the MIX Market and MicroCapital recently wrote about the organization here.

The third and final speaker was Lynn McMullen (lynn@gdcu.org), a fundraiser and political activist who has thrown her efforts behind several causes, including the creation of a United States Department of Peace, fighting hunger, and the eradication of poverty through microfinance. McMullen, who is a member of the Grameen Foundation’s (GF) Africa Advisory Council and served as the Executive Director for RESULTS, spoke about the Youth Empowerment Through Business Opportunity (YEBO) program that she runs through her nonprofit Global Democratic Citizens Union (GDCU), an organization she co-founded in 2003. The Advisory Board for the GDCU includes Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank (GB), Alex Counts of the GF, Marcia Odell of Pact, and Peggy Clark of The Aspen Institute.

She opened by putting the AIDs epidemic in Africa in perspective and by encouraging Rotarians to invest in African economic initiatives, especially microfinance activities. She then described YEBO—listed as “Micro Finance for Youth” (MFY) on GDCU’s web site—which is taking place at Sizathina High School in Loskop, an impoverished rural area in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Basic business functions such as marketing and accounting are infused in the students’ curriculum and they are subsequently offered micro loans to establish their own small businesses. Five profitable businesses have resulted from the first round of YEBO, and GDCU will engage 60 students in the next phase to take place at nearby Ngibongileni High School.

The convention also included a microcredit discussion forum that had overflowing attendance into the hallway and the University of Lethbridge (U of L) Rotaract Club (rotoract@uleth.ca) received the 2008 Rotaract Outstanding Project Award for a microfinance initiative in Costa Rica, as detailed here.

RAGM was established in 2007 and lifetime membership is restricted to Rotarians, their spouses, and Rotaractors, for USD 100. However, the organization encourages outside institutions to make contact for further partnership in delivering microcredit. As stated in their 2008 Brochure, RAGM is a registered nonprofit and they have over 300 members located in 30 countries. Financial information for RAGM was unavailable. The slides from New Frontiers of Microfinance are available here.

RI reported total assets of USD 138.1 million (page 4). The Rotary Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1928 through which RI conducts its education, exchange, and PolioPlus projects, reported total assets of USD 709.2 million (page 4). (Data as of June 30th, 2006.)

MicroCapital recently reported on Rotary’s involvement in microfinance here.

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

The Aspen Institute: Home, Peggy Clark

A Billion Bootstraps: Home, About the Authors

Global Democratic Citizens Union: Home, About, Micro Finance for Youth

Grameen Foundation: Home, Africa Advisory Council, Alex Counts

Micro Insurance Agency: Home, About, Products and Services, History and Vision

MicroCapital article, November 13, 2007: “Compassion International Invests USD 5 Million in Opportunity International to Develop Microfinance in Africa”

MicroCapital article, March 22, 2007: “Eric Thurman of Opportunity International and Phil Smith of One World Projects Write Effort to Bring Microfinance to the Masses”

MicroCapital article, May 22, 2008: “Oikocredit of the Netherlands Loans $10.3m to Microfinance Institutions Opportunity Bank Montenegro, Micro Finance Bank of Azerbaijan (MFBA) and Inicjatywa Mikro of Poland”

MicroCapital article, November 21, 2007: “Rotary International’s Uniendo America Project Fair as Launch Pad for Central American Microcredit Projects”

MIX Market: Home

Northeast Department of Peace Conference: Home, Lynn McMullen

Opportunity International: Home, History, Global Reach, Christopher A. Crane, MIX Market Profile

Opportunity International Network: Home, Financial Data, 2007 Network Statistics

Pact: Home, Marcia Odell

Rotarian Action Group for Microcredit: Home, “New Frontiers of Microfinance”, Presentations, Why RAGM, Get Involved, 2008 Brochure, Annual Report as of June 30, 2007, RI 2008 Rotaract Outstanding Project Award

The Rotary Foundation: Home, History, 2005-06 The Rotary Foundation Audited Financial Statements

Rotary International: Home, About Rotary International, 2005-06 RI Audited Financial Statements, “At Los Angeles Convention, Starts Become Aligned to End Polio”, by Ryan Hyland, June 19, 2008

Rotary Club of West El Paso: Home, “La Mesa”, Vol. 44, No. 17, April 27, 2008

University of Lethbridge: Home, ULSU Clubs

Authored by Mr. Roger L. Martin, the Dean of the University of Toronto’s (U of T) Rotman School of Management (Rotman) and a board member at the Skoll Foundation, and Mrs. Sally Osberg, President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation, published Spring 2007 in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), a publication of the Center for Social Innovation (CSI) at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (GSB), 13 pages, available at http://www.skollfoundation.org/media/skoll_docs/2007SP_feature_martinosberg.pdf

Martin and Osberg argue in “Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition” that the term, social entrepreneurship, needs further clarification to protect its positive public image as an area of great promise thereby securing the long-term investment and philanthropic donations that are needed to aid social entrepreneurs in their quest to create sustainable social value. In the authors’ own words, “If that promise is not fulfilled because too many ‘nonentrepreneurial’ efforts are included in the definition, then social entrepreneurship will fall into disrepute (page 4).”

The authors begin by defining entrepreneurship and identifying its key characteristics. The ability/alertness to sense or create opportunity, out-of-the-box thinking, and determination are traits that entrepreneurs must have, but which do not guarantee a hopeful entrepreneur’s success. The authors settle on a preliminary theoretical definition for entrepreneurship that involves the aforementioned qualities, a context in which opportunity exists or can be created, and the final transformation to a fruitful initiative creating value. To demonstrate the definition’s application, Martin and Osberg review the experiences of the following entrepreneurs: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple Computer, Pierre Omidyar and Jeff Skoll of eBay, Frederick W. Smith of FedEx, and Ann and Mike Moore of Snugli.

Up to the conclusion of Martin and Osberg’s real-life entrepreneurial anecdotes, the focus is on entrepreneurship, itself. The authors then shift to defining social entrepreneurship and begin by noting that all entrepreneurs are motivated by the same factor: opportunity. The authors argue, “that the critical distinction between entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship lies in the value proposition itself,” meaning that conventional entrepreneurship targets an audience with the resources to buy the product or service, thereby generating financial income (page 8). However, social entrepreneurs identify a highly underserved or disadvantaged population and provide a transformative societal benefit that may not have been realized, otherwise.

The first and most prominent example of a social entrepreneur that is given is Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Founder of Grameen Bank (GB) of Bangladesh, and promoter of microfinance as the most powerful tool against poverty.

Turning to other varieties of socially valuable activity, Martin and Osberg cite social service provision and social activism as two forms of social engagement that are often falsely labeled as social entrepreneurship. However, the authors admit that many social ventures combine more than one (if not all three) of the previously mentioned varieties of social engagement. For example, they write that Yunus “used social activism to accelerate and amplify the impact of Grameen Bank, a classic example of social entrepreneurship (page 12).”

Martin and Osberg conclude their paper with the following statement describing the social entrepreneur:

“The social entrepreneur should be understood as someone who targets an unfortunate but stable equilibrium that causes the neglect, marginalization, or suffering of a segment of humanity; who brings to bear on this situation his or her inspiration, direct action, creativity, courage, and fortitude; and who aims for and ultimately affects the establishment of a new stable equilibrium that secures permanent benefit for the targeted group and society at large (page 13).”

Also the Director of U of T’s AIC Institute for Corporate Citizenship (AIC Institute) at Rotman, Mr. Roger L. Martin is originally from Wallenstein, Ontario and formerly worked as the Director of Monitor Company. He is also the Chairman of Workbrain and serves on the boards of the Canadian Credit Management Foundation (CCMF), the Skoll Foundation, and Tennis Canada, in addition to the Audit Committee at Thomson Reuters. Furthermore, Mr. Martin is a Trustee of the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and serves on the advisory boards of Butterfield & Robinson (B&R), Jefferson Partners, and Social Capital Partners (SCP). Mr. Martin earned an MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS) in 1981, received the Marshall McLuhan Visionary Leadership Award in 2004, and was named as one BusinessWeek’s seven “innovation gurus” in 2005.

In addition to leading the Skoll Foundation, Mrs. Sally Osberg served as the Executive Director of the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose (CDM), President of the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM), and an adjunct professor at both Hamilton College and Utica College. Osberg currently sits on the boards of the CDM and the Oracle Education Foundation in addition to the advisory board of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities (GWC). In the past, she was a board member of the ACM and the American Leadership Forum (ALF), received the John Gardner Leadership Award from the ALF (1998), and was named as one of Silicon Valley’s “Millennium 100” by San Jose Mercury News (Mercury News) (1999). Osberg received her MA in Literature from the Claremont Graduate University (CGU).

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

“Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition”

Apple Computer: Home, Steve Jobs

BusinessWeek: Home, “The Academic: Roger Martin”, by Robert Berner, August 1, 2005; “Get Creative! How to Build Innovative Companies”, by Burce Nussbaum with Robert Berner and Diane Brady, August 1, 2005

CBS News: Home, “The Mom Who Invented the Snugli”, March 6, 2001

eBay: Home

FedEx: Home, Frederick W. Smith

Grameen Bank: Home

The Nobel Foundation: Home, The Nobel Peace Prize 2006

Omidyar Network: Home, Pierre Omidyar

Skoll Foundation: Home, Roger L. Martin, Sally Osberg, Jeff Skoll

Stanford University: Home, Graduate School of Business, Center for Social Innovation, Stanford Social Innovation Review

Thomson Reuters: Home, Roger L. Martin

University of Toronto: Home, Rotman School of Management, Dean Roger Martin, AIC Institute for Corporate Citizenship

Woz.org: Home

Advertisement: Earn an mba college degree to become a successful entrepreneur.

This report tracks the performance of microfinance in Central Asia (CA), a set of four countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) which are often included in analysis of the greater ECA, yet make up a disproportionally high percentage of the region’s poverty (28 percent) while only accounting for 12 percent of its total population. The total amount of 1,100 Central Asian microfinance institutions (MFIs) are analyzed in this report through data collected by the CAC, the MicroBanking Bulletin (MBB), and the MIX Market, the microfinance information clearinghouse.

Only 3 percent of the region’s low-income residents are currently served with microfinance services, but total outreach growth in CA between 2006 and 2007 was approximately 40 percent and was characterized by a large concentration in growth among non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and specialized microfinance banks. Moreover, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) partner banks and credit unions, both important players in Central Asian microfinance, experienced negative growth in outreach thereby pushing the aggregate growth of NFBIs, NGOs, and specialized banks far above the aforementioned industry-wide outreach growth rate of 40 percent. Also notable is that 55 percent of all borrowers in CA are serviced by only 27 MFIs.

Moving to the general trends within each country, the authors begin with Kazakhstan by noting that obtaining information on the sector was difficult. In fact, the report lacks any borrowership or loan portfolio information on credit partnerships in the country. However, the regulatory environment has improved with an increase in maximum allowable loan size from USD 8,200 to USD 67,000 and requirements for licensing as a Microcredit Organization (MCO) were eased. Known active borrowers, which stood at 196,200 at the end of 2006, were serviced by 523 institutions with a total loan portfolio of USD 2.2 billion.

In Kyrgyzstan the average loan balance per borrower decreased and many MFIs are transforming into microfinance banks, as did the Kyrgyz Agricultural Finance Corporation (KAFC)—now Aiyl Bank—in 2006. Total active borrowers, which stood at 175,100 at the end of 2006, were serviced by 483 institutions with a total loan portfolio of USD 184.2 million.

Tajikistan’s average loan balance per borrower increased, in contrast with Kyrgyzstan, and total active borrowers, which stood at 57,400 at the end of 2006, were serviced by 62 institutions with a total loan portfolio of USD 28.4 million.

Notably, in both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, legal market entry requirements are low which has facilitated the creation of a number of MFIs by private individuals focusing on financial profit. The authors state that “opening a microfinance institution has become a form of microenterprise in its own right (page 6).”

Lastly, Uzbekistan experienced a turbulent year, as a result of political circumstances, with new legislation that eventually lead to the closing of all internationally-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) providing microfinance services and the suspension of lending operations of all other NGOs involved in microfinance for more than 8 months. However, the Mikrokredit Bank of Uzbekistan accounted for approximately 13,000 of Uzbekistan’s total active borrowership of 59,600, by the end of 2006. Fifty-one institutions were reported in 2006 with a total loan portfolio of USD 74.5 million.

Turning to donor and financing activities in CA during the period 2000-2006, the authors point out that USD 600 million had been allocated to microfinance in the region by 11 donor agencies and the top 4 development finance institutions (DFIs)—EBRD, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and The World Bank—accounted for 87 percent of all funding, which was conducted primarily through debt instruments. Isolating 2006, however, shows that the primary sources of funding are most rapidly shifting to foreign microfinance investment funds and local commercial banks.

Finally, when analyzing performance of MFIs in CA, the authors observed that internationally-linked MFIs’ outreach is more than 20 times greater, their loan portfolios are more than 10 times larger, and they are more leveraged than their locally-run competitors, with the exception being the Uzbekistan market. Notably, aggregate financial self-sufficiency was at 121.4 percent and Central Asian countries were lowest in ECA in terms of productivity.

MicroCapital recently posted wrap-ups of two other papers authored by Mr. Scott Gaul (sgaul@themix.org) (1), (2).

Based in Moscow, Russia, Olga Tomilova is CGAP’s Consultant for ECA and she previously worked with the CAC, the MFC, the Russian Women’s Microfinance Network (RWMN), and Opportunity International. She is also the instructor for profitability management at the Frankfurt School for Finance and Management’s (FSFM) Micro Banking Summer Academy (MBSA) and is listed by the MIX as a consultant for the Credit Union Dealer (CU Dealer) of Kyrgyzstan and Microcredit Organization OZAT (MCO OZAT) of Kazakhstan.  Tomilova can be contacted by e-mail at olgatomilova@yahoo.com.

The authors also co-wrote “Microfinance Institutions in Central Asia: Benchmarks and Analysis 2005.”

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

“Central Asia Benchmarking Report, 2006″

“Microfinance Institutions in Central Asia: Benchmarks and Analysis 2005″

Consultative Group to Assist the Poor: Home

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations: Home, Kyrgyz Agricultural Finance Corporation

Micro Banking Summer Academy: Home, Olga Tomilova

MicroBanking Bulletin: Home

MicroCapital wrap-up, April 4, 2008: “Benchmarking Asian Microfinance 2006″

MicroCapital wrap-up, August 14, 2007: “Benchmarking Philippine Microfinance 2005, By Allan Robert I. Sicat and Scott B. Gaul”

Microfinance Centre for Central & Eastern Europe and the New Independent States: Home

Microfinance Information eXchange: Home, Credit Union Dealer, Microcredit Organization OZAT, Aiyl Bank

Women’s World Banking: Home, Russian Women’s Microfinance Network

The World Bank: Home, Central Asian Microfinance Center

Boulder-Bergamo Forum on Access to Financial Services: Expanding the Rural Frontier

September 18-20, 2008, University of Bergamo, Italy

The Boulder Institute of Microfinance (BI), a nonprofit organization which grew out of microfinance training programs initiated in 1995, and the Università Degli Studi di Bergamo (University of Bergamo), an institution outside of Milan, Italy that offers a one-year Master on Microfinance program, will jointly host “Boulder-Bergamo Forum on Access to Financial Services: Expanding the Rural Frontier,” a conference focusing on rural financial services meant to gather researchers, government leaders, managers of financial institutions, and representatives of international organizations for dialogue on the future of the sector. The Rural Finance Program (RFP) at The Ohio State University’s (OSU) Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics (AEDE) will support the conference.

As shown in the Conference Schedule, there will be five plenary sessions and three breakout sessions. The program includes presenters from universities around the world as well as representatives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation), and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), among others. A list of confirmed presenters can be found here.

Registration is on-going and is initiated by downloading the Registration Form and e-mailing it to info@bouldermft.org. The conference fee is EUR 400 and payment may be made by wire transfer or by credit card, as detailed here.

An opportunity for five scholarships exists through the Call for Posters. Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to submit a poster and an accompanying 400-word abstract (for a subsequent research paper due August 22nd) for inclusion in two poster presentations. The top five submitted posters will receive full scholarships and the deadline is July 15th. The poster application is available in PDF or Word format and should be submitted to Davide Castellani at findev@unibg.it.

BI was incepted in 2004 and is currently presided over by founder Robert Peck Christen, the Director of Financial Services for the Poor at the Gates Foundation and a founder of the MicroBanking Bulletin (MBB), the Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX Market), and the Microfinance Management Institute (MFMI), as stated in his profile on BI’s web site. Mr. Christen was appointed to his position at the Gates Foundation in 2007, as reported by MicroCapital here. He is also the author of multiple publications, one of which MicroCapital reported on here, in October of 2007. Mr. Christen will be a presenter at the conference.

BI’s flagship program, the annual Boulder MFT (to be held in Turin, Italy from July 21st through August 8th), claims over 2,500 alumni from 135 countries, 60 percent of whom are direct practitioners of microfinance. Financial information was not available. MicroCapital recently reported on another upcoming BI training event here. BI may be contacted by e-mail at info@bouldermft.org or by phone in the US (+1 303 800 0825) or in Canada (+1 514 509 7168).

The University of Bergamo was founded in 1968 as “The Institute of Foreign Languages and Literatures” and had enrollment of nearly 13,000 students during the 2003-2004 academic year. Master on Microfinance, which is run through the university’s Research Centre on International Cooperation, has been operating since 2002 and is attended mainly by students from Africa, the Middle East, and Italy. Financial information was unavailable.

The RFP was established in the 1960s and its researchers created the Development Finance (DevFinance) listserv, an e-mail discussion group with subscribing practitioners and researchers from around the world. Also, RFP faculty teach annually at the Boulder MFT. Financial information for the RFP was not available.

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Home, Financial Services for the Poor

Boulder Institute of Microfinance: Home, Our History, About, Boulder MFT, Alumni

Boulder-Bergamo Forum on Access to Financial Services: Home, Conference Schedule, Presenters, How to Register?, Registration Form, Call for Posters, Poster Application PDF, Poster Application Word

MicroCapital article, June 26, 2008: “The Boulder Institute of Microfinance (BI) and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in the United Kingdom to Offer a Five-day Training Program Entitled ‘Integrating Microfinance in Development’ at the University of Sussex”

MicroCapital article, April 13, 2007: “Gates Foundation Names Robert Peck Christen of the Boulder Institute of Microfinance as Head of Microfinance Team”

MicroCapital wrap-up, October 29, 2007: “Sustainability of Self-Help Groups in India: Two Analyses”

The Ohio State University: Home, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, Rural Finance Program, About

University of Bergamo: Home, Research Centre on International Cooperation, Master on Microfinance, Information on Past Editions

This report presents the important performance characteristics of Russian microfinance from 2003 through 2006 and analyzes the sector by reviewing the Russian regulatory environment and by conducting extensive benchmarking against MFIs in Central Asia (CA), Central & Eastern Europe (C&EE), and the Caucasus. Conducting business in a country containing 11.5 percent of the world’s landmass and a population of only 142 million, Russia’s more than 2,000 MFIs have experienced steady growth in their loan portfolios of 20 percent annually on the aggregate. Moreover, industry-wide assets and loan portfolios grew by five times during the research period. However, Russia’s wide geographical area results in 27 percent of the population—whom live in rural areas—receiving a disproportionably inadequate amount of financial services.

One reason for the industry’s inability to reach maximum scale thusfar (45 percent of Russians had no bank account at the end of 2006) is the current regulatory framework in Russia, as the authors point out. Although Russia’s Ministry of Finance is drafting a “law ‘On microfinance organizations’ that will more specifically regulate activities of those institutions performing microfinance activities,” an overly-complicated structural environment for practice of microfinance engrossing no less than seven non-bank entities and two licensed banking entities persists (page 9). Some of these entities, such as the Credit Consumer Cooperative of Citizens (CCCC) which may not exceed 2,000 members, have limits place on their expansion.

Credit cooperatives, non-bank institutions drawing 87 percent of their funds from members’ deposits, reported a combined gross loan portfolio (GLP) in 2006 of RUB 11.4 billion (USD 434.3 million) and comprise of 66 percent of all MFIs operating in the country. Included within this category are the Rural Credit Consumer Cooperatives (RCCCs) which account for 21 percent of all MFIs and a combined GLP of RUB 2.1 billion (USD 81.3 million). Private Commercial Noncredit Microfinance Institutions (PCMIs), drawing capital for their loan portfolios from 97 percent debt, encompassed only 18 percent of total MFIs with a combined GLP of RUB 1.8 billion, or USD 68.3 million.

Transitioning to benchmarking, the report higlights Russian MFIs statistics as they compare to peers in surrounding regions.

Beginning with scope and outreach, the authors note that GLPs and total assets are increasing—30 and 40 percent between 2004 and 2006, respectively—as loans shrink as a share of the asset structure. This may be caused by a 2006 decline in the median number of borrowers per MFI. Despite the upward trend in GLPs, Russia lags behind all three benchmark regions.

Profitability and financial sustainability also show gradual improvement, but only as Russian MFIs attain medium to large scale along with age and, on average, they are less profitable than institutions in CA and Eastern Europe (EE).

With regards to revenues, Russian MFIs currently offer interest rates at or above the rates offered by conventional banks. However, the authors point out that “strict loan requirements, long application procedure[s] and large loan amounts prevent banks from becoming serious competitors to many microfinance institutions in Russia (page 12).”

Moving to efficiency and productivity, the authors observed that Russia is similar to surrounding regions in the former, but differing microfinance practices—such as a prevalence of individual lending over group-based methodologies and a large share of MFIs offering savings services—results in a borrowers per loan officer ratio which is 1.5 times lower than in C&EE, the next least productive region among the benchmarks.

Lastly, the authors report that Russian MFIs have average risk levels of 1.7 percent of loans, which is standard in comparison to surrounding regions and low globally. Risky loans were defined as those overdue for more than 30 days.

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

“Microfinance in Russia: Benchmarks and Analysis 2006″

Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation: Home

MIX Market: Home

OANDA: FXConverter

Russian Microfinance Center: Home, About

Integrating Microfinance in Development

September 1-5, 2008, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom

The Boulder Institute of Microfinance (BI), a nonprofit organization which grew out of microfinance training programs initiated in 1995, and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), a research organization connected with the University of Sussex, will jointly host “Integrating Microfinance in Development,” a training program designed to educate practitioners involved in a wide range of development fields on the principles of a sustainable microfinance program and how to incorporate it in their operations.

In addition to microfinance experts from BI and IDS, representatives from the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), and the University of Bath will also be in attendance to share knowledge. Topics covered will include “Microfinance and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” “Gender Issues in Microfinance,” “Social Protection and Microfinance,” and “Microfinance and HIV/AIDs,” among others.

Registration is on-going and is initiated by downloading the Application Form and e-mailing it to info@bouldermft.org along with a down payment of GBP 250, or USD 492. The remaining GBP 1,200 (USD 2,361) must be paid by August 1st, 2008. The total cost is GBP 1,450, or USD 2,852. All conversions to USD are as of June 25th, 2008.

BI was incepted in 2004 and is currently presided over by founder Robert Peck Christen, the Director of Financial Services for the Poor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation) and a founder of the MicroBanking Bulletin (MBB), the Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX Market), and the Microfinance Management Institute (MFMI), as stated in his profile on BI’s web site. Mr. Christen was appointed to his position at the Gates Foundation in 2007, as reported by MicroCapital here. He is also the author of multiple publications, one of which MicroCapital reported on here, in October of 2007.

BI’s flagship program, the annual Boulder MFT (to be held in Turin, Italy from July 21st through August 8th), claims over 2,500 alumni from 135 countries, 60 percent of whom are direct practitioners of microfinance. Financial information was not available. BI may be contacted by e-mail at info@bouldermft.org or by phone in the US (+1 303 800 0825) or in Canada (+1 514 509 7168).

Established in 1966, IDS “is home to approximately 100 researchers, 70 knowledge services staff, 65 support staff and about 200 students at any one time.” Microfinance is one of IDS’ seven Research Themes and the institute focuses on the development of social performance management (SPM) practices and systems within the sector. Social performance is considered to be one of the two components necessary to achieve a profitable “double bottom-line”—the other being financial performance—and SPM is an effort to monitor, and make transparent, the social value that a microfinance institution (MFI) has to offer to its clients.

IDS, and its four microfinance team members, have published multiple books, journal articles, and research reports, as listed on their web site. Additionally, IDS runs the Imp-Act Consortium (Imp-Act), a collection of organizations promoting the utilization of SPM at MFIs. Imp-Act maintains the Imp-Act SPM Network, a forum for discussion of SPM and sharing of information between practitioners around the world. At the time of writing, the network had 308 members. IDS reported 2007 total assets of over GBP 6.5 million, or USD 12.9 million (page 1). IDS may be contacted by e-mail at ids@ids.ac.uk, or by phone at +44 (0)1273 606261.

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Home, Financial Services for the Poor

Boulder Institute of Microfinance: Home, Our History, About, Boulder MFT, Alumni

Imp-Act Consortium: Home, Imp-Act SPM Network

Institute of Development Studies: Home, About, Research Themes, Microfinance, 2007 Financial Review of the Year

Integrating Microfinance in Development: Home, How to Register?, Application Form

MicroCapital article, April 13, 2007: “Gates Foundation Names Robert Peck Christen of the Boulder Institute of Microfinance as Head of Microfinance Team”

MicroCapital wrap-up, October 29, 2007: “Sustainability of Self-Help Groups in India: Two Analyses”

OANDA: FXConverter

United Nations: Home, Millennium Development Goals

University of Sussex: Home

September 8-19, 2008, Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort & Spa, Mombasa, Kenya

Incorporated in Nairobi, Kenya, the School of Applied Microfinance (SAM) will hold its annual two-week training program in September, which will focus on capacity building for employees and partners of microfinance institutions (MFIs) located in Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian Sub-continent. The curriculum will include daily plenary presentations on macro issues such as e-banking’s effect on microfinance and the ongoing commercialization of the sector. Each day, the plenary presentations will be followed by two technical training sessions chosen by the participants from a list of 14 topics. The technical training sessions, which are all still open according to SAM’s web site, will include subjects such as Process Mapping, Product Costing, Customer Service, and Corporate Branding & Identity. Each session is one week in duration and participants can choose no more than four. Finally, participants will make presentations and hold discussions on case studies from their own MFIs in the evenings.

SAM held its first training program in 2005 and its faculty includes 14 members with experience at organizations such as Equity Bank of Kenya, MicroSave, and Women’s World Banking (WWB), among others. Certified trainers at the program will teach both the MicroSave and Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) toolkits.

Those interested in attending may apply online or by downloading the application and course selection forms and turning them in by e-mail or by fax at +254 (020) 375-4715. The deadline is July 31st, 2008 and the course costs USD 4,500 which includes tuition, food, and board at the Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort & Spa, but not travel expenses. Payment is conducted by wire transfer and the necessary details can be found here. The brochure for the 2008 course can be found here.

Prospective attendees may apply for a scholarship through the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program. The application is found here and the scholarship deadline is July 15th, 2008.

Based in Toronto, The MasterCard Foundation (MCF) is a private charitable foundation—founded in May 2006 through the provision of 13 million shares during MasterCard Worldwide’s initial public offering (IPO)—which makes grants in the areas of microfinance and youth education with the aim of providing better access for all, to the global economy. According to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) the MCF reported 2006 total assets of CAD 1.2 billion, or USD 1 billion. MicroCapital recently reported on the MCF here.

SAM may be contacted by e-mail at info@samtraining.org or by phone at +254 (020) 375-4714.

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

Canada Revenue Agency: Home, 2006 Registered Charity Information Return for MASTERCARD FOUNDATION

Consultative Group to Assist the Poor: Home

Equity Bank: Home

The MasterCard Foundation: Home, Background

MasterCard Worldwide: Home

MicroCapital article, June 2, 2008: “Toronto’s MasterCard Foundation Grants $604,473 to Six Global Microfinance Training Institutes”

MicroSave: Home

OANDA: FXConverter

Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort & Spa: Home

School of Applied Microfinance: Home, Curriculum, Process Mapping, Product Costing, Customer Service, Corporate Branding & Identity, SAM 2007 Scrapbook, Faculty, Online Application, Application Form, Course Selection Form, Course Registration, Practical Skills and Tools for Microfinance Managers & Consultants, MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program, Scholarship Application Form

Women’s World Banking: Home

“Social entrepreneurship” is a vague term for which there is no consensus on its exact definition. Thus, many organizations involved in promoting social entrepreneurship, Ashoka included, tailor the phrase’s explanation to fit their respective missions. Furthermore, the CEO (Sally Osberg) and a sitting board member (Roger L. Martin) of the Skoll Foundation co-published a ten page paper in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) in Spring 2007 debating a possible definition and questioning the current circumstances by stating that “the indiscriminate use of the term may undermine its significance and potential importance to those seeking to understand how societies change and progress (page 39).” The paper is entitled “Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition” and is available through the Skoll Foundation’s web site, an organization which aids social entrepreneurs by providing financial support, networking capabilities, and promotion of their work. Based in Palo Alto, California, the Skoll Foundation is a nonprofit which reported 2007 total assets of nearly USD 514 million (page 4).

When asked about social entrepreneurship, Mr. Drayton has said that “Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.”

Ashoka is based in Arlington, Virginia, where Mr. Drayton resides, but maintains 25 regional offices around the world. Since the first Ashoka Fellows were elected in India in 1981, there have been more than 2,000 and they come from more than 60 countries to create a potent force rallying for positive transformation in the areas of human rights, unemployment, environmental sustainability, youth civil participation, and the elimination of poverty, to name a few. One of Ashoka’s six “Fields of Work” is economic development and a search through the Fellows’ database for those addressing the “microenterprise” and “financial services/markets” sectors retrieves 53 and 48 individuals, respectively. In 2006, Ashoka reported total assets of nearly USD 67.3 million (page 16). MicroCapital recently published a Who’s Who about Ashoka, which can be found here.

Mr. Drayton was born in New York City on June 15, 1943 to an Australian musician and an American explorer. Both of his parents’ families are deeply rooted in public service and social change and Drayton’s ancestors include the Grimké sisters (anti-slavery and women’s rights) and Wendell Phillips (abolitionist). An entrepreneur from the beginning, Drayton started and managed a newspaper while in fourth grade which had circulation, not only in his own school, but in other area schools as well. In high school he was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and was deeply engaged in the civil rights movement.

The beginnings of Ashoka began to take root while Drayton was an undergraduate at Harvard University (class of ’65) where he established the Ashoka Table—an interdisciplinary weekly forum on the social sciences—and traveled to India during the summer of 1963 to follow Vinoba Bhave, a supporter of Gandhi who secured the peaceful redistribution of 7 million acres of land from rich owners to landless people across the country. Drayton later attended Yale Law School (YLS), graduating in 1970, and Balliol College at the University of Oxford where he obtained an MA with First Class Honors while studying on a Rhodes Scholarship.

For the first ten years of his professional career, Mr. Drayton worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company (McKinsey), a global management consulting firm which does not issue a public annual report, where he advised both public and private clients. While providing consulting to the City of New York, he created America’s first nicotine tar tax. Following McKinsey, he made a jump to the public sector by joining the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the Assistant Administrator for four years where he pioneered several innovations, including emissions trading. Subsequently, he worked at the White House during the Carter Administration and has taught at both Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (Harvard Kennedy School) and Stanford Law School (SLS).

In addition to his work with Ashoka, Mr. Drayton is Chairman of the Board for Youth Venture (YV), a nonprofit organization which he founded in 1996 to initiate “a society-wide redefinition of the youth years” by enabling groups of young people, between the ages of 12 and 20, to be social entrepreneurs in their communities through seed funding of up to USD 1,000, tools, technical assistance, and other forms of support. The organization maintains 5 US offices as well as 11 global offices. Financial information was unavailable.

Mr. Drayton also serves as the Chairman for Get America Working! (GAW!), a nonprofit organization promoting the creation of jobs by means of a reduction in, or elimination of, payroll taxes and an increase in taxes on energy resources and pollution produced by factories. Financial information was unavailable for the Arlington, Virginia-based institution.

He is well known for his promotion of the “citizen sector,” the rapidly growing field of both nonprofit and for-profit ventures—microfinance institutions (MFIs) included—that seek to promote positive social change in the world. Because social entrepreneurs lead the citizen sector, Mr. Drayton views the development of entrepreneurial skills within young people (through YV), and the support of their mature ideas as adults (through Ashoka), as paramount.

Mr. Drayton’s awards are many. They include the MacArthur Fellowship (November 1984) from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (MacArthur Foundation), the Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence from the Yale School of Management (SOM), the National Public Service Award (NPSA) (1995) which is jointly awarded by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), the Public Service Achievement Award (PSAA) from Common Cause, the Preiskel-Silverman Fellowship and the Award of Merit from YLS, the Leadership in Social Entrepreneurship Award (LSEA) (April 24, 2007) from Duke University’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE), the 2007 Honorary Fellow Award from the University of Pennsylvania Law School (Penn Law), the Goi Peace Award (November 18, 2007) from the Goi Peace Foundation (GPF), and the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award (2008) from Tufts University’s Institute for Global Leadership (IGL). Mr. Drayton was also included on US News & World Report’s 2005 list of America’s Best Leaders and ranked 33rd on 02138 Magazine’s 2006 Harvard 100 List.

Much of the information for this article came from Mr. Drayton’s profile on Ashoka’s web site.

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

02138 Magazine: Home, Harvard 100 List, #33 Bill Drayton

American Society for Public Administration: Home, The National Public Service Awards, All NPSA Winners

Ashoka: Home, Leadership Team, Facts, Ashoka Fellows, Fields of Work, Economic Development, Microenterprise, Financial Services/Markets, 2006 Summary of Results

Duke University: Home, Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, Leadership in Social Entrepreneurship Award, 2007 WINNER – Bill Drayton

Get America Working!: Home

The Goi Peace Foundation: Home, Goi Peace Award, William Drayton

GOOD Magazine: Home, GOOD Q&A: Bill Drayton

Harvard University: Home, John F. Kennedy School of Government

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation: Home, MacArthur Fellows Program, MacArthur Fellows – D

McKinsey & Company: Home, Contact

MicroCapital article, March 10, 2008: “Ashoka”

Skoll Foundation: Home, Sally Osberg, Roger L. Martin, 2007 Skoll Foundation Financial Statement, Background on Social Entrepreneurship, “Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition”, by Roger L. Martin and Sally Osberg, Spring 2007

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Home

Teaching, Learning & Innovation Summer Institute: Home, Featured Speakers

Tufts University: Home, The Institute for Global Leadership, Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award

US News & World Report: Home, America’s Best Leaders, “Entrepreneur for Social Change”, by Caroline Hsu, October 31, 2005

Wikipedia: Home, Grimké Sisters, Wendell Phillips, Vinoba Bhave

Youth Venture: Home, About, Board of Directors and Advisors, At a Glance, Offices, Who is Eligible to Start a Venture?

Prior to founding ASA, Mr. Choudhury earned a masters degree in Sociology from Dhaka University in 1969 and worked as a Trainer for the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD), an institution providing training and research since 1959 for the education of government officials and other concerned parties on issues of rural development. Financial information was not available.

A nonprofit, ASA was established in 1978 to fight poverty and improve the general standard of living in Bangladesh, but it wasn’t until 1991 that the institution began utilizing microcredit as its primary activity. Today, ASA provides several microfinance products to its members including savings, insurance, loans tailored for agri-business and the information technology (IT) sector, and a free-of-charge health assistance program for “major/critical diseases” with 2008 funding of over BDT 49 million, or USD 730,700. ASA has also provided technical assistance to MFIs and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 16 countries through Mauritius-registered ASA International Holdings (ASAIH), a firm in which ASA retains partial ownership. ASA operates with a loan recovery rate of 99.37 percent (April 2008), a return on assets (ROA) of 4.51 percent (December 2007), and an operational self sufficiency (OSS) ratio of 175.5 percent (December 2007). According to the MIX Market, the microfinance information clearinghouse, ASA reported 2006 total assets of over USD 355.3 million.

ASA was recently ranked number one on Forbes’ list of the top 50 MFIs, as reported by MicroCapital here. Additionally, ASA secured the largest equity commitment to date for an MFI (USD 150 million) through its private equity fund, Catalyst Microfinance Investors (CMI), and plans to use the funds to expand commercial lending outside Bangladesh. As reported by MicroCapital, the size of this capitalization effort far exceeds that of other significant deals such as India-based Swayam Krushi Sangam Microfinance’s (SKS Microfinance) USD 37 million equity sale (Microcapital story here) and TIAA-CREF’s USD 43 million private equity stake in ProCredit Holding AG (ProCredit), a Frankfurt, Germany-based holding company comprised of 22 banks across Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe (MicroCapital story here).

From February 1997 through 2003, Mr. Choudhury served as the Team Leader for ASA’s participation in the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) and United Nations Capital Development Fund’s (UNCDF) Special Unit for Microfinance (SUM) MicroStart program in Nigeria and the Philippines as a technical service provider (TSP). The MicroStart program built the capabilities of new MFIs through technical assistance from experienced TSPs as well as through subsequent seed funding assistance. According to its web site, MicroStart operated in 20 countries and grants of up to USD 150,000 were approved for 68 MFIs.

Mr. Choudhury serves as one of two Executive Directors of Mauritius-based CMI, which is run by ASA and Sequoia, an international private equity and corporate finance advisory firm founded in 2002 whose assignments have a total transaction value of “close to EUR 4 billion.” CMI actively searches for MFIs, mainly in Asia and Africa, who desire to grow in scale and improve financial performance while, simultaneously, CMI gathers investors interested in the dual financial and social benefits of investing in MFIs. According to the MIX Market, CMI makes 100 percent of its investments, which totaled USD 50 million as of October 2007, in local currencies.

He is also a member in the General Body of the Social Development Foundation’s (SDF) Steering Committee. SDF is a nonprofit aiming to reduce poverty and facilitate sustainable social development by conducting small-scale infrastructure works, advocating for the legal rights of the poor, and enhancing health care services and sanitation, among other projects. Founded in 2000, SDF reported June 2005 total assets of BDT 115.9 million, or USD 1.8 million (page 70).

He was a member of the Policy Advisory Group (PAG) at the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), taught at the Boulder Institute of Microfinance (BI), and was a visiting fellow at St. Francis Xavier University’s (StFX) Coady International Institute (CII).

Mr. Choudhury is well-known for his insistence on preserving the slim, low-cost nature of ASA’s operations through standardization of products, simplification of procedures, and a zero-tolerance rule on late repayments, and has been compared to Henry Ford by the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) quarterly Finance for the Poor, as a result. As stated in Finance for the Poor, Choudhury believes that “MFIs have a social obligation to be cost-efficient because the poor cannot afford to pay for the inefficiencies of service providers (page 2).” Indeed, the organization’s expenditures are run tightly all the way down to the branch level where individual branches have a year or less to begin covering costs and each one is given an operating manual dictating all standards for all operations including a furniture layout and a simple accounting method (page 2). Additionally, borrowers may not take more than one loan out at a time and, although the group liability format is not used, borrowers are served in groups of 20-30 to reduce the expenses of staffing a location for an entire day.The end result is a low cost of money lent at five percent in 2007.  However, Finance for the Poor points out that ASA has been criticized for its lack of a diverse set of funding options for its clients to which Mr. Choudhury replies that ASA “has not been designed to provide a wide array of flexible services. If clients want such services, they are free to go somewhere else. So clients have choices (page 3).”

Mr. Choudhury will speak at the Asia-Pacific Regional Microcredit Summit 2008 taking place in July in Bali, Indonesia, an event which MicroCapital reported on here.

Please refer to “Additional Resources” for papers by Mr. Choudhury.

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, “The Challenges of Scale in Microfinance Operation”, from Banking With the Poor’s (BWTP) 2006 Asia Microfinance Forum, March 21, 2006

Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, “Fostering Successful Technical Assistance Partnerships”, from the Global Meeting of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Special Unit for Microfinance (SUM) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), May 30 – June 1, 2001

Asia Microfinance Forum: Home, Biographies

Asian Development Bank: Home, Finance for the Poor, “ASA – The Ford Motor Model of Microfinance”, by Nimal A. Fernando and Richard L. Meyer, June 2002

Asia-Pacific Regional Microcredit Summit 2008: Home, Speaker Bios

Association for Social Advancement: Home, MIX Market Profile

Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development: Home, About

Catalyst Microfinance Investors: Home, Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, MIX Market Profile

Forbes: Home, “The World’s Top 50 Microfinance Institutions”, by Matthew Swibel and the Forbes Staff, December 20, 2007

MicroCapital event, May 19, 2008: “Asia-Pacific Regional Microcredit Summit 2008 Hosted by Microcredit Summit Campaign and Gema PKM”

MicroCapital article, June 4, 2008: “Bangladesh-based ASA to Allocate Funds from Historic $150m Equity Deal Toward Microlending Outside Bangladesh”

MicroCapital article, January 21, 2008: “Forbes’ Special Feature on Private Investment in Microfinance Includes Top 50 Microfinance Institutions”

MicroCapital article, February 4, 2008: “SKS Microfinance Raises $37 Million in Equity Sale”

MicroCapital article, September 21, 2006: “TIAA-CREF Creates $100 Million Global Microfinance Investment Program (GMIP). GMIP’s first investment to be with ProCredit Holding AG”

MIX Market: Home

OANDA: FXConverter

ProCredit Holding AG: Home, ProCredit Institutions

Sequoia: Home

Social Development Foundation: Home, About, Report 2003-2005

Swayam Krushi Sangam Microfinance: Home

TIAA-CREF: Home

United Nations Capital Development Fund: Home, Special Unit for Microfinance, About MicroStart, Nigeria, Philippines

United Nations Development Programme: Home

Micro Banking Summer Academy

August 22 – September 5, 2008, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Bad Homburg and Frankfurt, Germany

The Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FSFM), previously known as Bankakademie, will hold its annual Micro Banking Summer Academy (MBSA) in August and September. Meant for managers of microfinance institutions (MFIs), the MBSA will be comprised of three sessions. The first will be an introductory weekend course entitled “Microfinance Principles” (August 22nd – 24th) designed for new practitioners and as a refresher for more experienced managers. Topics covered will include microfinance best practice, operational principles of MFIs, loan management, and financial performance. The first weekend agenda can be found here.

Following the first weekend will be two week-long sessions, the first of which is entitled “MFI Management in a Changing Environment” and will take place August 24th through the 29th. The agenda can be found here and it will cover change and transformation in MFIs, risk management, profitability management, regulation and supervision of MFIs, as well as an overarching case study encompassing all topics covered.

Scheduled for August 31st through September 5th, the second week will be held on the main campus of the FSFM and is entitled “Commercial Microfinance in a Competitive Environment.” As shown in the agenda found here, the second week will discuss microfinance products, finance and fund management, advanced risk management, delivery of services, and a case study.

Both week-long courses will include a final discussion on future trends and innovations within microfinance, an institutional fair, and various evening programs.

Tuition is as follows:

• “Microfinance Principles” – EUR 800
• “MFI Management in a Changing Environment” – EUR 2,500
• “Commercial Microfinance in a Competitive Environment” – EUR 2,500

Each session must be applied for separately and the deadline is June 15th. Applications will not be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Both online and PDF versions are provided:

• “Microfinance Principles” – online; PDF
• “MFI Management in a Changing Environment” – online; PDF
• “Commercial Microfinance in a Competitive Environment” – online; PDF

Through the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program, prospective attendees may apply for 1 of 25 Partial Scholarships or 5 High Level Scholarships, as shown here. The application may be found here.

Based in Toronto, The MasterCard Foundation (MCF) is a private charitable foundation—founded in May 2006 through the provision of 13 million shares during MasterCard Worldwide’s initial public offering (IPO)—which makes grants in the areas of microfinance and youth education with the aim of providing better access for all, to the global economy. According to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) the MCF reported 2006 total assets of CAD 1.2 billion, or USD 1 billion. MicroCapital recently reported on the MCF here.

FSFM is a private business school founded in 1957 with 86 regional education centers and over 18,100 students participating in academic, corporate, or professional programs. In 2006, the school reported revenues of EUR 49 million.

For more information on the MBSA, those interested may contact Carolin Drucks (c.drucks@frankfurt-school.de; +49 (0)69 154008-616) or Maria Johansson (m.johansson@frankfurt-school.de; +49 (0)69 154008-617).

By Anthony Busch, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

Canada Revenue Agency: Home, 2006 Registered Charity Information Return for MASTERCARD FOUNDATION

Frankfurt School of Finance and Management: Home, Facts & Figures, Organization

The MasterCard Foundation: Home, Background

MasterCard Worldwide: Home

Micro Banking Summer Academy: Home, “Microfinance Principles”, Agenda Microfinance Principles, “MFI Management in a Changing Environment”, Agenda Week I, “Commercial Microfinance in a Competitive Environment”, Agenda Week II, Administrative Details and Application, MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program, Application for the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program

MicroCapital article, June 2, 2008: “Toronto’s MasterCard Foundation Grants $604,473 to Six Global Microfinance Training Institutes”

OANDA: FXConverter