ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

MAY 5-7, 2008, KEMPINSKI HOTEL ISHTAR, DEAD SEA, JORDAN

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a self-funded US government agency with 2006 total assets of USD 6.3 million promoting economic development and US investment in overseas markets since 1971, will hold a conference “to highlight investment opportunities in the [Middle East], encourage the formation of joint ventures and partnerships between US and local businesses, and facilitate support for new investments,” according to the conference web site. The first day of the two-day conference will include a session entitled “Access to Capital: Microfinancing to SMEs,” which will consist of presentations from managers of Middle Eastern microfinance institutions (MFIs). In attendance will be investment experts, US firms investing in the Middle East, US government officials, and financial institutions operating in the region. Countries to be featured in the conference include Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen. Continue Reading »

Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President of Women’s World Banking (WWB), a New York-based institution supporting over 55 microfinance institutions (MFIs) and banks in 43 countries, recently visited Jordan, as reported by the Jordan Times in an interview on March 10th. WWB’s partner in Jordan is Microfund for Women (MFW), which reported 2007 total assets of USD 13.9 million and a loan portfolio of USD 13.2 million to the microfinance information clearinghouse, the MIX Market. President Iskenderian was en route to Dubai, but visited Hai Nazzal Centre, located in a suburb of Amman with the same name, where she observed Jordanian microfinance operations. Continue Reading »

Co-authored by Gil Crawford, CEO of MicroVest, a Washington, DC-based private microfinance investment firm, and Lauren Clark, the Communications Manager for MicroVest, released July 2007 as Volume 10-Number 1 of Microenterprise Development Review, a publication of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 11 pages, available at http://www.microvestfund.com/docs/microenter_dev_%207-16-07.pdf

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The Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Nigeria, presided over by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, approved a USD 27.2 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as reported by AllAfrica.com. The loan, along with a USD 400,000 grant from IFAD, will constitute the core financing of IFAD’s Rural Finance Institution-Building Programme (RFIBP), a seven-year plan to strengthen rural microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Nigeria as well as establish increased linkages between MFIs and mainstream financial institutions. As stated in the September 2006 submission from the Executive Board of IFAD to the government of Nigeria, the official recipient of the loan is the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the loan terms are for 40 years, including a grace period of ten years, and a service charge of 0.75 percent per year (page vi). The Federal Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development will implement the RFIBP (page 10). Continue Reading »

As posted by MicroCapital on Thursday, Reliance Capital of India, a publicly-traded financial institution offering a wide range of services and reporting March 2007 total assets of USD 1.5 billion, announced a new microfinance initiative on March 3rd beginning with the financing of two microfinance institutions (MFIs) based in Gujarat state. As stated in the press release, MAS Financial Services Limited (MFSL) and Vardan Trust received the first checks and Reliance Capital plans to continue the first phase of the initiative in Maharashtra state before expanding nation-wide at an undetermined date. Mr. K. V. Srinivasan, the Deputy CEO of Reliance Consumer Finance—a division of Reliance Capital offering loans for a variety of products—expressed that the methodology of the initiative will be to lend to MFIs which will then on-lend to individuals, self help groups (SHGs), and other joint liability microfinance structures. SHGs are unions of individuals, usually connected by geographical location, which organize to take advantage of the financial services that can be utilized from their collective assets. Continue Reading »

Aloysius P. Fernandez is the Executive Director, as well as board member, of Bangalore-based Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency (MYRADA), a non-governmental organization (NGO) in India which provides training programs for rural development in the Indian states of Karnataka, Andhrapradesh, and Tamil Nadu as well as staff support to 6 other states and promotion of the Self-help Affinity Strategy in Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. MYRADA also publishes on various topics such as watershed development—projects which pursue better management of natural water resources—and NGO-government collaboration.

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TRAINING WORKSHOP ON ISLAMIC MICROFINANCE

MARCH 7-8, 2008, STATE BANK OF PAKISTAN, ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

The Al Huda Center of Islamic Banking and Economics (Al Huda CIBE), an institute based in Lahore and comprised of Pakistani academics and practitioners in the field of Islamic finance, will hold a two-day workshop introducing the basics of Islamic microfinance and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as presenting updated practices in the field. Convening at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in Islamabad, the seminar will cover issues specific to Islam, such as the role of the takaful in microfinance—a form of mutual insurance entailing the pooling of a group’s monies into one common fund which is managed according to shariah law—as well as the interest-free loaning mechanism known as musharaka which is the joint participation of the investor and borrower in the profit and loss of an investment rather than a conventional loan with a risk-determined interest rate. The workshop will also delve into the SBP’s plans for the future development of Islamic finance in Pakistan as well as outreach and development associated with Islamic SMEs and microfinance. The SBP issued new guidelines for Islamic microfinance services within Pakistan in late 2007, as reported by MicroCapital. Continue Reading »

Fiscal year 2007 saw growth in the Middle East/Eastern Europe Region (MEER) according to World Vision International’s (WVI) local office based in Cyprus. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) grew their clientele to over 100,000, a 48.8 percent increase, with most of the growth coming from Eastern Europe. The total MEER portfolio grew to USD 203 million in 2007. Previous MEER portfolio figures were unavailable. Continue Reading »

PODER PHILANTHROPY FORUM

MARCH 11-12, 2008, GUSMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, MIAMI, FLORIDA

PODER Magazine, a monthly publication written for business and political elite focusing on the growing influence of Latin America and the US Hispanic community, announced on Tuesday that it will be hosting, along with its partners, a Philanthropy Forum designed to encourage increased collaboration by gathering global practitioners and scholars as well as to foster innovation in private and corporate philanthropy in the region. According to the PR Newswire release, co-sponsoring partners include the City of Miami, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Foreign Policy magazine, Georgetown University, Impremedia, the Inter-American Development Bank, Miami Dade College, the Miami Herald Publishing Company, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (Knight Foundation), Synergos.org, and Univision. Continue Reading »

Producers Rural Banking Corporation (PRBC), a Manila-based microfinance institution (MFI) serving the countryside of the island of Luzon, has received a line of credit worth Philippine Peso (PHP) 1.4 billion, or USD 34 million, from both public and private institutions, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. These funds will be onlent to individual clients of PRBC. The bank does not report to the MIX Market, the microfinance information clearinghouse, nor do they maintain a Web presence. Continue Reading »

Dr. Tunde Ayeye, Chairman of the newly licensed Treasure Microfinance Bank (TMFB) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, announced on Tuesday that the bank will be officially launched on February 26th, 2008. According to Chairman Ayeye, the bank has secured NGN 50 million, equivalent to USD 432,000, of start-up capital and plans to reach NGN 1 billion (USD 8.6 million) within one year and become a listed company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). TMFB does not report to the MIX Market, the microfinance information clearinghouse, and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) listing does not provide any additional financial information. However, the CBN does report that TMFB is a registered microfinance bank since February 1st, 2008 and that it was formerly known as the Oja Odan Community Bank. Previous reporting on TMFB by MicroCapital can be found here. Continue Reading »

Crédit Agricole, the largest bank in France, announced that it will contribute EUR 50 million towards the establishment of a non-profit foundation in cooperation with Grameen Bank, a Bangladeshi micro-bank. The foundation will finance micro credit providers worldwide through credits, guarantees, and equity capital. In 2009, the foundation will create a fund, open to investors, in order to raise an additional EUR 100 million for operations, according to Crédit Agricole, as reported by Forbes.com. Continue Reading »

CGAP/MFMI FUNDER TRAINING COURSE

APRIL 7-11, 2008, ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

The complete title of this event is “Building Inclusive Financial Systems: How Funders Can Make a Difference” and it is the first of three courses on the same subject to be held in 2008. The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the Microfinance Management Institute (MFMI), a joint venture of CGAP and the Open Society Institute (OSI), are offering the session which will be “a hands-on training course on building financial systems for the poor,” according to the brochure. Both the enrollment form and the brochure are available on the CGAP Donor Information Network Center (CGAP DIRECT) Web site. Continue Reading »