Blog Action Day (BAD08) is an annual nonprofit event focused on uniting the world’s bloggers, podcasters, and videocasters to post about the same issue on the same day. The goal is to raise awareness and generate a global discussion on one issue. The theme this year was poverty and the event took place on October 15^th. Beginning this year the organizers will be compiling a selection of the best posts from the day into a short report for distribution to NGOs and the public, to showcase some of the innovative ideas and actions that came out of the dialogue. The event generates a huge influx of web searches on the theme and organizers estimate that 13 million individuals visited over 12 thousand participating blogs. Continue Reading »

Increasingly, some of the world’s largest technology companies are looking toward the developing world for both clients and innovation opportunities. Intellecap, a social business advisory firm, recently published interviews with IBM and Microsoft in its bi-monthly magazine Microfinance Insights; the interviews discuss the companies’ involvement in the microfinance sector. C.K. Prahalad, Professor of Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business said “I believe that the companies that are clued in [to this market] will have enormous benefits, and will take that knowledge back to the rest of the world. To me, the base of the pyramid is not just an opportunity for market expansion…it is an opportunity for innovation.” Continue Reading »

ACCION International, a microfinance organization founded in 1961 to address the desperate poverty in Latin America’s cities, has recently launched The Center For Financial Inclusion , a collaborative effort to promote commercial microfinance and simultaneously ensure that the needs of poor clients are being met. A key aspect of the Center is to connect the expertise of the non-profit, private and academic sectors to enhance the quality of microfinance. It is a sign of the times as commercial banks have been increasingly involved in socially responsible investing and the debate about what role for-profit activity should play in the microfinance sector continues to intensify. Continue Reading »

Remittances, the portion of international migrant workers’ earnings sent back from the country of employment to the country of origin, play an important role in the economies of many developing countries. An annual statistical report done by the World Bank shows that remittances account for 5% of the GDP for low-income developing countries as of 2006. Although this figure might seem small, many countries in particular have a much higher percentage of their GDP based in Remittances; Guyana, Haiti and Honduras are all close to 25%.  The Philippines, Nicaragua, Nepal, Guatemala and El Salvador are all in the 10-20% range. Jack Kimball of Reuters points out that “remittance cash may be as much as 50 percent higher than current estimates due to informal transfers.” Global remittances from foreign workers make up an estimated $300 billion a year, three times as much as the foreign aid paid out by governments in the developed world. The biggest share of this, over $42 billion, comes from immigrants working in the United States. But what these numbers really reflect is that millions of families and individuals in these countries have come to depend on remittances as a vital source of income. Continue Reading »

SOURCE: Business Standard

Original story available here.

Mobile banking (m-banking) in India, viewed by the government as a potent tool for financial inclusion, is yet to clear many hurdles before it can fulfil its objective of reaching the unbanked masses. Primarily so, say analysts, since the mobile density in tier II and III cities, is 11 percent and 10 percent respectively. Continue Reading »

As financial markets struggle internationally, some microfinance institutions (MFIs) have begun to see downstream effects in the form of rising lending rates. Royston Braganza, chief executive officer of Grameen Capital India observed “the demand for funds is high because microfinanciers have drawn up aggressive growth plans” and “the cost of funds remains a concern due to the 2 percent increase in just the last quarter.” These factors could make fundraising very difficult for microfinance institutions in cases where they have not built up proper reserves according to K. Vinod Kumar, Assistant Vice-President of member services at SKS Microfinance. Continue Reading »

Written by Ignacio Mas, an adviser for CGAP’s Technology and Market Intelligence programs, and Kabir Kumar, a Microfinance Analyst working on CGAP’s Technology Program, published June 2008 as Focus Note Number 49, a CGAP paper series, 28 pages, available here. Continue Reading »

Source: MarketWatch

Original press release available here. Continue Reading »

AFRICAN MICROFINANCE INVESTOR’S FAIR

OCTOBER 15-16, 2008, HOTEL SOFITEL TERANGA, DAKAR, SENEGAL

African Microfinance Transparency (AMT) has organized an African Microfinance Investor’s Fair in Dakar. The purpose of this fair is to bring together rated African microfinance institutions (MFIs) that are in search of funding sources and investors that are offering funding and other such resources to MFIs, be it in local or foreign currency. Continue Reading »

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) both released studies recently that offer new definitions of international poverty. The original “$1-a-day Poverty Line” is a global poverty line for absolute poverty that was set by the World Bank in 1990, and is adjusted for various purchasing power parities (PPP). PPPs are conversion factors that ensure a common purchasing power over a given set of goods and services. People living at or below these poverty lines are said to be in extreme poverty. Continue Reading »

Originally reported by Nigerian news agency This Day, Mathius Kura, the Plateau State Branch Controller of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), a bank aligned with the Nigerian government to drive regulation and policy, noted the irony in how little participation there is in microfinance bank industries in the northern states of Nigeria. Kura was speaking at a one-day workshop - Micro-finance, Problems and Prospects - organized by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).  Kura observed that the Anambra state alone has over 100 microfinance banks; a value that surpasses that of the entire north put together, excluding Kwara State. Continue Reading »