Meet Matt Flannery in Seattle

March 5^th, 7:00-9:00PM, 2009

Town Hall 1119 Eighth Avenue Seattle, WA 98101, USA Continue Reading »

Microfinance institutions are teaming up with leading mobile phone makers to offer cheaper handsets customized for rural customers, according to a news report from the Indian Economic Times. The report also noted that Nokia, the world leading mobile phone supplier, is running a pilot project to sell handsets in the Andhra Pradesh state through SKS Microfinance, a non-banking finance company. Likewise, Nokia is about to launch mobile information services revolving around agriculture, education, and entertainment in the rural state of Maharashtra, in addition to partnering with a host of existing content providers to deliver information on seed, fertilizer, and pesticide costs, prevailing market prices for crops, and weather. Continue Reading »

Arman Financial Services Ltd, a “Non-Banking Financial Corporation” under Indian law, is planning to enter into the microfinance market for female entrepreneurs, according to a news report from the Hindu Business Line. The company’s Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Jayendra Patel noted that the decision was made partly due to the low default rate in microlending. He further commented that, “the Reserve Bank of India says that there is a 99.5 percent recovery ratio in microfinancing and our experience says that low income groups of people [seeking assistance jointly] are more bankable.” Continue Reading »

Ms. Mary Ellen Iskenderian, CEO of Women’s World Banking, a global network of 54 microfinance institutions and banks in 30 countries, spoke to Time magazine’s reporter Jeremy Caplan regarding the impact of the recent financial crisis on the microfinance industry. The conversation also addressed other key trends and challenges for microfinance. The article was published in Time during December, 2008. The full text is available at: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1863443,00.html Continue Reading »

Mr. Martin Eson-Benjamin, CEO of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), a government agency of Ghana that implements development contracts funded by the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), noted that improved micro-credit may emerge as a powerful tool to achieve national food security by providing financial and technical assistance needed by small scale farmers. The remarks came at the 4th annual microfinance conference organized by the faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), which addressed “Microfinance and Food Security in Africa.” The two-day event was also attended by delegates from other African nations. Continue Reading »

Malawi Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, an executive branch agency responsible for the country’s legal sector, reported that work to complete customization of the Microfinance and Financial Cooperatives bills is close to an end. This progress is further confirmed by Anthony Kamanga, Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, who mentioned in an interview that there was solid progress. However, Mr. Kamanga cautioned that efforts could be hampered by parliamentary processes, and added that, “the problem we always face to ensure that these draft bills see the light of the (sic) day has been working with parliament; we cannot dictate things to them…and waiting for them always leads into unnecessary delays.” Continue Reading »

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank of Nepal, is considering creating a separate regulatory organization to supervise microfinance development banks by reassigning its present responsibilities to it. According to Gopal Prasad Kafle, Executive Director of Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank is developing a preliminary plan for the Micro-Finance Act, which would provide for the establishment of this body. After the Act goes into effect, Nepal Rastra Bank will transfer its present responsibilities of regulating microfinance, cooperatives, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to the new regulatory body. The same Act will also have a provision for establishing a national microfinance development fund to back micro-credit institutions and strengthen their capacity. Continue Reading »