This annual gathering promotes trade between Africa and Europe, North America and Asia. The agenda will include
Category: Africa
MICROFINANCE EVENT: ICT4D Conference; March 19-20, 2024; Accra, Ghana
This annual gathering is intended to promote data innovations that “are making a measurable difference millions of lives” through humanitarian relief, development projects and conservation efforts. The event’s themes include
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Visa, Oxfam to Expand B-READY to Provide Pre-disaster Cash Assistance in Colombia, Kenya, Puerto Rico
Visa, a US-based payments company, and Oxfam America, an anti-poverty NGO, announced during the recent COP28 meetings in the UAE that they plan to scale Oxfam’s Building Resilient, Adaptive and Disaster-ready Communities (B-READY) project to deliver relief payments in advance of storms and flooding in Colombia, Kenya and the US territory of Puerto Rico. B-READY was launched in
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lipa Later Acquires Fellow E-commerce, DFS, Merchant Services Platform Sky.Garden of Kenya for $1.6m
Lipa Later, a Kenyan financial technology (fintech) firm integrating e-commerce, digital financial services and merchant services in four African countries, recently paid KES 250 million (USD 1.6 million) to acquire Sky.Garden, a Kenyan service that was launched in 2017 but had announced it would close during 2023.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Sankalp Africa Summit; February 28-29, 2024; Nairobi, Kenya
This annual gathering focuses on “sustainable” development in Africa, including as can be promoted via entrepreneurship and impact investing. Attendees will engage on themes such as renewable energy,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Opportunity EduFinance Partners with 7 FSPs to Invest in Education in Africa, India
Opportunity EduFinance, an affiliate of the US-based NGO Opportunity International, recently brought on seven new financial services provider (FSP) partners, with whom it plans to invest in affordable private education in India, Nigeria and Rwanda. Although the FSPs have not been identified publicly, they are expected to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: 3k Displaced Persons, Returnees, Hosts Access Loans, Guarantees, Business Training in Iraq
The UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Central Bank of Iraq have partnered with the Iraqi Company for Bank Guarantees and three commercial banks over the past two years to provide a range of services to forcibly displaced people, returning refugees and host communities in the Dohuk and Ninewa regions of Iraq. These services include
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Verdant Capital Facilitates $2.5m in Lending for Enable Capital to Support SMEs Building Internet Infrastructure in South Africa
The African firm Verdant Capital recently opened a revolving credit facility of USD 2.5 million for South Africa’s Enable Capital, which funds small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that build fiber telecommunications infrastructure, especially outside of wealthy areas.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Global Partnerships, Goodwell, Oikocredit Invest $8.5m in Equity in Good Nature Agro to Boost Profits of Small Farms in Southern Africa
Zambia-based Good Nature Agro recently raised USD 8.5 million in Series B equity from US-based Global Partnerships and two organizations with offices in the Netherlands, Oikocredit International and Goodwell Ventures. Good Nature Agro supports small-scale farmers with: (1) seed selection; (2) financing; (3) access to technology;
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: L-IFT Studying Fairness of Presumptive Taxation in Ethiopia
Low-income Financial Transformation (L-IFT), a firm with teams in 13 countries in Africa and Asia, recently reported on a study it is performing with data being collected over one year from 140 small businesses in Ethiopia. The study addresses the way the Ethiopian government taxes enterprises that bring in less than ETB 500,000 (USD 8,900) per year. Rather than asking the businesses to submit financial data, the Ministry of Finance estimates their income based on external characteristics. The goal of the study is to investigate “the accuracy of
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP UP: “Women Agents for Financial Inclusion: Exploring the Benefits, Constraints and Potential Solutions,” by Emilio Hernandez et al, Published by CGAP
Based on data collected from projects in India, Ghana and Pakistan that aim to improve financial inclusion for rural women, the authors examine the interplay between gender dynamics and the employment of women as agents supplying in cash-in and cash-out (CICO) services. This includes the impact these agents can have on communities, the challenges faced by women in becoming and succeeding as agents, and possible solutions to these challenges.
While training to become CICO agents,
MICROFINANCE EVENT: 11th African Islamic Finance Summit; December 10-12, 2023; Hargeisa, Somaliland
This event is focused on Islamic finance, whose characteristics include eschewing traditional interest on loans in lieu of concepts such as profit sharing. The agenda is
SPECIAL REPORT: Leveraging Carbon Credits to Insure MSMEs in Climate-vulnerable Nations #SAM2023
What a pleasure it was to interview Diana Chepng’eno (pictured below) at SAM 2023 in Togo last month! She is such a warm and energetic person – and deeply engaged in the critical work of climate adaptation and mitigation across Africa and the Middle East.
During SAM 2023, Ms Chepng’eno spoke at the opening plenary session “Making Africa’s Future Sustainable – Climate, Socio-economic Development and Inclusive Finance” as well as a breakout session titled “Helping Financial Institutions Deal with Climate Change – Assessing Risks and Strengthening Institutional Resilience.”
Bob Summers: What are you working on with the V20 group of climate-vulnerable nations (which now comprises 68 low- and middle-income countries)?
Diana Chepng’eno: Sitting within the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, under the Principles for Sustainable Insurance, we are ramping up a Sustainable Insurance Facility. We launched the facility in 2022 to advocate for the importance of insurance for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in V20 countries as a significant driver for mitigating climate change risks. MSMEs, for example, comprise about 75 percent of the total GDP of the V20. Therefore, if we can support these MSMEs by facilitating access to much-needed insurance, so that they may become more climate resilient, then these entire countries can be climate-resilient.
BS: What mechanisms does the facility use?
DC: The work is all based on partnerships. Insurers are critical, of course. We also need firms that
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: AfDB Seeking $1b for African Climate Risk Insurance Facility (ACRIFA) to Boost Microinsurance for Farms, Livestock Against Drought, Floods
The multilateral African Development Bank (AfDB) recently launched a fund called the African Climate Risk Insurance Facility (ACRIFA), aimed at increasing the continent’s resilience to adverse weather events. ACRIFA follows on AfDB’s Africa Disaster Risk Insurance Program, which supported the creation and uptake of insurance products and
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Gendered Investment Differences Among Smallholder Farmers: Evidence from a Microcredit Programme in Western Kenya,” by Keiji Jindo et al
The authors of this study conducted a client-level analysis to examine differences in the investment behavior of female and male microcredit users in Kenya. The scope included
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IDB Invest Lending $30m to Atlantic Bank in Support of MSMEs in Belize, with a Focus on Women-owned Firms
IDB Invest, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, recently agreed to issue Atlantic Bank Limited of Belize senior loan funds of up to USD 30 million with the aim of fostering the expansion of Atlantic Bank’s financing for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The funding package is divided
MICROFINANCE EVENT: AEMFI 25th Anniversary; November 28 – December 1, 2023; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Themed, “MFIs in a Digital Era: Financial Inclusion for Job Creation and Women Empowerment,” this event offers microfinance institutions multiple opportunities to showcase their products and how they can contribute to reducing poverty. Researchers will also present their findings, and funders and government representatives will attend to collaborate on strategies for growing the industry. The event, whose primary organizer is the 50-member Association of Ethiopian Microfinance Institutions (AEMFI), event is
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: RDG Collective Borrows $2m from Oikocredit for Pay-as-you-go Solar Appliances for 12k Low-income Households in Zambia
Dutch impact investor Oikocredit recently channeled USD 2 million to RDG Collective, a provider of renewable energy products to households in Zambia. Through this collaboration, RDG plans to supply 12,000 households with “access to clean energy