A new report from Standard Bank of South Africa reveals that many financial services remain unavailable to the majority of the people that live in Africa. Continue Reading »

GloMobile Nigeria, a Nigerian telecommunications company, and TransferTo, a Singapore-based global airtime remittances company, have announced the launch of the GloMobile International Airtime Transfer service, which allows for the transfer of prepaid mobile phone airtime between any GloMobile customer in Nigeria and approximately3.6 billion customers of 230 partner mobile network operators in 80 countries. Continue Reading »

MicroLoan Foundation, UK-based nonprofit that works to promote entrepreneurship among women in sub-Saharan Africa, has launched a pilot project in Malawi’s rural Kasungu region that is designed to provide women entrepreneurs with an opportunity to tackle the problem of an unreliable electricity supply [1]. Continue Reading »

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, a telecommunications provider in Zimbabwe, and Telecel Zimbabwe, a local mobile phone network, have separately launched mobile banking services. Continue Reading »

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria’s banking authority, has released an economic report indicating that microfinance banks (MFBs) have increased their loan distribution volume in the first half of the year by 24 percent to NGN 65.5 billion (USD 411 million) compared to NGN 52.9 billion for the period ending December 2010. Continue Reading »

responsAbility Social Investments AG, a Swiss investment company that manages four microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made debt investments totaling the equivalent of USD 4 million in microfinance institutions (MFIs) Pearl Microfinance of Uganda, Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) of Nigeria and Sinapi Aba Trust of Ghana [1]. Continue Reading »

The author, David Satterthwaite, is Oxfam America’s head of micro-insurance and risk management and founder of MicroCapital.org. Despite the current severe drought in East Africa and resultant famine in Somalia, northern Ethiopia has thus far escaped this year’s drought. The region has, however, been devastated by lack of rainfall in the past and Satterthwaite’s program was designed to help local farmers overcome periods of severe drought. His work is featured in a World Food Day half-hour documentary special report from ViewChange and Oxfam: “ViewChange: Africa’s Last Famine,” which is available at the end of this post.

I woke up that day in Addis Ababa. It was a morning that I’ve come to think of as typical there: it was sunny, the air was cool with the smell of wood smoke, and slow-moving donkeys shared the city streets with blue taxis. I had been on the job at Oxfam for about a month. A group of us – a number of my Ethiopian colleagues and I – were scheduled to meet with the CEO of Nyala Insurance to discuss a contract to provide weather insurance to farmers in northern Ethiopia. Continue Reading »

In a recent seminar aimed at promoting awareness of Islamic banking models, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Mallam Sanusi Lamido reportedly predicted that non-interest banking will make a major impact on the Nigerian economy. Continue Reading »

Triodos Investment Management, a Netherlands-based manager of four microfinance investment funds, recently reported to MicroCapital that it has invested an undisclosed amount of funds in four microfinance institutions (MFIs): Advans Ghana Savings and Loans Limited, KixiCrédito of Angola, TYM Fund of Vietnam and Belarusian Bank for Small Business (BBSB) [1]. Continue Reading »

With default rates reportedly ranging from seven to 10 percent in Tanzania, commercial banks in the country are charging lending rates between 14 and 24 percent. Continue Reading »

Several members of the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), a US-based nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the effectiveness of market-based solutions to social and environmental problems, together with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a government agency that provides international economic and humanitarian assistance, have created the African Agricultural Capital Fund (AACF), which is intended to boost Africa’s agriculture sector. Continue Reading »

The government of Botswana has announced that it will cease acting as an intermediary between microfinance institutions (MFIs) and civil servants for the collection of microloans through the provision of “deduction-at-source” from public servants’ wages [1]. Continue Reading »

Chase Bank, a US-based commercial bank, is reportedly looking beyond the business model of “corporate giants” in Kenya by creating a deposit-taking microfinance institution (DTM) subsidiary, Rafiki Deposit Taking Microfinance Kenya Limited, to attract clients who have “outgrown” traditional microfinance institutions (MFIs) [1]. Continue Reading »

Event Name: African Microfinance Pricing Transparency Leadership Forum

Event Date: October 5 – October 7, 2011

Event Location: Nairobi, Kenya Continue Reading »

At the recently concluded Fifth African Microcredit Conference, which was held in Ethiopia, a focus note reportedly commended the Moroccan microcredit sector, remarking that from 2003 to 2007 microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) loan portfolio “multiplied 11 times and client outreach by four” in the country [1]. Continue Reading »

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria’s central banking authority, has approved the new capital base requirements for microfinance banks (MFBs) as per the expectations reported in the MicroCapital story dated June 28. Continue Reading »

Hassan al Sayed, head of Sudanese trade group Insurance Companies Union (ICU), reportedly has said that an agreement has been reached to guarantee an unspecified volume of microfinance loans. Continue Reading »

Event Name: Second International Conference on Inclusive Islamic Financial Sector Development: Enhancing Financial Services for Regional Micro-enterprises

Event Date: October 9 – October 11, 2011

Event Location: Sudan Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences (SABFS), Khartoum, Sudan Continue Reading »