Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan recently announced at the country’s fifth Annual Microfinance Conference and Entrepreneurial Award Ceremony that the federal government would support the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) plan to establish a Microfinance Development Fund dedicated towards developing the country’s microfinance sector. Continue Reading »

Bankers Without Borders, which is an initiative of US-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) Grameen Foundation, recently announced a second round of funding for its Alliance Program in the amount of USD 150,000, which is intended to engage active and retired business professionals as a resource for microfinance and other development initiatives. Continue Reading »

The United States Agency for International Development’s Egypt branch (USAID/Egypt), a division of USAID aimed at supporting economic development in Egypt, and BNP Paribas, a financial services provider based in France, recently agreed to a deal that has BNP Paribas loaning EGP 27 million (USD 4.65 million) to The Lead Foundation (Lead), an Egyptian microfinance NGO that was founded in part by USAID. USAID/Egypt is guaranteeing 50 percent of the principal amount. Continue Reading »

Old Mutual South Africa (OMSA), a financial services outfit based in Cape Town, in partnership with Shoprite, a local retailer based in Western Cape, recently launched a “Pay-When-You-Can” funeral insurance plan aimed at low-income individuals who cannot commit to making regular monthly payments. Continue Reading »

In 2010, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoked the operating licenses of 224 microfinance banks (MFBs) in the country that were “terminally distressed and technically insolvent.” After receiving fresh tranches of capital, new operating licenses were given to 121 of those outfits, but the remaining 103 institutions are being liquidated by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and their depositors are now being repaid in stages. Continue Reading »

MFTransparency, a US-based nongovernmental organization launched in July 2008 that aims to provide information on credit products and pricing, the Association of Micro Finance Institutions in Togo (APIM-Togo), the Association of Microfinance Institutions of Benin (FNM) and the Association of Decentralized Financial Systems of Benin (Consortium ALAFIA) are partnering to expand MFTransparency’s Transparent Pricing Initiative to Togo and Benin with the aim of providing training on interest rate calculations, publishing online pricing information and promoting consumer protection. Continue Reading »

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), Kenya’s central banking authority, has granted a license to start-up microfinance institution (MFI) Remu DTM Limited (Remu). The Microfinance Act of 2008 allows the CBK to license, regulate and supervise DTMs—institutions that provide loans to micro- or small enterprises and low-income households, and that receive money by way of deposits. Previously, MFIs could issue loans but were not allowed to take money from the public. Continue Reading »

The MasterCard Foundation of Canada and Women Advancing Microfinance’s (WAM’s) New York chapter recently announced scholarship opportunities for the University of New Hampshire’s Sustainable Microenterprise and Development Program (SMDP) in Ghana. Continue Reading »

A recent study from researchers at California’s Stanford University indicates that the Ghana Shea Value Chain Initiative, a program designed to improve the incomes and living conditions of women in Ghana who are engaged in the shea nut harvesting and shea butter business, has met many of its program targets. Additionally, Olam International, a Singapore-based processor of agricultural products and food ingredients, has signed an agreement to become a major buyer of the initiative’s products. Continue Reading »

Former directors of Havilah Microfinance Bank Limited, Rufus Dada Oluyole and his son-in-law Rotimi Olubowale, have been arraigned before a magistrate’s court in Lagos, Nigeria on criminal charges of conspiracy, forging the letterhead of Havilah and falsely representing themselves as directors of the bank to customers after they no longer filled those roles. Continue Reading »

Commercial and retail banks in Kenya, recognizing the increase in demand for microloans in the country, have lowered their loan minimums to compete against moneylenders and microfinance institutions (MFIs). Continue Reading »

The West African Development Bank (WADB), an international development bank based in Lomé, Togo, and Kafo Jiginew, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Mali, have come to terms on a XOF 1.5 billion (USD 3.03 million) loan to Kafo Jiginew to expand its financing of local agricultural projects, including loans to cotton growers and credit unions. Continue Reading »

MFTransparency, a US-based nongovernmental watchdog that focuses on interest rates in the microfinance industry, recently expanded its Transparent Pricing Initiative to Rwanda to educate citizens in that country on interest rates in an effort to impel microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the country to lower microfinance interest rates. Plans for this expansion were announced on this website in October. Continue Reading »

African Development Bank (AfDB), a development finance institution established in 1964 that gives loans and grants to governments and private companies in Africa, recently launched the Migration and Development Fund (MDF) to support development projects in Africa. Continue Reading »

The government of the Nigerian state of Ondo disbursed NGN 2 billion (approximately USD 13 million) to create the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund, which will provide wholesale funding and refinancing liquidity for microfinance institutions (MFIs). Continue Reading »

Recently, Microfinance Opportunities (MFO), a microenterprise resource center based in Washington, DC, and the MasterCard Foundation, a Canadian foundation with approximately USD 2.9 billion in assets, announced that they have chosen MTN Ghana Mobile Money and Mobile Transactions of Zambia to participate in their Consumer Education for Branchless Banking (CEBB) program.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), Kenya’s central banking authority, recently granted Small and Micro Enterprise Programme (SMEP), a nonprofit financial institution established in Kenya in 1999, a license that will allow SMEP to take deposits from the public. Continue Reading »

Recently, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an organization under the World Bank Group that has been a significant source of financing for the microfinance industry, agreed to confer to three microinsurance projects in East Africa a grant of USD 4.1 million, which is expected to allow 35,000 farmers and 5,000 livestock herders in Rwanda and Kenya to protect their crops and livestock from natural disasters. Continue Reading »