The Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (OGEF), a debt fund of the Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI), recently lent USD 4 million to Bboxx, a UK-based solar energy installation and financing firm that is active in Africa and Asia. The loan proceeds are slated to help Bboxx meet its agreement with
Category: Africa
SPECIAL REPORT: Financial Inclusion for Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDPs) – Part 2: Regulatory Barriers, Segmenting Needs
(This 
is the companion feature to an earlier piece on a European Microfinance Week conversation on serving refugees.)
Swati Mehta Dhawan of Germany’s Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt argued for building up legal frameworks to allow forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) to escape “infinite limbo” by accessing documentation for identification purposes, working legally and integrating with host populations. She offered the example of a person displaced to Kenya, who has been there for 15 years without being allowed to work. Hans-Martin Zademach, also of Catholic University, noted many are “stuck in survival mode,” more in need of a reliable income source than methods for managing money.
However, Ms Dhawan explained that FDPs’ needs for financial services often increase as years go by. A common trajectory is
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Gender Data in Financial Inclusion,” Published by CGAP’s FinEquity
This brief argues that research and analysis of sex-disaggregated data can allow stakeholders to accelerate the financial inclusion of women, bridging the gaps in women’s account ownership and finance for women-owned micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Building on its 2018 Data Bootcamp on
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IKEA Foundation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, USAID Invest $30m in Aceli Africa, Guarantor of Loans to Agricultural SMEs
The IKEA Foundation, an affiliate of the Sweden-founded IKEA group of furniture companies; the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) recently made a joint investment of USD 30 million in Aceli Africa, a US-based nonprofit. Aceli encourages lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the agriculture sector, typically by depositing
SPECIAL REPORT: During Pandemic, VSLAs Support Members Struggling with Barriers to Income, Education, Gender-based Violence, Lack of PPE
During a European Microfinance Week session on village savings and loan associations (VSLAs), speakers from several affiliates of Switzerland-based CARE International described their organizations’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic set in, they surveyed members of VSLAs, which commonly include 30 women, in various formats to learn how they were adjusting to the pandemic and what support they need.
Maryam Garba Usman of CARE Nigeria described her organization’s survey of 100 VSLAs, largely via an interactive voice response telephone system. The team also used a mobile app to distribute information on COVID-19 and a range of gender-related issues. Most groups continued to meet in person, incorporating social distancing. In addition to accessing financial services, VSLA members addressed problems such as gender-based violence, child marriage, interruptions to children’s education and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nasira Guaranteeing $35m in Digital Lending by Sasfin to SMEs Owned by Migrants, Women, Youth in South Africa from Emergency COVID-19 Facility Funded by EU, FMO
The Netherlands Development Finance Company, a public-private partnership also known by its Dutch acronym FMO, recently selected Sasfin Bank of South Africa to be the first beneficiary of an emergency risk-sharing facility intended to counter the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The facility is part of FMO’s Nasira fund, which guarantees bank loans to
SPECIAL REPORT: Protecting Consumers, Tracking Business Cash Flows, Cutting Costs for Digital Microfinance
During a session entitled “Digital Credit Beyond Consumer Finance” at European Microfinance Week 2020, Michael Rothe, the co-founder of UK-based Flow, argued that there are both good and bad players in digital lending. He said that “most development finance institutions think digital credit is dangerous” and that “because providers are not being differentiated, Flow is being lumped in with” consumer finance. In fact, Flow is a fintech that lends to businesses only. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some Flow customers – many of whom operate shops that offer mobile-money services as a sideline – had to close down due to government restrictions on travel and trade. However, those that remained open saw an uptick in transactions. This is partially because governments encouraged the use of mobile money in an effort to minimize virus transmission. While other lenders stopped operating during the early days of the pandemic, Flow continued to lend, resulting in brand loyalty that Mr Rothe describes as very high. The ratio of the firm’s portfolio at risk peaked at
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “The Landscape for Social Investments in Southern Africa;” by Dr Frank Aswani, Nancy Kairo, Oluwatoyin Adegbite-Moore, Rachel Keeler; Published by African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA)
This report presents research on “social” investors in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The authors define social investment as “financial and non-financial capital deployed according to rigorous investment principles to generate positive social and environmental impact, with varying financial return expectations.” The dataset draws on
SPECIAL REPORT: Local Market Data, Resilience During Pandemic, Securitization, Land Title Systems Enable Housing Microfinance, Micro-mortgages
During European Microfinance Week 2020, Maria Claudia Rojas of the Netherlands’ Triple Jump described her firm’s experience managing the MicroBuild Fund it created with US-based Habitat for Humanity in 2012. Compared with Triple Jump’s portfolio as a whole, MicroBuild has maintained higher asset quality, and that margin of superiority has doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lucie Astier Such of the French government’s AFD explained her agency’s role in providing technical assistance, loans and data to support housing finance in developing countries. Part of this effort involves connecting households and microfinance institutions (MFIs) with reputable builders and suppliers of construction materials. One tool for this purpose is
SPECIAL REPORT: Working with Central Banks to Extend Microfinance to Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDPs)
At Thursday’s European Microfinance Week session on serving forcibly displaced persons (FDPs), Mariam Jemila Zahari of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), a Malaysia-based network of financial regulators from 90 countries, described her organization’s work in Afghanistan, Mauritania and Rwanda. The Central Bank of Mauritania, for example, used AFI’s peer-learning model to
SPECIAL REPORT: Danone, Incofin, Water.org: WASH Sector is Already Investible
During one of the Friday sessions of European Microfinance Week 2020, Dina Pons of Belgium-based Incofin Investment Management explained a partnership with France-based food company Danone through which the organizations are building a 10-year equity fund to invest in expanding access to clean water in developing countries. Since 2007, the Danone Communities arm of Danone – mostly funded by its employees – has invested in access to drinking water on a proof-of-concept basis. Now Danone believes the sector has matured from the incubation stage to the investible stage. The company selected Incofin to help it invest in proven models, with a technical assistance component and monitoring of factors such as affordability, limiting plastic usage and
SPECIAL REPORT: Resilience Among Microfinance Institutions? “Region of Crisis” Relatively Stable; “Moratorium Veil” Yet to Lift
As part of the opening day of European Microfinance Week, Mohammed Khaled of the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation stated that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the microfinance sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) so far have not been as bad as was feared earlier in 2020. Most of the large microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the region have maintained 30-day portfolio-at-risk (PAR) ratios below 4 percent. Mr Khaled said, “Among leading MFIs, PAR did not rise as high as expected. We thought [it might rise to] 10 percent to 20 percent, but many MFIs have kept things under control.” Part of the reason for this, he believes is that “this is
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CommBanane from Dimagi, SIDA, UNCDF Facilitates Digital Loans to Cooperatives of Banana Farmers from Baobab Sénégal
Dimagi, a US-based provider of technical assistance to development organizations, recently developed CommBanane, a digital platform providing financial solutions to small-scale banana farmers via cooperatives in Senegal. CommBanane serves as a “data tracking system” for agricultural production and can be accessed by farmers to apply for
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Charm Impact Raises $360k in Equity to Expand Lending for Solar Energy in West Africa, India
Charm Impact, a UK-based lender to renewable-energy firms in developing countries, recently raised GBP 274,000 (USD 360,000) in equity financing through the UK-based crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. Charm plans to use the funds to scale up its operations
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Cameroon to Encourage Islamic Financial Services, Microfinance Institutions to Transform into Banks as Part of 10-year National Development Strategy
The government of Cameroon recently released its 2020-2030 National Development Strategy, which includes plans to expand banking, microfinance and Islamic financial services. To boost the number of banks in the country from 16 to as many as 30, the government will engage
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Stanbic IBTC of Nigeria to Borrow $75m from CDC Group for On-lending in Sectors with Significant SME Supply Chains
The CDC Group, a development finance institution owned by the UK government’s Department for International Development, recently agreed to lend
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Ghana’s Ministry of Finance to Launch Development Bank of Ghana with $250m from World Bank’s IDA to Promote MSME Lending, Including to 2k Enterprises Led by Women
The International Development Association (IDA), a unit of the World Bank, recently agreed to provide USD 250 million for Ghana’s Ministry of Finance to create the Development Bank of Ghana (DBG). DBG is slated to provide “long-term wholesale financing, credit guarantees, and other services” benefitting 10,000 micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) – including 2,000 that are led by women – that are active in agribusiness, manufacturing and unspecified “high-value services.” DBG also is to create
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: KfW, BMZ Investing $47m in Farmers, Processors in Africa, Latin America via Debt Fund Managed by Incofin: Agri-Finance Liquidity Facility
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is also known by its German acronym BMZ, recently launched the Agri-Finance Liquidity Facility (ALF), a debt facility of EUR 40 million (USD 46.7 million), to support the “sustainable agri-food value chain” in