Several financial institutions in Uganda including Centenary Bank, a Uganda-based commercial bank specializing in rural finance; Opportunity Uganda, a subsidiary of US-based nonprofit Opportunity International; and PostBank Uganda, a government-owned non-bank credit institution, reportedly have partnered with Uptime Solutions Limited, a Uganda-based for-profit company providing technology solutions for financial services and enterprise development, to deploy mobile banking vans to extend financial services to more residents, mainly in rural trading centers. Continue Reading »

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), the county’s central bank, is reportedly planning to draft a policy framework to regulate the microinsurance industry. Continue Reading »

“The Business Case for Life Microinsurance in the Philippines: Initial Findings;” by Richard Koven, Michael J. McCord, John Wipf and Emily Zimmerman; published by the MicroInsurance Centre; October 2012; 9 pages; available at:
http://www.microinsurancecentre.org/milk-project/milk-docs/doc_details/890-milk-brief-14-the-business-case-for-life-microinsurance-in-the-philippines-initial-findings.html

Continue Reading »

By William O. Maddocks; Commissioned by the Global Microcredit Summit; 2011; 31 pages; available at: http://www.globalmicrocreditsummit2011.org/userfiles/file/Workshop%20Papers/W_%20Maddocks%20-%20How%20Can%20Microfinance%20Programs%20Help%20the%20Struggle%20Against%20Social%20Problems%20Such.pdf

This paper presents an analysis of the role of microfinance institutions in helping to solve “seemingly intractable social problems” including begging, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS and discrimination against the disabled, all while maintaining financial sustainability. Continue Reading »

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency, has provided a grant of USD 925,000 to the Republic of Sudan to be invested in the Agricultural Bank of Sudan Microfinance Initiative (ABSUMI), a creation of the government-owned Agricultural Bank of Sudan. Continue Reading »

Event Name: 6th African Microfinance Conference: “Financial Inclusion: From Policy to Practice”

Event Date: August 13 – 15, 2013

Event Location: International Convention Centre, Durban, South Africa Continue Reading »

Event Name: Mobile Money Africa Conference & Expo 2013

Event Date: May 27 – 29, 2013

Event Location: Hyatt Regency Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa Continue Reading »

Qatar-based Silatech, a social enterprise that seeks to promote youth entrepreneurship and employment in the Arab world, and the American Refugee Committee (ARC), a US-based nonprofit that provides humanitarian assistance in Haiti, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, are partnering with Kaah Express, a US-based for-profit money transfer company, to introduce a new microfinance program in Somalia.  Continue Reading »

The federal government of Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the government of the Nigerian state of Borno and several other organizations reportedly have launched a financial inclusion initiative that will provide financial services to the un-banked at post offices. Continue Reading »

By Michael J. McCord; published by the Microfinance Centre for Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States, the Microinsurance Centre and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); 2012; 124 pages; available at: http://www.ifad.org/ruralfinance/wrmf/manual.pdf

In this manual, Mr. McCord proposes a “systematic new-product development process” for the microinsurance market. Continue Reading »

Musoni Kenya Limited, a microfinance institution based in Nairobi, reportedly will offer solely cashless lending services to its customers in an effort to increase efficiency and address security issues related to in-person transactions. Continue Reading »

“Banking on Change: Breaking the Barriers to Financial Inclusion;” published by Plan UK, Barclays and Care International UK; January 2013; 28 pages; available at: http://www.careinternational.org.uk/research-centre/microfinance/251-banking-on-change-breaking-barriers-to-financial-inclusion Continue Reading »

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the country’s central bank, and the National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), a trade group of 820 microfinance banks (MFBs) in Nigeria, recently agreed to establish a technical committee to address the recapitalization and other steps that some MFBs must undertake to comply with the Revised Microfinance Policy Framework that took effect January 1. Continue Reading »

The New Urban Finance Facility for Africa (NUF), an impact investing facility that supports housing microfinance, is investing USD 100 million to fund microfinance housing schemes in Africa and the Middle East, with initial investments going to Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and the West Bank. Continue Reading »

Airtel, an Indian telecommunications company, reportedly has extended its mobile banking service, Airtel Money, in Madagascar by making the service available in 170 post offices in the country. Continue Reading »

Event Name: South Africa Investment Forum 2013

Event Date: December 3-4, 2013

Event Location: Cape Town, South Africa Continue Reading »

The Sanad Fund for MSME (micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises), an initiative of the German development bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank that invests in financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa, recently agreed to disburse a senior loan facility of USD 2 million to Palestine for Credit and Development, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Palestine’s West Bank that is known as Faten in Arabic. Continue Reading »

Kenya-based mobile operator Safaricom recently increased the cost of transferring funds via M-Pesa, a Kenyan mobile money service, in response to a new government tax on money transfers. Continue Reading »