The government of the Sudanese state of North Darfur has announced that it has allocated SDG 27 million (USD 10.1 million) for microfinance projects to finance winter agriculture in the state. Continue Reading »

Four microinsurance fellowship positions based in Africa have been made available through the Microinsurance Innovation Facility of the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO). Continue Reading »

Switzerland’s responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility) recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made loans amounting to USD 8.2 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) FINCA DRC of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bandhan of India and Opportunity Microcredit Romania (OMRO). Continue Reading »

By Sabrina Régent, Sophie Chauliac and Benoit Rigollet; published by PlaNet Finance and PlaNet Guarantee; 2011; 119 pages; available at:
http://admin.planetfinancegroup.org/upload/medias/fr/pfgroup-market_study_microinsurance_2011.pdf Continue Reading »

In an article on the website of MicroEnsure, a subsidiary of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, Kate Waiganjo, MicroEnsure’s Country Manager in Kenya, discusses the issue of mandatory loan insurance. Continue Reading »

Event Name: African Mobile Money Research Conference (AMMREC): Evidence of Financial Inclusion through Mobile Technology

Event Date: April 2 – April 3, 2012

Event Location: Nairobi, Kenya Continue Reading »

Roughly 1,400 farmers recently received USD 9,230 each after drought caused crop failure in Kenya, as part of the microinsurance program Kilimo Salama. Continue Reading »

MicroEnsure, a subsidiary of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, has teamed up with mobile phone operator Tigo Tanzania and microinsurance service provider Milvik to offer Tigo Bima, a new microinsurance product being offered to Tigo clients in Tanzania. Continue Reading »

Jeffrey Sachs, director of the United Nations Millennium Villages Project, was recently interviewed by the US-based CNN news provider regarding the rise of mobile phone ownership in impoverished areas throughout Africa. Continue Reading »

iTrends Software, a Nigerian software company based in Lagos, is accepting applications for free licenses to use its financial management program, iBanker, which will be made available to twelve Nigerian microfinance institutions. These microfinance institutions will not have to pay software license fees but will be responsible for training and implementation costs.

Continue Reading »

EB-ACCION Savings and Loans (EB-ASL), a Ghanaian microfinance institution, and ACCION Microfinance Bank (AMfB) of Nigeria, have recently won awards commemorating their contributions to providing microfinance services to low-income entrepreneurs. Both organizations count EcoBank, a Togo-based banking group, and US-based nonprofit ACCION International as investors. Continue Reading »

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), an agency that provides investment capital and technical advice to developing countries, has launched a request for applications for the expansion of its MicroLead program, which seeks to support financial service providers and technical service providers in expanding the availability of savings services to new markets in Sub-Saharan Africa [1]. Continue Reading »

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 »