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 »

Swiss Re, a global reinsurer, announced during the recent 2011 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting its commitment to provide insurance against cholera for Haitian women entrepreneurs and an “insurance for work” program intended to help farmers in Senegal maintain food and income security amidst climate change. Continue Reading »

The Kenyan office of MicroEnsure, a subsidiary of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, is employing M-Pesa, a mobile money service in Kenya, and FrontlineSMS:Credit, a nonprofit software provider specializing in mobile financial services, to offer microinsurance policies independent of savings and credit groups. Continue Reading »

In a recent statement, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based development finance institution, announced that it has signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the African Development Bank (AfDB), a multilateral financial institution based in Tunisia, and the Islamic Development Bank, a development finance institution based in Saudi Arabia, to outline how the institutions would cooperate in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region as EBRD extends its operation in the region to support the emerging Arab democracies [1]. Continue Reading »

The consulting arm of Indian development bank National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS), recently announced a training visit to India for African delegates entitled “India-Africa Agrifinance Confluence”. Continue Reading »

The MasterCard Foundation, a Canada-based philanthropic organization that supports projects in the microfinance and education sectors, has agreed to grant USD 23.5 million to the MicroLead program, a financial inclusion initiative that was designed by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), an investment facility intended to encourage private sector development. Continue Reading »

Mr Ahmed El Bardai, founder and chief executive of the Egyptian for-profit microfinance institution (MFI) Reefy, expects the country’s next government to focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to boost the economy that is facing a huge budget deficit and declining gross domestic product [1]. Continue Reading »