MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bankingly, Woodcore Partner to Help FSPs in Africa to Offer Digital Financial Services

Bankingly, a Uruguay-based company that helps smaller financial services providers (FSPs) implement digital financial services, and Woodcore, a provider of core banking software with offices in Nigeria and the US, recently partnered on an effort to help microfinance institutions and other FSPs in Africa to add

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: 24 Education Technology Startups in Kenya, Nigeria Joining Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship

The Canada-based Mastercard Foundation recently announced that 24 educational technology (edtech) startups in Kenya and Nigeria have joined the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship program, which promotes “technology in learning and teaching to benefit learners, education and edtech innovators across the continent” of Africa. The Kenyan inductees are listed at:

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BIO Loans $15m to AMK Microfinance of Cambodia

BIO, a government-owned institution also known as the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries, recently loaned USD 15 million to Cambodia’s Angkor Microheranhvatho Kampuchea (AMK). AMK provides individuals as well as micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises with

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Pro Mujer Borrows $2m from Aequitas Impact Fund to Uplift Women-owned Businesses in Nicaragua

The Canadian NGO Desjardins International Development (DID) recently lent USD 2 million from its Aequitas Impact Fund to the Nicaragua-based unit of Pro Mujer, a US-based NGO that supports women and their businesses with health, training,

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Oxus Kyrgyzstan Borrowing $1.6m from Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation for Microfinance Lending

Oxus Kyrgyzstan, one of three microfinance institution (MFI) affiliates of the France-based Oxus Development Network, recently borrowed local currency approximately equivalent to USD 1.6 million from Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, which has offices in France and Luxembourg. Like its partner MFIs in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, Oxus Kyrgyzstan seeks to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Invest International Places $11m in Equity Fund uMunthu II to Support Rapidly Expanding SMEs in Africa

Netherlands-based Invest International recently committed EUR 10 million (USD 10.9 million) to the uMunthu II equity fund of Netherlands-based Goodwell Investments and Nigeria-based Alitheia Capital. The goal of uMunthu II is to generate market-rate returns by helping fast-growing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund Lending $9m to LOLC to Finance MSMEs in Africa

The German subsidiary of Verdant Capital recently agreed to lend USD 9 million from the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund to support subsidiaries of Sri Lanka’s Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC) Holdings that offer savings and loans in Africa. These institutions, which serve Democratic Republic of Congo,

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FSPs in Ecuador to Evaluate Role of Bias in Financial Access for Women-led MSMEs with Support from IDB Invest, RFD

Red de Instituciones Financieras de Desarrollo (RFD), a network of 53 banks, cooperatives and nonprofit financial services providers (FSPs) in Ecuador, recently agreed to partner with IDB Invest, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, to offer RFD members advisory services relating to boosting their financing of female-led micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). RFD will distribute an online survey designed by the IDB Group to address

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: I&M Bank Enables Spenn Mobile App Users to Send Money to Financial Institutions Across Rwanda 

Norway’s Spenn Technology recently expanded its partnership with the Rwandan unit of Kenya’s Investments & Mortgages (I&M) Bank to allow users of the Spenn mobile application to send money to any financial services provider in Rwanda, including banks and competing mobile money services. The app’s other features include

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Loans $760k to Microfinance Institution Oxus Tajikistan

Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, which has offices in France and Luxembourg, recently lent Oxus Tajikistan, one of three microfinance institution (MFI) affiliates of the France-based Oxus Development Network, local currency approximately equivalent to USD 760,000. The purpose is to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Reefy Microfinance Borrows $6.5m from EBRD for Youth-led MSMEs in Egypt

Reefy Microfinance Enterprise Services, an Egypt-based microfinance institution (MFI), recently agreed to accept a loan of EGP 200 million (USD 6.5 million) from the UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The loan is part of EBRD’s

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Access Bank Botswana Borrows $20m from OPEC Fund for MSMEs, 30% Earmarked for Women

Access Bank Botswana, a subsidiary of the Nigeria-based Access Bank Group, recently agreed to borrow USD 20 million from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund for International Development to on-lend to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), with USD 6 million of the total

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: TASC Borrows $3.5m from Spark+ Africa to Fund 90k Cookstoves, Reduce Carbon Emissions in Rural Zambia

Spark+ Africa Fund, a partnership of Switzerland-based Enabling Qapital and the Dutch NGO Stichting Modern Cooking (SMC), recently lent USD 3.5 million to The African Stove Company (TASC), which is based in Jersey, to sell 90,000 cookstoves in rural Zambia. Spark+ Africa raised the funds from the sale of “several million tons

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Satya of India Borrowing $35m from FMO, Finnfund for Microfinance for Rural Women, Youth – Including to Enable Green Transition

Satya MicroCapital, an India-based microfinance institution (MFI), recently borrowed the local-currency equivalent of USD 25 million from the Dutch development bank Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) and USD 10 million from Finnfund, a development finance institution controlled by the government of Finland. The funding is intended to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sun King Raises $130m for Pay-as-you-go Solar in Kenya, Citi is Sole Arranger

With the goal of expanding access to off-grid solar energy in Kenya, the US-based solar products firm Sun King recently won a loan securitization denominated in Kenyan shillings equivalent to USD 130 million. Among the private participants are

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EIB Loans $214m to Sicredi for Solar Panels for Households, SMEs in Brazil

Banco Cooperativo Sicredi, a Brazil-based financial cooperative owned by its 6.5 million members, recently agreed to borrow EUR 200 million (USD 214 million) from the EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB). Sicredi plans to use the capital to equip houses and