MICROFINANCE EVENT: 25th MFC Annual Conference: Thriving Together; May 24-25, 2023; Budva, Montenegro

This event is organized with the goal of addressing evolving challenges such as climate change, political instability and the “uncertain future of work.” The agenda includes sessions such as: (1) 25th Anniversary Time Travel: Lessons From the Past That Point to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Agricover Credit Raises $9m for Agricultural SMEs in Romania via Symbiotics Bond Issue

Agricover Credit IFN, a non-banking financial institution in Romania that provides agribusinesses with agricultural inputs, technology and finance, recently partnered with Symbiotics Investments, a Switzerland-based investor focused on smaller businesses in low- and middle- income countries, to raise USD 9 million via a bond issue. Symbiotics structured the transaction to be

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EIB Lends Credo Bank $10m for MSMEs in Georgia

The EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB) recently agreed to loan Credo Bank, a commercial bank in Georgia, GEL 28.8 million (USD 10 million) to expand its financing of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The floating-rate loan is synthetic, meaning it is denominated in euros but

MICROFINANCE EVENT: 3rd CIS Islamic Banking and Finance Forum; March 14-16, 2023; Tashkent, Uzbekistan 

This event offers a one-day summit on March 14 and a two-day workshop on March 15 and 16, all with the aim of promoting Islamic finance in the 10 member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The summit offers sessions titled Islamic Finance and Financial Inclusion; Investment

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: SentBe Launches Remittances from US to 50 Countries

The South Korean money-transfer service SentBe recently announced the official launch of its service allowing individuals to send remittances from the US to Australia, Canada, Nigeria, member nations of the EU and 24 additional countries in Eurasia. The firm also serves individuals sending payments from

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Loans KICB $7m for MSME Financing in Kyrgyzstan

The multilateral European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently lent the local-currency equivalent of USD 7 million to Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank (KICB) to finance micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Kyrgyzstan. The loan is part of

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Offering AgriAcademy Graduate-level Education Courses in Ukraine to Boost Agriculture Sector

The multilateral European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is rolling out a remote, free-of-charge learning platform called AgriAcademy with a target of educating 10,000 agri-food workers in Ukraine. The goal is

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Lends $525k to Smart Credit for Microfinance in Moldova

Smart Credit, a microfinance institution (MFI) operating 12 branch locations in Moldova, recently accepted a local-currency loan approximately equivalent to USD 525,000 from the Luxembourg-based Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation. Founded in 2010, Smart Credit offers

SPECIAL REPORT: Increasing Financial Access for Women with Better Data, Mentoring, Staff Training, “Gender-smart” Audits

e-MFP logoSilke Mufflemann of Frankfurt School of Finance and Management described the common differences between women-owned micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and those owned by men during a session at this month’s European Microfinance Week. On average, women owners are more cautious regarding business decisions and want more information before accepting a loan. In lower-income countries, women often have had less access to education and are less confident in their financial and business management skills. They also tend to have more limited social and business networks from which to draw information and other resources. For all these reasons, Ms Mufflemann argues, it is key that financial services providers (FSPs) connect women with non-financial support services.

Bettina Wittlinger, also from the Frankfurt School, discussed how to determine whether a FSP is “gender-smart.” Among the factors is

SPECIAL REPORT: Nurturing Young Entrepreneurs with Revenue-based Repayments, Accounting Apps, Bank Guarantees

e-MFP logoIn a conversation during the last day of European Microfinance Week, Daniel Buchbinder of Guatemala-based Alterna described his NGO’s fee-based support for young entrepreneurs. Upon Alterna’s founding in 2010, its goal was to help its clients’ businesses develop into more stable operations that could qualify for funding. The NGO had served 2,000 firms by 2015, but funders were not investing in many of Alterna’s clients. Hence the NGO launched Catalyzer, a fund that lends small enterprises USD 10,000 to USD 50,000 on a collateral-free basis. Terms range up to five years, and repayments start at 3 percent of revenue and range up to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Quona Capital Closes Fund III with $332m for Fintech in Africa, Asia, Latin America

Quona Capital, an investor in financial inclusion that has offices in 10 countries, recently announced the close of its Fund III, with this latest fundraising round engaging most of Fund III’s ongoing investors and 20 new ones. As a result, the fund has a total of USD 332 million in commitments, and the firm has USD

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EU Guaranteeing $113m to Support $490m in Lending by EBRD to MSMEs in Eastern Europe, North Africa, Western Asia

In partnership with the multilateral European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the EU recently agreed to guarantee up to EUR 115 million (USD 113 million) in loans distributed by retail financial services providers (FSPs) to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in selected countries of

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Citing “Impatience with the Pace,” Calvert Impact Restructures to Boost Microfinance, Green Investment

US-based NGO Calvert Impact Capital is rebranding itself as Calvert Impact, a name it has given to the NGO that will hold a group of subsidiaries that will continue to serve retail investors, institutional investors and financial advisors. CEO Jennifer Pryce stated, “We found that our original organizational framework sometimes prevented us from going bigger and bolder…. Our strategy reflects our impatience with the pace of adoption across the capital markets. We…need to double down on what we know works in and for communities.”

Calvert Impact subsidiaries will continue with the organization’s past activities, such as offering Community Investment Notes in denominations as small as

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Impact Asset Management’s Dual Return Vision Microfinance Funds Lend to MFIs in India, China

Impact Asset Management (I-AM), a unit of Austria’s C-Quadrat Investment Group, recently announced it has disbursed loans totaling USD 12 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in seven countries through its Dual Return Funds. MFIs in China and India received “among the highest volumes,” but the other countries have not been announced. The names of the MFIs and the amounts invested

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Loans $1.9m to ACF for Microfinance in Kazakhstan

Asian Credit Fund (ACF), a rural microfinance institution (MFI) in Kazakhstan, recently borrowed approximately USD 2 million from the Luxembourg-based Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation. Founded in 1997 by the US-based NGO Mercy Corps, ACF provides

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Loans $1.9m to Mikra for Microfinance in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, which is headquartered in Luxembourg, has reported issuing a loan of EUR 1.9 million (USD 1.9 million) to the microfinance institution (MFI) Mikra of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mikra, whose head office is in the city of Sarajevo, seeks to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Lends $1.2m to Microfinance Institution Microinvest of Moldova

The Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg,
has recently announced it has provided a loan of EUR 1.2 million (USD 1.2 million) to Microinvest, a Moldova-based microfinance institution. Established in 2003 and majority-held by the Balkan Financial Sector Equity Fund, Microinvest offers