Kiva, a US-based, nonprofit crowdfunding platform for microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently launched its World Refugee Fund to raise money online from individuals for on-lending to institutions serving cross-border refugees and people who have been internally displaced.
Category: Investment Funds
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Targeting Rural MSEs, EFSE Lends Local-currency Equivalent of $6m to Opportunity Bank Serbia
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle, recently announced it will loan RSD 615 million (USD 6 million) to Opportunity Bank Serbia (OBS), a branch of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, “to support small businesses, especially in rural areas.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: SoftBank Pays $1.4b for 20% Equity Stake in Paytm, Provider of Digital Payment Services in India
Paytm, an Indian electronic payment and e-commerce company with 220 million users, recently raised INR 90 billion (USD 1.4 billion) in equity by selling nearly 20 percent of its shares to SoftBank Group, a Japanese conglomerate operating in the technology and energy sectors.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BIMAS of Kenya, AMZ of Zambia, PAIDEK of DR Congo Borrow $2m from Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has committed to extending the following local-currency loans in phases over three years: the equivalent of USD 838,000 to Business Initiatives and Management Assistance Services (BIMAS) of Kenya, the equivalent of USD 582,000 to Agora Microfinance Zambia (AMZ), and the equivalent of USD 582,000 to Promotion et Appui aux Initiatives de Développement Economique du Kivu (PAIDEK) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EFSE Funding $2.3m in Microenterprise Loans in Bosnia and Herzegovina via Mi-Bospo, Half in Rural Areas
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle, recently announced it will loan EUR 2 million (USD 2.3 million) to Microcredit Foundation Mi-Bospo, a non profit microfinance institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) Preparing $8m Women’s Livelihood Bond Issue to Fund Microfinance, Vocational Training in Southeast Asia
Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX), a Singapore-based facilitator of investment in social enterprises, recently announced that it has raised USD 8 million via a “Women’s Livelihood Bond” issue to support women-owned businesses in Southeast Asia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat’s Dual Return Vision Microfinance Funds Lend $10m During June
C-Quadrat Asset Management, an arm of Austrian fund manager C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that its Dual Return Vision Microfinance funds extended loans totaling USD 10 million during June.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: COMUBA of Benin, COOPEC SIFA of Togo Borrow $1m from Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GGAMF)
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has committed to extending the following loans in phases over three years: the equivalent of USD 615,000 to La Coopérative Des Membres Unis Bethel Actions (COMUBA) in Benin and the equivalent of USD 350,000 to Coopérative d’Epargne et de Crédit des Soutien aux Initiatives de Femmes pour l’Autopromotion (COOPEC SIFA) in Togo.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GGAMF) Loans $1.7m in Kyrgyzstan to First MicroCredit Company (FMCC), Oxus
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has committed to extending loans totaling the following amounts in phases over three years: the euro equivalent of USD 1.15 million to First MicroCredit Company (FMCC) and the euro equivalent of USD 574,000 to Oxus Kyrgyzstan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GGAMF) Loans $6m to Proximity, BRAC, Vision Fund for Microlending in Myanmar
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has committed to extending loans totaling the following amounts in phases over three years: the euro equivalent of USD 2.96 million to Myanmar’s Proximity Finance; the euro equivalent of USD 1.60 million to BRAC Myanmar; and the euro equivalent to USD 1.37 million to VisionFund Myanmar.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: The Netherlands’ FMO Issues $568m Bond to Finance Green, Financial Inclusion Investments
The Netherlands Development Finance Company, a government-backed institution also known by its Dutch acronym FMO, recently completed a fixed-rate bond issue totaling EUR 500 million (USD 568 million) to fund projects including “climate change mitigation (renewable energy and energy efficiency) and climate change adaptation, as well as inclusive finance projects (microfinance and [small and medium-size enterprise] financing).”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Raises $18.5m for Georgia’s TBC Bank via MSME Bond Platform
Tbilisi Business Center (TBC) Bank, Georgia-based commercial bank, recently announced that it has raised GEL 45 million (USD 18.5 million) from one or more unidentified investors via the MSME bond platform of Symbiotics SA, a Swiss investment services provider focused on micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
SPECIAL REPORT: Who Is Responsible in a Microfinance Equity Exit?
Now that three years have passed since CGAP and the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) at Accion published “The Art of the Responsible Exit in Microfinance Equity Sales,” this subject deserves a re-visit and perhaps expansion of the paper’s general principles into industry guidelines.
As the financial inclusion and impact investment industries mature and grow, so does the issue of how investors committed to advancing financial inclusion can “exit responsibly” from
MICROFINANCE EVENT: SRI Conference on Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing; November 1-3, 2017; San Diego, California, USA
Event Name: The SRI Conference on Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing
Event Date: November 1 – November 3, 2017
Event Location: Hotel Del Coronado; San Diego, California, USA
Summary of Event: The theme of this event is “All In For Impact.” It will focus on concrete ways investing can positively impact social and economic spheres. The conference program offers plenary sessions focused on investment and practice management issues, shareholder advocacy strategies, and community impact investment opportunities. In addition, the organizers will present the Moskowitz Prize and the SRI Service Award.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MIF Invests $5m in Nxtp Labs Fund for Tech Firms Seeking Social Impact in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay
The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) Group, recently announced it will invest USD 5 million in equity in a fund launched by Nxtp Labs, an Argentine supporter of technology start-ups in areas such as (fintech), education (edtech), and reducing negative environmental impacts (cleantech).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat’s Dual Return Vision Microfinance Funds Expand Lending to Myanmar
C-Quadrat Asset Management, an arm of Austrian fund manager C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that its Dual Return Vision Microfinance funds in May issued a loan in Myanmar for the first time.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC, FMO, SBI-FMO Invest $22m in Equity in Sri Lanka’s Sanasa Development Bank
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group; the government-backed Netherlands Development Finance Company (which is also known by its Dutch acronym FMO); and Singapore-based SBI-FMO Emerging Asia Financial Sector Fund recently placed equity investments totaling USD 22 million in Sri Lankan-based Sanasa Development Bank (SDB Bank).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Solomon Islands’ National Provident Fund Launches youSave Retirement Savings Plan for Self-employed With Support from UN’s PFIP
The National Provident Fund, a government-backed retirement trust in the Solomon Islands, recently launched youSave, a savings plan designed to help self-employed islanders establish and contribute to retirement accounts as do “formally employed” citizens.