India has become a supporting member of CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), a US-based nonprofit policy and research agency. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, and the nonprofit Qatar Development Bank (QDB) have launched the SME Toolkit, an online platform, in Qatar [1]. Continue Reading »

Accion, a US-based nonprofit microfinance organization, recently announced that it has launched Venture Lab, a USD 10 million investment vehicle that will provide seed capital to financial inclusion start-ups across the world. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has provided a five-year loan of RUB 300 million (USD 10 million) to Russia-based NBD Bank to support small businesses in small company towns in central Russia [1]. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, reportedly plans to invest up to USD 25 million in India-based private equity firm BanyanTree Capital Advisors Limited, and investor in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India [1]. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, has invested USD 10 million in equity in Chilean insurance company Aseguradora Magallanes (AM) in an effort to expand the availability of insurance products, such as life and agribusiness insurance, to owners of under-served small businesses in Chile [1]. Continue Reading »

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a multilateral institution based in the Philippines, will provide a loan facility of CNY 130 million (USD 20.6 million) to unspecified partner banks to “help them build their wholesale lending capacity to microcredit companies” in central and western China [1]. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, is working to encourage the provision of “mobile financial services to underserved populations in remote areas of Latin America and the Caribbean” [1]. Continue Reading »

La Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, a Spanish university based in Madrid, is accepting applications for a graduate program titled Master in Microcredit for Development. Continue Reading »

BRAC (formerly the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee), a Bangladeshi nonprofit development organization, reportedly has announced plans to expand “pro-poor development projects in health, education, microfinance, farming and livestock sector” in Tanzania within an unspecified timeframe [1]. Continue Reading »

Participants in last week’s United Nations (UN) Global Human Development Forum in Istanbul, Turkey, have adopted an “Istanbul Declaration” that calls for unified action against global social inequities and environmental degradation at the UN “Rio + 20” Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in Brazil in June 2012. Continue Reading »

NGO CARE Rwanda, a branch of Swiss relief agency CARE International (CARE), reportedly stated that the amount of rural informal savings have reached approximately RWF 1.9 billion (USD 3.18 million) as part of its Voluntary Savings and Loan (VSL) scheme targeting Rwanda’s unbanked population [1]. Continue Reading »

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a development institution of the Japanese government, has signed a subscription agreement with the First MicroFinance Bank Limited-Pakistan (FMFB-P) to invest PKR 240 million (USD 2.6 million) in the microbank to assist in FMFB-P’s expansion of microfinance operations in Pakistan [1] [2]. Continue Reading »

Freedom from Hunger, a US-based non-governmental organization that aims to alleviate poverty, and Oikocredit, a Dutch cooperative investment fund, plan to partner with six microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the Andes mountains of Ecuador and Peru to implement Freedom from Hunger’s microfinance and health protection model. Continue Reading »

SKS Microfinance Limited (SKS), a non-banking finance company (NBFC) regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), reportedly has raised INR 321 crore (USD 63 million) from four undisclosed banks “by selling securities backed by pools of loans to woman borrowers outside its home state of Andhra Pradesh” [1]. Continue Reading »

The United Nations’ (UN’s) Global Human Development Forum, which has begun in Istanbul, Turkey, will involve the discussion of social justice and environmental protection issues to be negotiated at the UN “Rio + 20” Conference on Sustainable Development, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012. Continue Reading »

The Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV), a nonprofit network of 15 “values-based” banks, released a report it commissioned at its recent annual conference in the Canadian city of Vancouver, British Columbia, suggesting that values-based banks (VBBs), banks that prioritize social progress, are financially stronger than mainstream banks. Continue Reading »

Event Name: Sixth Annual Penn Microfinance Conference “Microfinance 2.0: An Agenda for Revival”

Event Date: March 24, 2012

Event Location: Jon M Huntsman Hall, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 3730 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Continue Reading »