By Jennifer Powers and Barbara Magnoni of EA Consultants, Published by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), April 2010, 100 pages, available at: http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getDocument.aspx?DOCNUM=35282406

The authors of this study focused on the differences between male and female entrepreneurs in six countries in Latin America: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, Bolivia, Mexico and Peru. Continue Reading »

Oikocredit, a microfinance investment fund in the Netherlands with total assets of USD 665 million, recently loaned a total of USD 4.7 million to four Bolivian microfinance institutions (MFIs). Continue Reading »

Oikocredit, a microfinance investment fund in the Netherlands with total assets of USD 665 million, recently loaned approximately USD 3.46 million to three Latin American microfinance institutions (MFIs). Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will provide USD 30 million of debt financing to Fedecredito, a Salvadoran financial cooperative owned by 55 financial institutions, which will be guaranteed by future cash flows of remittances sent by Salvadorans working abroad to family and friends at home. Continue Reading »

Event Name: V Central American Microfinance Conference ‘Crisis: Lessons Learned and New Strategies’ Continue Reading »

responsAbility, a Swiss microfinance investment vehicle (MIV) manager, recently reported to MicroCapital that it has executed debt investments totaling the equivalent of nearly USD 1.1 million in microfinance institutions (MFIs) in El Salvador and Mexico. Continue Reading »

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF), a nonprofit organization created by former US presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to rebuild Haiti following the January 12 earthquake, has announced USD 1 million in new grants aimed at creating new jobs and promoting economic opportunity, including microfinance. An unspecified proportion of the grant will be used to finance the Haiti Emergency Liquidity Program (HELP), which will give recovery grants to “key” microfinance institutions (MFIs), which are defined as those having approximately 50,000 clients or more. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has signed an agreement with Asociacion Dominicana para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (ADOPEM), a microfinance bank in Dominican Republic, to implement an advisory services project for the institutional strengthening of the bank to enhance the financial services provided to low-income clients in the Dominican Republic. A press release from IFC states that the project will focus on improving the efficiency of the bank’s credit processes, strengthening its risk management and increasing savings mobilized. The overall amount of the project will be USD 382,000. Continue Reading »

The Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI), a partnership between the Norwegian public and private sectors that provides assistance for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing countries, has recently announced that its Global Fund will make an investment of EUR 4 million (equivalent to USD 5 million) in Triodos Microfinance Fund, a microfinance investment vehicle based in Luxembourg with total assets of USD 36.2 million. Continue Reading »

Germany’s Federal Environment Ministry recently announced it would be launching a USD 500 million climate fund that will provide microloans for individual energy efficiency or renewables projects initially through local banks in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Morocco, the Philippines and South Africa. Continue Reading »

responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund, a Swiss-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV) manager, recently reported to MicroCapital that it has provided MXN 942,000 (USD 72,000) in debt financing to two Mexican microfinance institutions (MFIs). Continue Reading »

Populist governments in Latin America are attempting to favor microborrowers by proposing interest rate caps and other public interventions, as is described in a recent article written by Ms Elisabeth Rhyne, managing director of the Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION International, and published in the Huffington Post. [1] Continue Reading »

Event Name: XIII FOROMIC 2010: Inter-American Forum on Microenterprise

Event Date: October 6 to 8, 2010

Event Location: Montevideo, Uruguay

See Our Comprehensive Event Calendar Here: http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events Continue Reading »

Oikocredit, a microfinance investment fund in the Netherlands with assets of USD 665 million, recently loaned USD 1.6 million to five Latin American microfinance institutions (MFIs): Amanecer of Colombia, Coopesparta of Costa Rica, Proempresa of Peru, FINCA Peru and Norandino of Peru. Continue Reading »

The Andean Development Corporation (CAF), a multilateral financial institution based in Caracas, Venezuela, together with the National Mutual Guarantee Fund for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (FONPYME), an organization founded by the Venezuelan government to provide financial and technical assistance to small businesses, has launched a new ‘Quality Improvement’ project within the Venezuelan government’s National Reciprocal Guarantee System (SNGR) to increase the efficiency and quality of management of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Continue Reading »

Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm based in the US, has declared Pro Mujer, a women’s development and microfinance organization that works in Latin America but is headquartered in New York City, as the winner of the second annual Morgan Stanley Social Enterprise Strategy Challenge. The challenge involved 12 New York City-based nonprofits working with teams of Morgan Stanley employees over the course of eight weeks. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is planning to invest USD 47 million in Brookfield Incorporacoes, a Brazilian real estate development company, in order to “increase the availability of high-quality housing for low-income people in Brazil” [1]. The investment consists of USD 17 million in equity and USD 30 million for a long-term revolving line of credit. Continue Reading »