Mr Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Laureate recipient and founder of Grameen Bank, a Bangladeshi microfinance institution which popularized the concept of community lending, promoted a “social business funding” concept to address social problems in Haiti at a recent speaking engagement in Miami, Florida, USA. Continue Reading »

Freedom from Hunger, a California-based international development nonprofit, recently published the results of a four-year grant program enabling the organization and partner microfinance banks to add healthcare options to microfinance offerings for 1.5 million of the world’s rural poor in Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, India and the Philippines. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, recently announced that it will provide FinTerra, a Mexican microfinance institution (MFI) founded in 2004, targeted technical assistance aimed at increasing its ability to serve lower- and middle- income borrowers, as well as MXN 15 million (USD 1.18 million) in the form of a credit line. Continue Reading »

CAF (Andean Development Corporation) recently announced the implementation of a local-currency financing program in the amount of BOB 35 million (USD 5 million) for the micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) sector in Bolivia, provided from CAF to support microfinance institutions with medium-term (up to three years) loans in local currency. Continue Reading »

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a US-based multilateral finance institution serving Latin America and the Caribbean, will be providing a partial credit guarantee of up to USD 5 million to Agrofinanzas, a Mexican microfinance institution focused on supply chain financing, to support small Mexican sunflower producers. Continue Reading »

The Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), the microfinance information clearinghouse, recently released “Latin America and the Caribbean Benchmarks 2009” which compares performance indicators for microfinance institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. Continue Reading »

responsAbility Microfinanz-Fonds and responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund (rAGMF), microfinance investment vehicles managed by responsAbility Social Investments AG of Switzerland, recently reported to MicroCapital the details of five debt investments made during the month of July 2010, totaling the equivalent of USD 3.77 million. Continue Reading »

Bankers without Borders (BwB), a volunteer program started in 2008 by the Grameen Foundation that supports microfinance and technology initiatives related to finance in poor countries, has received an investment of USD 150,000 in seed capital from JP Morgan’s Social Finance Unit to expand its services in the Americas and Asia as the “Alliance Program.” Continue Reading »

Event Name: Microfinance Transparency’s (MFTransparency’s) Transparent Pricing Initiative in Colombia

Event Date: September 1 and September 2, 2010 Continue Reading »

Peruvian microfinance institution (MFI), Mibanco, has received a loan package of USD 45 million, arranged by Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), allowing it to create a new credit program, Crecer Mi Negocio, which targets women entrepreneurs. The program will help finance medium-term loans ranging from a few hundred dollars up to USD 3,000 for the purchase of new fixed assets or otherwise financing existing businesses. The precise range of maturities indicated ‘medium-term’ has not been released to date. Continue Reading »

The Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB’s) Board of Executive Directors approved a loan and guarantees singular facility of USD 150 million to strengthen financial institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean to boost long-term financing to small business projects deemed to have a high social impact. Continue Reading »

The Andean Development Corporation (CAF), a multilateral financial institution working across Latin America, has approved a USD 5 million line of credit for Caja Rural de Ahorro y Credito (CRAC) Nuestra Gente, a microfinance institution in Peru, to finance micro- and small enterprises in Peru. According to Eleonora Silva Pardo, the director of CAF in Peru, the granting of this line of credit is part of CAF’s goal of improving support for the micro- and small enterprise sector in all of Latin America. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, recently arranged USD 135 million in syndicated lending for Banco Fibra, a Brazilian bank that reported 2009 total assets of BRL 11.8 billion (USD 6.7 billion). The IFC, a 7.9 percent stakeholder in Banco Fibra, raised much of the funds through Banco Itau Europa of Portugal and Banco Santander of Spain. Through this deal, Banco Fibra aims to expand its services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Brazil. Continue Reading »

Mexican microfinance institution (MFI), Banco Compartamos, has announced its non-audited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2010 (2Q10). All figures were reportedly prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Comision Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV) and are expressed in nominal pesos.

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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 »