MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government of Madagascar, IFC, Local Insurers Partner on Agricultural Insurance, Seeking to Lower Risk of Lending to Farmers

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently announced a partnership with the government of Madagascar to boost farmers’ access to insurance that protects their crops from climate-related disasters. The project will engage Malagasy insurance companies to create

SPECIAL REPORT: Christoph Pausch on the European Microfinance Award 2021: Inclusive Finance and Health Care

MicroCapital: Why was “Inclusive Finance and Health Care” chosen as the topic of the European Microfinance Award 2021?

Christoph Pausch: As the past year has shown us all with such unfor­tunate clarity, health is everything. Being healthy allows education to play its role in opening new opportunities; it allows people to earn, invest and employ others; it keeps the economy growing and lets groups and societies prosper. And the opposite is true as well: without health – without health care to help people recover from serious health shocks and to stop minor health issues from becoming serious – it’s so hard for people to prosper.

This is especially true for the global poor – the financially excluded – who typically have volatile and precarious incomes and live in countries without high-quality universal health care. They not only need access to health care, but also the ability to pay for it. Too often this can mean taking on debt and selling income-generating assets or even

SPECIAL REPORT: Apply/Postulez/Postular – European Microfinance Award 2021

From the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP): The €100,000 European Microfinance Award 2021 on ‘Inclusive Finance and Health Care’ highlights the crucial role the inclusive finance sector can play in helping low-income and excluded populations both plan day-to-day medical spending and ‘smooth’ out health-related financial shocks.

If you are

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Insurtech PasarPolis of Indonesia Raises $5m in Equity from International Finance Corporation (IFC) for Microinsurance

Indonesia-based insurance technology (insurtech) firm PasarPolis recently raised USD 5 million in equity from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. The firm plans to use the fresh funds “to develop infrastructure to connect insurers, digital platforms and customers unserved by the traditional insurance sector” during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The size of the stake

SPECIAL REPORT: Lessons from Giving Away, Selling Microinsurance with Remittances

As European Microfinance Platformpart of the ongoing search for models that can make microinsurance profitable, the Luxembourg-based nonprofit ADA partnered with UAE-based insurtech Democrance to sell policies to migrant workers in Dubai as they send money to family in their home countries. The incentive for remittance providers to participate is that the draw of microinsurance can increase their customer base and allow differentiation from competitors.

The target population is migrants from India and the Philippines, who are generally tech savvy and aged 25 to 45 years old. Most workers earn up to AED 4,000 (USD 1,100) per month and send about a quarter of that amount home. Rise, a UAE-based facilitator of financial services to migrants, enrolled 1,000 customers by

SPECIAL REPORT: Minimizing Setbacks for Women, Girls Under COVID-19; Taking Advantage of the Pandemic to Liberalize Regulation, Boost Access to Digital Financial Services

Mary European Microfinance PlatformEllen Iskenderian of the US-based NGO Women’s World Banking (WWB) spoke today, the closing day of European Microfinance Week, about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and girls. Of the challenges they face, she said “COVID didn’t create these gaps, but it shines a bright light on the fissures, and we don’t want to see these grow larger.” As an example, she cited the strides made in recent years in terms of enrolling girls in primary education. She called this the single most powerful tool for creating development impact. However, one of the first things she has seen families in developing countries doing in response to COVID-19 is taking their daughters out of school.

On the positive side, Ms Iskenderian noted “a silver lining, that

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Britam Expanding Portfolio to Offer Property Insurance for Microenterprises in Africa with Support from Habitat for Humanity, ILO

Britam, a Kenya-based investment firm active in seven African countries, is working on “developing new property insurance solutions” to provide security to microentrepreneurs who use their homes for business operations and storage. The project is supported by the

SPECIAL REPORT: European Microfinance Week Registration Open for Virtual Conference; November 18-20, 2020

From European Microfinance Platformthe European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP): It has been a difficult few months, and during this time we at e-MFP have engaged with our members and friends to mobilize resources and adapt our activities to best mitigate the effects this pandemic brings to our sector and the vulnerable people we as a community serve.

One of our flagship activities is European Microfinance Week (EMW), held annually in November, and with it in mind we have been closely monitoring the public health situation globally. Now more than ever it’s vital to connect and

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Insurtech PasarPolis Raises $54m in Equity for Microinsurance in Indonesia

Indonesian insurance technology (insurtech) firm PasarPolis recently closed its Series B round of investment, having raised a total of USD 54 million from nine investors. The firm plans to use the new funding to:

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Stonestep Developing Tele-health, COVID-19 Insurance in Partnership with DigiPay Mobile Money, Swiss Capacity Building Facility, TDO Nepal

The Swiss Capacity Building Facility (SCBF), a Switzerland-based public-private partnership, recently announced its funding of the Nepalese unit of Switzerland-based insurance technology (insurtech) company Stonestep to build a product merging COVID-19 insurance and tele-health consultations. Customers of the service will be able to access digital health resources such as online health data

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Never Waste a Crisis: How Sub-Saharan African Insurers Are Being Affected by, and Are Responding to, COVID-19;” by Lucia Schlemmer, Kate Rinehart-Smit, Jeremy Gray

This paper analyzes the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the insurance market in sub-Saharan Africa and the effectiveness of the responses of insurers, brokers and regulators. The authors conducted 32 interviews with representatives of insurers, insurance technology (insurtech) firms, reinsurers, and insurance and broker associations across 18 markets in the region to assess: (1) the impact that the pandemic has had on insurers’ daily internal operations; (2) the impacts on new product development and how the insured move through current processes; (3) the impact on insurers’ and customers’ finances; and

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Business Correspondent Sub-K Impact Launching Digital Platform for Insurance, Investing, Microfinance Referrals with Support from Accion, Mastercard

Sub-K Impact Solutions, a subsidiary of India-based BASIX Social Enterprise Group, is releasing a digital platform called SARTHI (Seamless Advanced Resourceful Tech-driven Hybrid Interface) to facilitate access to insurance, microloans and investment services. SARTHI will place users in contact with financial services providers

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BIO Investing $1.5m in FINCA Malawi for Microfinance, SME Lending

The Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries, a government-backed institution also known as BIO, recently began disbursing funds as part of a four-year loan of USD 1.5 million to FINCA Malawi, a microfinance institution (MFI) owned by the US-based firm FINCA Impact Finance. The microbank will use the funds for on-lending via its 23 branches and

MICROFINANCE EVENT: Global Insurtech Summit; March 2-4, 2021; NEW DATES AND FORMAT

Formerly scheduled to take place in Istanbul in October 2020, this summit is centered around technological developments in the insurance industry. It is scheduled to include 70 speakers and panelists offering product demos and addressing topics such as How to Create Profitable Partnerships and Start Growing Revenue and Profit, Smartphones as a Digital Marketplace for Insurance Carriers, and Distribution Channels. Additionally, the CEO of Democrance, an insurance technology (insurtech) startup, will

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fonds National de la Finance Inclusive (FNFI) Cuts Interest Rates, Boosts Commissions for 9 MFIs in Togo Due to COVID-19 Pandemic

To support nine of its partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) in adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Togolese government’s Fonds National de la Finance Inclusive (FNFI) is taking the following measures: (1) cutting interest rates on its loans to the MFIs by 1 percentage point; and (2) boosting the management fee that the MFIs receive for

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Planet42, Financier of Used Vehicles for Unbanked in South Africa, Raises $2.6m in Equity

Planet42, a lender in South Africa formerly named CarGet, recently raised EUR 2.3 million (USD 2.6 million) in equity to expand its “rent-to-buy” service for used cars in South Africa. Neither the names of the investors – a mix of private and institutional entities – nor the sizes of their stakes have been released.

Planet42 serves “the financially excluded…people ignored by banks…due to overly strict lending criteria.” The firm manages risk through “an automated scoring algorithm and securing its assets [via] title deed, tracking technology [and] comprehensive and mechanical insurance.” Clients submit a monthly rental payment and are offered a buy-out price that declines over five years to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sindhuja Microcredit of India Raises $8.7m in Equity Sale to Carpediem Capital, Nordic Microfinance Initiative

The majority owners of Sindhuja Microcredit, a lender to women in India, recently sold minority shareholdings to Carpediem Capital, an India-based private equity fund manager, and the Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI), a public-private partnership based in Norway, for a total of USD 8.7 million. The sizes of the stakes have not been released. Carpediem also invested USD 4 million in Sindhuja in 2019. India’s Vidura Capital served as advisor on the transaction.

The promoters of Sindhuja, Abhisheka Kumar and Malkit Didyala, issued a statement that, “Our customers, self-employed rural women, are the most vulnerable in the COVID–19 world… with their livelihoods under direct threat, this funding will be used to