India’s Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN), a self-regulatory organization of 31 of India’s largest microfinance companies, recently said its members will provide borrowers’ names, addresses and loan details to a credit bureau they have created, Alpha Micro Finance Consultants P Ltd (Alpha), in an effort to prevent client overindebtedness and maximize repayment. Continue Reading »

Paul DiLeo, Managing Partner at Grassroots Capital, plays a role in attracting private capital to the company, creating investment vehicles to address market gaps and raising funding to support new initiatives.  Mr. DiLeo launched and now co-manages the Global Microfinance Equity Fund and the Gray Ghost Microfinance Fund, which is a private, for-profit microfinance fund originally established to demonstrate the viability of microfinance investment.  He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts (US), has a master’s degree from Boston University (US) and completed studies in business accounting and finance at New York University (US). Continue Reading »

Craig Churchill serves as the Chair of the Microinsurance Network and as Senior Technical Officer of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO’s) Social Finance Programme. Continue Reading »

Kenyan microfinance institutions (MFI) are struggling to recover from a two-year slump caused by severe drought, the global financial crisis and post-election violence. Continue Reading »

ES Global, a consulting firm that focuses on social investing and micro- and small enterprise development, has created a wiki for post-crisis management support to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Haiti. Continue Reading »

By Zoran Stanisljevic, based on his interview with Christina Leijonhufvud, Managing Director of the Global Social Sector Finance Group at JP Morgan, published by MicroCapital.org, December 2009, 5 pages, available at http://www.microcapital.org/downloads/whitepapers/Diligence.pdf Continue Reading »

Damian von Stauffenberg is the founder of MicroRate, a rating agency specializing in microfinance.  Mr. von Stauffenberg founded MicroRate in 1997 and served as its CEO until 2009.  Through its Latin American and African subsidiaries, MicroRate has conducted over 400 ratings of microfinance institutions in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. 

Mr. von Stauffenberg previously worked for 25 years at the World Bank and its private sector affiliate, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).  He has been president of Seed Capital Development Fund (SCDF), chairman of the investment committee of ProFund, chairman of the executive committee of MicroVest and a member of the executive committee of the Latin American Challenge Investment Fund (LA-CIF). Continue Reading »

According to a Washington Post article, money transfer services have encountered difficulties in Haiti due to the earthquake that struck on January 12, 2010 [1]. Continue Reading »

Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper reports that the local microfinance interbank money market has collapsed due to the very liquidity problems it was intended to address. Continue Reading »

Mr Vijay Mahajan, Chairman of BASIX and a Board Member of CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), and Mr P N Vasudevan, Managing Director of Equitas Micro Finance, recently published an article entitled, ‘Microfinance in India: Twin Steps towards Self-Regulation.’ Continue Reading »

According to a recent article in Indian daily The Economic Times, Dubai’s financial crisis has caused a ripple around the Arab world, “eating away at the money many Middle East families depend on, sent home from relatives who work in Persian Gulf countries.” Continue Reading »

Jeff Raderstrong, founder of Social Entrepreneurs of Grinnell, which raises money for international microlending from the US state of Iowa, recently published an article titled “2009: The Year Microfinance Died.” Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank, is considering making a USD 10 million investment in the USD 50 million Cygma Fund, which will offer foreign currency hedges to investors looking to make local currency investments in microfinance institutions in developing countries. Continue Reading »

The World Bank’s CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) has released an updated version of its “Due Diligence Guidelines for the Review of Microcredit Loan Portfolios: A Tiered Approach,” which offers techniques to assess the extent to which microfinance institutions (MFIs) are likely to collect on their loan assets.  Continue Reading »

Event Name: International Disaster and Risk Conference: “From Thoughts to Action”

Event Date: May 30 – June 3, 2010

Event Location: The Davos Congress Centre, Promenade 92 7270 Davos Platz, Davos, Switzerland

Event Website: http://www.idrcdavos2010.org/

See Our Comprehensive Event Calendar Here:

http://microfinanceassociation.ning.com/events Continue Reading »

Source: The Center for Financial Inclusion. Continue Reading »

Written by Amit Garg and Diana Lewin; published in August 2009; MicroSave India Focus Note 23. http://www.microfinancegateway.org/gm/document-1.9.37780/The%20Global%20Financial%20Crisis%20and%20Indian%20Microfinance.pdf

This note analyzes the impacts of the financial crisis on the Indian microfinance sector. The authors focus especially on the microfinance institution (MFI) Sonata Finance Pvt. Ltd. and Dia Vikas Capital Pvt. Ltd. (Dia), a microfinance investor. The authors then provide several recommendations for MFIs on how to cope with the effects of the crisis. Continue Reading »

Written by By Zaved Ahmed and Camilla Nestor, Grameen Foundation. Micro?nance Information Exchange, Inc. Microbanking Bulletin, Issue 18, Spring 2009. http://www.themix.org/publications/elevated-food-prices-%E2%80%94-impact-microfinance-clients

This article focuses on the effects of the ongoing food crisis on microfinance clients and institutions in the developing world. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, increasing food prices in mid-2008 have had the most severe consequences on food-insecure populations, which are low-income households in developing countries that spend 70 to 85 percent of income on food. The authors argue that the world has focused solely on the effects of the credit crisis, rather than also considering the impacts of the food crisis on the poor as well. Continue Reading »