In this 23-minute video, Fintech.tv’s Kavita Gupta interviews Vineet Rai, the Chair of Aavishkaar Group, an impact investor with offices in India and Kenya that manages assets valued at USD 1 billion.
This post is part of an occasional series from MicroCapital pointing you to great media on microfinance and other forms of impact investing. Enjoy!
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Agents for Impact: Driving Positive Impact… Together!
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by the UN in 2015 provide a blueprint for a just and sustainable world. While actors across a range of professional arenas are rushing to catch up with the SDGs, the term “impact” is being thrown around loosely to give the impression that the desired goals have been reached. It is tempting to assume certain businesses have a positive impact on the SDGs, simply based on intuition. However, some might negatively impact the SDGs or elicit both positive and negative outcomes in the long run. Without proper tools for impact measurement and assessment, we can only get so far!
Agents for Impact (AFI) understands how essential it is to improve the practice of impact measurement through stable and coherent frameworks. To deliver on this promise, we have designed a specialized investment approach to support microfinance institutions (MFIs) that exhibit strong commitment to and proven track records of progress toward the SDGs. To evaluate an MFI’s performance, AFI peels back the surface to deploy a strong assortment of cohesive and rigorous assessment tools, including financial analysis and addressing social performance indicators; sustainability factors; and
The Bank of Georgia (BOG), a UK-based institution active in Georgia, recently obtained a loan of GEL 617 million (USD 200 million) to on-lend micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), especially those owned by women. Half of the loan is from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a development finance institution active in Asia and the Pacific, and the other half is funded by
Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) recently won approval from the State Bank of Vietnam to pilot a nationwide mobile money service. The service, VNPT Pay, allows customers to use
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership, recently finalized an agreement with Northern Arc Capital, an Indian financial firm, to support Nasira, a risk-sharing program through which FMO encourages retail financial institutions to lend to entrepreneurs in Africa and parts of Asia. In particular, Nasira guarantees lending to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises whose owners fall into one or more of the following
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), a government agency responsible for preventing and investigating financial crimes, and the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently agreed to collaborate to establish an electronic know-your-customer (e-KYC) system to “fast-track financial inclusion” in Bangladesh. By allowing financial services providers (FSPs) to compile and certify customer data online, the e-KYC system is expected to
Two US-based firms, Creation Investments and Norwest Venture Partners, recently co-led a Series C financing round of USD 200 million for Vastu Housing Finance of India. Each investor committed USD 75 million to Vastu, with India’s IIFL Finance investing the remaining USD 50 million. Vastu plans to use the financing to
This paper explores the challenges and opportunities associated with leveraging digital payment structures, including how such structures might promote financial inclusion and improve economic conditions in the Pacific Island region. The study focuses on six of the 14 archipelagic countries in the region that are in
Logiq, a US-based technology services provider, recently unveiled plans to launch an as-yet unnamed “super app” in Indonesia to unify several planned new functions along with its existing payment service PayLogiq and food delivery service GoLogiq. Among the future services is a microlending platform, for which
Khan Bank, which serves individuals and companies of all sizes in Mongolia, recently agreed to accept a borrowing package of USD 120 million arranged by Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership. FMO is funding
Incofin Investment Management, a Belgium-based investor in financial inclusion and agriculture in developing countries, recently agreed to invest USD 4 million from its India Progress Fund (IPF) in SuperZop, whose app helps “small retailers and restaurants buy staples directly from farmers and food processors.” Among the app’s functions is to use artificial intelligence to analyze the quality of grains
Agents for Impact (AFI), a Germany-based impact investing company, recently informed MicroCapital that it has issued the following loans on behalf of Germany’s Invest in Visions (IIV): EUR 8 million (USD 9.2 million) to India’s Kinara Capital and USD 5 million to BRAC Tanzania Finance Limited. AFI aims to bring together investors to make progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Kinara issues collateral-free loans to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises. The loans, which range in size from INR 100,000 (USD 1,300) to INR 3 million (USD 40,000), are intended for purposes such as working capital and asset purchases. Although the firm promises “digital first”
From 
the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP): On the 22nd and 23rd September 2021, the Selection Committee for the European Microfinance Award 2021 (EMA 2021) on “Inclusive Finance & Health Care” chose the three finalists who will go on to compete for the EUR 100,000 (USD 117,000) prize: CRECER IFD from Bolivia, Dreamlopments Limited from Thailand and Fonkoze from Haiti.
Access to quality health care underpins everything else: it allows education to play its role in opening new opportunities; it allows people to earn, invest and employ others; it lets groups and societies prosper. But paying for health care is the single biggest
Advans Group, a Luxembourg-based microfinance organization with operations in nine low- and middle-income countries, recently partnered with Tagit, a Singapore-based mobile technology company, to develop a mobile banking application for Advans customers. The app will be based on
The Western Union Company, a US-based financial services and communications firm, recently partnered with Cebuana Luhillier, a microfinance services provider in the Philippines, to allow
This paper explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clients of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in terms of: “Which client segments are most affected? How are they coping with the situation? What are they doing to
Belstar Microfinance, a non-banking financial company controlled by India-based Muthoot Finance, recently raised INR 3.5 billion (USD 47.6 million) in equity. An unspecified portion of the funds are from Affirma Capital, a Singapore-based private equity firm that is a first-time investor in Belstar. The remainder of the new equity comes from
Visa Incorporated, a US-based payments company, recently announced it is expanding its pilot-testing of a system to enable payments in areas without a stable internet connection. Having completed a successful trial in five villages in the Indian state of Karnataka, Visa is partnering with