MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grab Adds MoMo as Mobile Payment Option for Ride-sharing, Deliveries, Digital Financial Services in Vietnam

Singapore-based Grab recently added the payment solution of Vietnam’s MoMo to its “super-app” so that Grab customers in Vietnam have an additional option for making cashless payments for services such as hailing a motorbike, shopping online, ordering meal delivery or buying insurance. MoMo allows users to send funds from

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lipa Later Acquires Fellow E-commerce, DFS, Merchant Services Platform Sky.Garden of Kenya for $1.6m

Lipa Later, a Kenyan financial technology (fintech) firm integrating e-commerce, digital financial services and merchant services in four African countries, recently paid KES 250 million (USD 1.6 million) to acquire Sky.Garden, a Kenyan service that was launched in 2017 but had announced it would close during 2023.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Global Partnerships, Goodwell, Oikocredit Invest $8.5m in Equity in Good Nature Agro to Boost Profits of Small Farms in Southern Africa

Zambia-based Good Nature Agro recently raised USD 8.5 million in Series B equity from US-based Global Partnerships and two organizations with offices in the Netherlands, Oikocredit International and Goodwell Ventures. Good Nature Agro supports small-scale farmers with: (1) seed selection; (2) financing; (3) access to technology;

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP UP: “Women Agents for Financial Inclusion: Exploring the Benefits, Constraints and Potential Solutions,” by Emilio Hernandez et al, Published by CGAP

Based on data collected from projects in India, Ghana and Pakistan that aim to improve financial inclusion for rural women, the authors examine the interplay between gender dynamics and the employment of women as agents supplying in cash-in and cash-out (CICO) services. This includes the impact these agents can have on communities, the challenges faced by women in becoming and succeeding as agents, and possible solutions to these challenges.

While training to become CICO agents,

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Gendered Investment Differences Among Smallholder Farmers: Evidence from a Microcredit Programme in Western Kenya,” by Keiji Jindo et al

The authors of this study conducted a client-level analysis to examine differences in the investment behavior of female and male microcredit users in Kenya. The scope included

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: RDG Collective Borrows $2m from Oikocredit for Pay-as-you-go Solar Appliances for 12k Low-income Households in Zambia

Dutch impact investor Oikocredit recently channeled USD 2 million to RDG Collective, a provider of renewable energy products to households in Zambia. Through this collaboration, RDG plans to supply 12,000 households with “access to clean energy

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Whole Planet Foundation Offering Interest-free Wholesale Funding for Microfinance in Latin America, Caribbean

As a part of its goal to reach 300,000 “microentrepreneurs, smallholder farmers, and [members of] vulnerable populations,” the US-based Whole Planet Foundation is accepting applications for loans and grants from “socially-focused microfinance institutions, social enterprises, nonprofit organizations and cooperatives” that provide microloans and related services.

SPECIAL REPORT: Small Business Diaries Benefit Entrepreneurs, Microfinance Institutions #EMW2023

e-MFP logoThe Financial Access Initiative (FAI) at New York University recently completed a study spanning seven countries, collecting data from firms with up to 20 paid employees. Researchers visited hundreds of these companies every few weeks for one year to support them in completing diaries of their financial lives. Among the takeaways are that the owners of the firms want to maintain stability and grow at a moderate pace and that they are most in need of

SPECIAL REPORT: Digitizing Microfinance to Meet Customer Needs via an Incremental Approach #EMW2023

e-MFP logoAt today’s European Microfinance Week panel on transforming microfinance institutions (MFIs) into digital financial services providers, the focus was on meeting customer needs – not just implementing digital products, but attaining measurable success for clients and MFIs. Given that 80 percent of many microfinance portfolios comprises renewals, the renewal of microloans is a great process to digitize. This can free up staff to focus on recruiting new clients.

The consensus of the panelists was that going digital cannot be addressed primarily as a technology problem; rather it must be looked at as a business problem. The Vitas Group of Middle Eastern MFIs made the conscious choice to build a parallel system rather than

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Michael Apel Named CEO of DAI’s MicroVest Asset Management

The US-based impact investing firm MicroVest recently selected Michael Apel as its new CEO and Chief Investment Officer. In taking on these roles, Mr Apel will be in charge of the company’s daily operations, including entering into new markets to expand the company’s deployment of private capital to boost micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Mr Apel has 25 years of experience at IDB Invest,

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Baobab+, TradeLenda Partner on Solar Energy Solutions for SMEs in Nigeria

Baobab+, a French energy and technology company active in six African countries, recently partnered with TradeLenda, a Nigerian financial services company serving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to expand lending to SMEs to buy solar generators, freezers and refrigerators. SMEs will be able to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP) Launches iO Banking App with Support from i2C 

With the goal of encouraging digital banking and boosting financial inclusion, Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP) recently collaborated with US-based payment software company i2C Incorporated to launch the iO app, which is available on the App Store and Google Play. The app’s offerings include: (1) conventional and virtual credit cards branded by US-based Visa Incorporated;

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Joliba Capital Raises $58m in Equity from FMO, IFC, Proparco to Support SMEs, Mid-caps in Central, West Africa

Joliba Capital of Côte d’Ivoire recently raised EUR 55 million (USD 57.8 million) for its newly launched Joliba Capital Fund. The participants in this first close of the fund are the Dutch development bank Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO); the International Finance Corporation (IFC),

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sama Money Acquires Première Agence de MicroFinance, Entering Microcredit Market in Mali

Sama Money, a provider of mobile money services in Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali, recently purchased the Malian microfinance institution Première Agence de MicroFinance (PAMF), after receiving approval from the Central Bank of West African States to operate as an Electronic Money Establishment (EME).