The Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) in partnership with Sanabel, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing Arab microfinance, and CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), an independent policy and research center housed at the World Bank Group, recently released the French edition of its 2009 Arab Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report. Continue Reading »

An article in the Financial Times titled, “Microfinancing Spreads Beyond India’s Grassroots,” discusses recent concerns raised by some microfinance experts surrounding the increase in microlending by profit-oriented companies in India. Continue Reading »

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 »

SKS Microfinance has launched India’s first initial public offering (IPO), anticipation of which stretches at least back to a report by MicroCapital on March 29, 2010. Continue Reading »

By Dean Karlan, Jonathan Morduch and Sendhil Mullainathan, published by Financial Access Initiative, June 2010, available at: http://financialaccess.org/sites/default/files/RFN11_Why_microfinance_takeup_rates_are_low%286-17-10%29.pdf

Evidence indicates that under half of eligible households participate in microfinance. In this paper, Mr Karlan, Mr Morduch and Mr Mullainathan begin by reviewing why take-up rates are important and how they can be measured. Data from thirteen projects show that take-up rates vary from 2 to 84 percent of eligible individuals. Continue Reading »

The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) has reportedly completed an initiative in which all commercial banks in Fiji have complied with a requirement to establish a “microfinance unit.” Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ – German Technical Cooperation Center), a German government-owned international development organization, are providing technical assistance to the Philippines’ central bank in order to strengthen its supervisory and regulatory capacity for lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. A study last year by Asia Business Monitor showed that approximately 83 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Philippines have experienced difficulties in accessing credit from banks. According to Will Beloe, IFC head of advisory services in the Philippines, greater support from central bank supervisors for commercial banks specializing in lending to small and medium enterprises is expected to increase credit flow to the sector. Continue Reading »

Since 2008 Saija Finance Private Limited, a nonbanking finance company with total assets of INR 11 million (equivalent to USD 240,000), has been providing microfinance services in the Indian state of Bihar, which according to a report by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), has a credit-demand supply gap of 96 percent. Continue Reading »

With sponsorship from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a government agency that provides international economic and humanitarian assistance, Southern Sudan recently held what was billed as its first microfinance conference. The aim of the conference, which was held in the regional capital of Juba, was to provide a forum for stakeholders to exchange views about the status of microfinance in Southern Sudan and to develop a strategy to improve microfinance in the region. Continue Reading »

Vineet Sukumar of the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) Capital has recently written a counter-argument to an article written by Daniel Rozas and Vinod Kothari and published by Microfinance Focus which argued that “microfinance securitization does not, in reality, separate ‘pool risk’ from ‘originator risk’ and hence should not be rated very differently from the originator of the portfolio.” Continue Reading »

Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) Lead Researcher, Mr Adrian Gonzalez, recently authored a report published by MIX discussing the funding sources for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the lowest quartile in terms of size, age, profitability and portfolio quality. Continue Reading »

A new microfinance company, Kongalend, has been launched in Windhoek, Namibia, to offer collateral-free loans to small and medium-sized enterprises as well as private households interested in purchasing renewable energy products. Loans between NAD 1,000 (USD 133) and NAD 2,500 (USD 332) will be issued not in cash, but rather through seven unnamed local partner companies that provide renewable energy technology. Continue Reading »

The Finance Minister of India, Pranab Mukherjee, recently commented that mainstream financial institutions are not currently, but should be, reaching India’s poor. Continue Reading »

MicroRate, a microfinance rating agency, has released its fifth annual survey evaluating trends in microfinance investment – “State of Microfinance Investment: The MicroRate 2010 Microfinance Investment Vehicle (MIV) Survey.” The 2010 MIV survey indicates that investor interest in microfinance funds and similar intermediaries remains strong despite the global recession. However, strong interest from investors is being offset by weaker demand for funding from microfinance institutions (MFIs). In 2009, MIVs grew by 22 percent, but assets actually deployed to MFIs only grew 11 percent. This leaves MIVs with rapidly increasing levels of liquidity. By the end of last year, competition forced rates below the minimum level that some MIVs deem necessary in order to be compensated fully for the risk involved. Continue Reading »

Village Financial Services Private Limited (VFS), a microfinance institution (MFI) in eastern India, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a consumer goods company based in Mumbai, India, to improve access to safe drinking water. The partnership will enable poor households to take a loan at a zero rate of interest to buy HUL’s Pureit water purifiers. Continue Reading »

The Women of Worth (WOW), a microcredit scheme that aims to help single mothers start small businesses in Guyana, has now expanded to the region of Essequibo. As reported by MicroCapital at the time, WOW was launched in June by the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited (GBTI), a commercial bank. Continue Reading »

The Village Enterprise Fund (VEF), a microenterprise development program in East Africa, has received a USD 25,000 grant form the Disney Conservation Fund (DWCF), an awards program for the study and protection of the world’s wildlife and ecosystems sponsored by the media and entertainment conglomerate, the Walt Disney Company, to support a new integrated development/conservation program. The grant will be used to expand VEF’s development/conservation program surrounding Uganda’s Budongo Forest – a conservation area in East Africa that is home to roughly 600 chimpanzees. The Budongo program empowers local communities to start sustainable, diversified small businesses in a way that supports long-term conservation goals. Continue Reading »

Mercy Corps, a global relief and development agency based in the US, has informed MicroCapital that it has established a facility called “Fund for Rebuilding Communities through Micro-enterprise (FRCM)” to give grants for the rebuilding of small businesses that were damaged during the recent violence in Kyrgyzstan. Continue Reading »