MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Lending $5m to Accion’s Early Dawn Microfinance to Support Women Entrepreneurs in Myanmar

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a development finance institution backed by the US government, recently agreed to loan Myanmar-based Early Dawn Microfinance Company Limited USD 5 million. Dawn lends to low-income women in living in urban and peri-urban areas. It was created as a subsidiary of US-based NGO Save the Children in 2002 and has since been acquired by US-based NGO Accion; Netherlands-based investor Triodos; and Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a development finance institution controlled by the Dutch government. As of 2017, Dawn has approximately USD 10 million in assets, a gross loan portfolio of USD 7.51 million, 60,000 customers and 19 offices.

The mission of Accion is to create a “financially inclusive world” by helping financial service providers deliver affordable products to the 3 billion people who are not served well by the financial sector. Founded in 1961, Accion partners with 90 institutions in 40 countries as of 2017. As of 2015, Accion and its partners held a loan portfolio of USD 7.7 billion outstanding to 5.4 million borrowers and USD 5.6 billion in deposits for 4.4 million savers.

FMO is a Dutch development bank that was founded in 1970. It supports financial institutions and governments through loans, guarantees and other investment promotion activities. The Dutch government holds a 51-percent stake in FMO, whose investors include commercial banks, trade unions, employers’ associations and individual investors. As of May 2017, FMO reports total assets of EUR 9.8 billion (USD 10.7 billion).

Triodos Bank is a for-profit financial institution based in the Netherlands that focuses on banking practices it deems “ethical.” As of year-end 2016, Triodos reported total assets of EUR 3.3 billion (USD 3.60 billion). In addition to the Netherlands, Triodos has offices in Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain. Triodos Investment Management is part of Triodos Bank.

Founded in 1971, OPIC is a US government agency that helps expose US-based businesses to emerging markets by directly and indirectly investing in their operations in low- and middle-income countries. It has approximately USD 1 billion in commitments in 160 countries.

By Christian Chartier, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources:

[1] Niedzwiecki, Sandra, “OPIC and Dawn sign $5 million commitment to support women entrepreneurs through microfinance in Myanmar”, OPIC.gov, May 2, 2017. https://www.opic.gov/press-releases/2017/opic-and-dawn-sign-5-million-commitment-support-women-entrepreneurs-through-microfinance-myanmar

Accion and Dawn
http://accion.org/our-impact/dawn-microfinance

Triodos
https://www.triodos.com/en/investment-management/who-we-are/

FMO
https://www.fmo.nl/news-detail/0ba6b0d7-b488-4e2a-9e4c-855311f3df02/fmo-and-access-bank-kick-off-programme-for-women-entrepreneurs

MicroCapital Coverage of FMO, May 20, 2015
https://www.microcapital.org/approved-microcapital-brief-fmo-triodos-loan-35m-to-khan-bank-of-mongolia-for-on-lending-to-small-medium-sized-enterprises-smes/

MicroCapital Coverage of Triodos Bank, May 13, 2013
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-triodos-bank-launches-sustainable-pioneer-sustainable-equity-retail-funds/

MicroCapital Coverage of Accion, March 22, 2017
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-quona-capital-management-raises-141m-accion-frontier-inclusion-fund/

Do you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Find out more at https://www.microcapital.org/products-page/

Similar Posts: