MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Cubo Raises $3.5m in Debt, Equity to Boost Acceptance of Digital Payments by Microenterprises in Central America

El Salvadoran startup Cubo, in an effort to bring its digital payments solutions to Guatemala, Panama and Costa Rica, recently raised USD 3.5 million in seed financing from investors including IDB Lab, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, and three venture capital firms, Colombia-based Latin Leap, Peru’s Seedstars and India’s Soma Capital. Cubo expects the new funding to allow it to reach about

MICROFINANCE EVENT: ANDE Annual Conference; September 12-14, 2023; Accra, Ghana

This event will observe the “half-way point” towards the 2030 target of achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. It is themed “Accelerating Action: Small Business Solutions and the SDGs,” and is to focus on cataloging the progress and ongoing needs of small and

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Let’s Eat Bai (LEB), RAFI Micro-finance Boost Access for Food Retailers to Online Sales, Deliveries to Aid in COVID-19 Adjustment

A unit of Philippines-based Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Incorporated (RAFI), RAFI Micro-finance Incorporated (RMF), recently began a partnership with Let’s Eat Bai (LEB), an online delivery and advertising service in the Philippine city of Cebu. RMF has linked the Facebook group it has developed for its clients, Tindahan Ni Nanay (TNN), with LEB to provide

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Loans $10m to Bank Respublika to Support Women, Youth, Entrepreneurs Struggling with COVID-19 Pandemic in Azerbaijan

Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership, recently loaned the equivalent of USD 10 million in local currency as a senior term loan to Bank Respublika, a commercial institution in Azerbaijan. The funds are intended to reduce

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kotak Mahindra Bank Lends $5.5m to Northern Arc for Microenterprises in India Adjusting to the COVID-19 Pandemic; Partially Guaranteed by Dell, Rockefeller Foundations

Northern Arc Capital, an Indian firm that facilitates funding flows between investors and retail lenders, recently borrowed INR 400 million (USD 5.5 million) from Kotak Mahindra Bank, a commercial bank also based in India.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EIB to Loan $8.3m to Banco ADOPEM, Targeting Women Microentrepreneurs in Dominican Republic

The EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB) recently agreed to loan approximately DOP 480 million (USD 8.33 million) to Banco de Ahorro y Crédito ADOPEM, a microfinance institution (MFI) in the Dominican Republic, targeting microentrepreneurs as they adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic. The wholesale loan will allow ADOPEM to provide approximately 27,000 re

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Transition Fund Grants $11m to Moroccan Youth Microentrepreneurship Projects

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Transition Fund, a financial intermediary fund established by the US-based World Bank in 2012 that provides grants to help countries implement social reforms, has sponsored a total of USD 11 million in grants for two projects that will aim to assist approximately 5,000 Moroccan youths with starting their own businesses and micro-enterprises [1].