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),
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Akbank Selling $300m in Bonds to DFC, AIIB, IFC – Half to Support Women-owned Businesses in Turkiye
Turkiye’s Akbank recently raised USD 300 million through the issuance of subordinated bonds to three development finance institutions. Half of the fresh cash is from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) for on-lending for business and consumer purposes to women in “underdeveloped cities” in the country. The remainder is
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: AgCelerant, Bank of Africa, IFC to Support Rice Value Chains in Senegal with Access to Loans, Insurance, Tools, Inputs
AgCelerant, the agricultural technology (agritech) service of Mauritius-based Manobi Africa, recently partnered with the Senegalese unit of the Bank of Africa Group and the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) on an effort to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Purchases 5% Equity Stake in ProCredit from IFC, Increasing Exposure to SMEs in Europe, Ecuador
The multilateral European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently purchased a 5-percent stake in Germany-based ProCredit Holding from the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), along with a
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CRDB Bank Burundi Borrows $5m from IFC for Agricultural Microfinance, SME Lending
The Burundian affiliate of Tanzania’s CRDB Bank recently borrowed USD 5 million from the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) for on-lending primarily to smaller agribusinesses in Burundi. IFC has agreed to support the loan with technical assistance on designing products that meet the needs of the target borrowers.
CRDB Bank Burundi Managing Director Fredrick Siwale said, “IFC’s financing will help us enhance the availability of long-term
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bamboo, CABEI, IFC Exit Holdings in Banco Popular as Incofin, Triple Jump Buy In; BIO, FMO Increase Equity Stakes to Boost Rural Microfinance in Honduras
Approximately 64 percent of the shares of the Honduran microfinance institution Banco Popular are changing hands as two multilateral institutions that first invested in Popular in 2007 are exiting their holdings. The sellers are the Central American Bank for Economic Integration; the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation; and Bamboo Capital, which has been an investor in the microbank since 2012.
Popular serves 60,000 clients and reports
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Agri-SME Finance: Navigating Volatility in the Wake of the War in Ukraine;” Published by IFAD, IFC, SAFIN
The authors describe the recent turmoil in global food markets and the resulting “worst food crisis in generations.” The war in Ukraine has had a major impact on markets in Russia and Ukraine, which together previously produced a quarter of the wheat and most of the sunflower oil sold worldwide. Meanwhile, increases in
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Lending $124m to Absa to Increase Access to Housing in South Africa
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently agreed to loan Absa Group Limited up to ZAR 2 billion (USD 124 million) to increase access to housing loans for “thousands” of low- and middle-income families in South Africa. In addition to its home country of South Africa,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Loans $105m to CRDB Bank to Increase Funding for MSMEs – Especially Women-owned Enterprises – in Tanzania, Burundi
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently announced a loan equivalent to USD 100 million – half in local currency – to Tanzania-based Cooperative Rural and Development Bank (CRDB Bank) and a loan of USD 5 million to CRDB Bank Burundi. The goal of the loans to these two members of the CRDB Bank Group, whose head office is in Tanzania, is to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC, Vista Bank Launch $24m Partnership to Increase Access to Trade Finance in Burkina Faso, Guinea
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently agreed to enroll Guinea-based Vista Bank Group in its Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP), giving the bank’s subsidiaries in Burkina Faso and Guinea access to USD 12 million each to facilitate imports of essential goods such as “foodstuffs, raw materials, refined oil products, equipment [and] consumer goods….” IFC will also provide technical assistance to Vista Bank regarding governance and risk management. This follows a 2020 project through which IFC advised Vista Bank on
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CreditAccess Grameen Seeking $50m in Debt from IFC for Financial Inclusion of Women in India
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently moved to lend as much as USD 50 million in the form of a three-year senior loan to CreditAccess Grameen, a unit of CreditAccess India. The objective of the loan is to boost enterprise lending to women who live in
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroVest Loans $9m to Acleda Bank via IFC Syndication to Support SMEs in Cambodia, with Focus on Women Entrepreneurs
US-based asset manager MicroVest is lending USD 9 million for five years to Acleda Bank, a publicly traded firm that operates in three countries, to support Acleda’s provision of financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Cambodia, particularly those owned by women. The investment is part of a syndication for Acleda by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) that is to include up to USD 100 million each from IFC and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Equity Group Nets Over $165m from IFC, BII, FMO, ResponsAbility, Symbiotics for Climate Projects, Financial Inclusion for MSMEs in Africa
Partially through its Financial Institutions Growth Fund, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is paying an undisclosed sum to acquire a 6.7-percent stake in Equity Group Holdings, which has banking operations in Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. IFC and the UK government’s British International Investment (BII) also are each lending the group’s Equity Bank Kenya
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Lender KixiCrédito to Boost E-services in Angola with Support from IFC
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently announced a partnership with KixiCrédito, an Angolan microcredit company, to strengthen KixiCrédito’s “delivery of digital financial services to individuals and micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) across the country.” The plan includes
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BOA Kenya Nets IFC Guarantee for Lending to Women-led, Climate-focused SMEs; Potential Performance-based Incentives
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently announced a partnership with Bank of Africa (BOA) Kenya to expand its lending to women-led and climate-focused small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). IFC will reimburse BOA Kenya for
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BFIU, IFC to Develop e-KYC Infrastructure to Expand Financial Inclusion in Bangladesh
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
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Capital Bank’s National Bank of Iraq to Borrow $10m from IFC for SMEs
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently agreed to loan the National Bank of Iraq (NBI) USD 10 million for on-lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and related advisory services. NBI is a commercial bank owned by Jordan’s Capital Bank Group.
NBI Chairman Bassem Khalil Al-Salem stated the loan will help his institution
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC, FMO Loaning $50m to I&M Bank to Support SMEs in Kenya
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, along with Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership, recently announced a loan package of USD 50 million for I&M Bank Limited, which is owned by the Kenya-based I&M Group. The funds are intended to