Event Name: 10th International Microinsurance Conference
Event Date: November 11-13, 2014
Event Location: Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel and Towers, Mexico City,
Event Name: 10th International Microinsurance Conference
Event Date: November 11-13, 2014
Event Location: Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel and Towers, Mexico City,
Event: Columbia Business School 2014 Social Enterprise Conference
Event Date: October 31, 2014
Event Location: Marriott Marquis Hotel, New York, New York, USA
“Islamic Social Finance Report 2014,” by Thomson Reuters and the Islamic Research and Training Institute, published by Zawya, 2014, 64 pages, available at: http://www.zawya.com/islamic-finance/isfr/
This report examines opportunities and challenges for Islamic social finance in Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Singapore.
Event Name: Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit 2014
Event Date: October 6 – 8, 2014
Event Location: Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel, Arlington, Virginia, USA
“The Art of the Responsible Exit in Microfinance Equity Sales;” by Daniel Rozas, Deborah Drake, Estelle Lahaye, Katharine McKee and Danielle Piskadlo; published by CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor); April 2014; 32 pages; available at http://www.cgap.org/sites/default/files/Forum-Art-of-the-Responsible-Exit-April-2014.pdf
This paper explores how microfinance investment intermediaries (MIIs) and development finance institutions (DFIs) can exit responsibly from microfinance institutions (MFIs) in which they have invested equity as well as how investors can contribute to healthy development of the overall market. The authors conducted six case studies and interviewed representatives from MIIs, nongovernmental organizations, DFIs, MFIs and merger-and-acquisition specialists.
Event Name: International Conference of Social and Solidarity Finance
Event Date: May 8-9, 2014
Event Location: GLS Bank (Gemeinschaftsbank für Leihen und Schenken eG), Bochum, Germany
Event Name: Mobile Money and Digital Payments Africa
Event Date: May 20-22, 2014
Event Location: Hyatt Regency Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa
Fondazione Giordano Dell’Amore, an Italian foundation that supports microfinance, in partnership with the European Microfinance Network (EMN), a Belgium-based nonprofit organization, recently announced three finalists for the Sixth Annual Giordano Dell’Amore Microfinance Good Practices Europe Award, a series that recognizes initiatives that promote financial inclusion as a tool for development.
Saving for Change (SfC), a saving-group initiative that was established in 2005 by nonprofit organizations Oxfam America, Freedom from Hunger and the Stromme Foundation, has grown to serve approximately 85,000 women in Cambodia as of March 2014 since its launch in that country in 2011.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in partnership with Smart Communications Incorporated (Smart), a Philippines-based telecommunications company, and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), a government bank specializing in serving farmers and fishermen, reportedly have commenced using mobile money to facilitate wage payments under UNDP’s “cash-for-work ” program that was launched for the 12 month period beginning in November 2013 in areas of the Philippines struck by typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).
The Student Microfinance Movement, a US-based network of student organizations, through a partnership with US-based financial institution Citi and US-based nonprofit organizations AboutMicrofinance and Kiva U, is accepting entries for its student microfinance essay and video competitions, which are aimed at raising awareness of the impact of microfinance on poverty and gender inequality.
The “Sustainable Fish Farming Project”, proposed to provide 500 families in the Baseri village of Nepal with funding to start fish farms, recently won a grant of USD 7,500 from the Resolution Project Social Venture Challenge, a competition among aspiring entrepreneurs who attended the seventh annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) meeting at the US-based Arizona State University, Phoenix [1].
Citi Asia, a subsidiary of US-based bank Citigroup in Asia, recently launched Citi Mobile Collect, a mobile payment platform that enables customers to complete fund transfers via mobile phones, in China and India.
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based investor in microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently announced the disbursement of the first tranche of a 54-month loan of EUR 1.04 million (USD 1.43 million) to Arvand, a financial institution that provides microcredit to low-income individuals in Tajikistan.
ResponsAbility Investments AG, a Swiss-based investor in microfinance and other sectors, recently announced the disbursement of a loan of USD 4 million to Opportunity International Bank of Malawi Limited (Opportunity Malawi), a member of the US-based Opportunity International network.
The Global Systems for Mobile Association (GSMA), a London-based association of 1,000 mobile operators and associated companies, recently announced that its mWomen programme has awarded the Grameen Foundation, a US-based nonprofit organization, its Innovation Fund grant of an undisclosed amount.
According to a report entitled “Access to Finance in Pakistan” that was recently published by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the nation’s central bank, the total value of branchless banking (BB) transactions in Pakistan during 2013 increased by PKY 651 billion (USD 6.73 billion) over the previous year, reaching PKY 802 billion (USD 8.29 billion).
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based investor in microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently announced the disbursement of the first tranche of a 30-month, USD 220,000 loan to Programme D’Appui aux Initiatives de Developpement Economique du Kivu (PAIDEK), a microfinance institution (MFI) that lends to microenterprises in the region of Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.