The Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, has granted its first loan to Entrepreneur Financial Center (EFC), a microfinance institution (MFI) located in Zambia. The three-year loan is in local currency equivalent to approximately USD 1.8 million. EFC Zambia serves micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and has eight branches. The MFI holds 20,000 savings and term deposit accounts and as of February 2021 has disbursed 51,000 MSME loans totaling ZMW 155 million (USD 7.2 million). It has 3,000 borrowers, nearly half of whom are women or organizations owned by women. In addition to business loans, the MFI offers
Search Results for: efc
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Lending $1m to EFC Uganda to Support Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises; to Advise on Social Performance
Belgium-based Incofin Investment Management recently disbursed the initial USD 1 million of a “multi-million dollar” loan package for Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) Uganda. EFC Uganda’s target market is micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Incofin made the investment through its agriculture-focused fund, agRIF. I&M Burbidge Capital, a Nairobi based company was the lead advisor to EFC Uganda for this transaction.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation Loans $1.7m to EFC Zambia, Provider of Housing, Microenterprise Loans
The Grameen Credit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg, has loaned local currency approximately equivalent to USD 1.7 million to Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) Zambia, a microfinance institution offering loans and savings services, mainly in urban areas. Founded in 1996, the microbank offers loans for working capital, invoice
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Le Levier, Développement international Desjardins (DiD) Open Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) Owned by Cooperatives in Grand Nord Region of Haiti
Le Levier, a federation of cooperatives in Haiti, and Développement international Desjardins (DiD), a unit of Canadian cooperative Desjardins Group, recently inaugurated an Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) owned by six cooperatives in Haiti. Based in the city of Cap-Haitien, the EFC will focus on serving the 400 entrepreneur
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) Tunisia Receiving Technical Assistance from International Finance Corporation (IFC), Opening New Branch in Sfax
Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) Tunisia, a for-profit microfinance institution based in Tunis, recently arranged to receive advisory services from the International Finance
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Institution EFC Tunisia Nets $2.1m from Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD): Half for Technical Assistance, Half as Equity via Proparco
The Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) of Tunisia, a microfinance institution (MFI) operated by Canada’s Développement International Desjardins (DID), recently obtained an equity investment of EUR 1 million (USD 1.1 million) from Société de Promotion et de Participation pour La Coopération Economique (Proparco), a development finance institution of the French government’s Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD). AFD also committed EUR 1 million (USD 1.1 million) for
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Canadian Government Donates $6.7m to DID, Sanasa to Establish Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) Offering Microfinance in Sri Lanka
The Canadian government recently announced a donation of CAD 8.8 million (USD 6.7 million) to be disbursed over four years for the creation of an Entrepreneur Financial Centre (EFC) in Sri Lanka, jointly implemented by Développement International Desjardins (DID), a unit of Canadian cooperative Desjardins Group that promotes financial services in developing countries, and Sanasa Development Bank PLC, a Sri Lankan bank that provides low-income people with loans, voluntary savings, leasing and fund transfer services.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Partnerships in Mobile Financial Services; Africa Microfinance Pricing Reports; Impact Assessment of EFC Zambia
“Partnerships in Mobile Financial Services: Factors for Success;” by Mark Flaming, Aiaze Mitha, Michel Hanouch, Peter Zetterli and Greta Bull; published by the MasterCard Foundation and the International Finance Corporation (IFC); October 2013; 18 pages; available at http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/88486280414940acb54ab79e78015671/Partnerships+in+Mobile+Financial+Services.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
This report presents findings from a study exploring the factors that determine the success of business partnerships among telecommunication firms, financial institutions and other organizations in providing mobile financial services.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Handover Debtors of Distressed Microfinance Banks to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Revoke Operating Licenses of Microfinance Banks That Have Closed Operations for More Than Six Months
An investigation by Vanguard, a newspaper in Nigeria, indicates that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is currently compiling names of individuals who have received loans from microfinance banks and have failed to repay those funds.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Committing $30m to South Asia Growth Fund III to Support Equity Placements in Businesses Reducing Environmental Impacts, Mainly in India
US-based Global Environment Fund (GEF) Capital Partners recently secured USD 30 million for its South Asia Growth Fund (SAGF) III from the Dutch development bank Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO). The funding is to boost the fund’s “equity and equity-linked” investments in middle-market institutions engaged in
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Khan Bank of Mongolia Borrowing $120m from FMO, Atlantic Forfaitierungs, DEG, IIB, PROPARCO – Part for MSME Loans, Green Capacity
Khan Bank, which serves individuals and companies of all sizes in Mongolia, recently agreed to accept a borrowing package of USD 120 million arranged by Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership. FMO is funding
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Judge in Nigeria Sentences Former Director of Workman Microfinance Bank to 5 Years in Prison
Sarita Aliyu Bello, the former Managing Director of Nigeria’s Workman Microfinance Bank, recently was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Loans $1.65m to Kreditimi Rural i Kosoves (KRK) for Microfinance in Kosovo
Kreditimi Rural i Kosoves (KRK), a microlender in Kosovo, recently borrowed EUR 1.5 million (USD 1.65 million)
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sri Lanka’s SANASA Installing 35 Weather Stations, Expanding Index Insurance for Rice Farmers to Pepper, Cinnamon Growers
SANASA Insurance Company Limited, a member of Sri Lanka’s cooperative SANASA group, recently installed the first of 35 weather stations funded by a donation from Desjardins Financial Security, an insurer within the Canadian cooperative Desjardins Group. The stations expand an existing network supporting SANASA Insurance’s provision of index insurance to rice farmers, whereby the farmers are paid when weather conditions are not conducive to healthy crops rather than based on individual insurance claims. The new stations are intended to improve the provision of insurance for rice farmers as well as allowing SANASA Insurance to expand to serving pepper and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Cooperative Bank of Vietnam (Co-opBank), Développement international Desjardins (DiD) Supporting People’s Credit Funds in Improving Products for Agricultural, Other Rural Clients
The Cooperative Bank of Vietnam (Co-opBank), whose mission includes promoting “social economic development in agricultural and rural area[s]” of Vietnam, recently began implementing a project with the support of Développement international Desjardins (DiD), a unit of Canadian cooperative Desjardins Group, intended to improve the tailoring of financial products to the needs of people in
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Developpement international Desjardins (DiD) Supports Lenders of Centre de Traitement Informatise du Senegal in Reaching Clients via SMS Messaging
Développement international Desjardins (DiD), a unit of Canada’s cooperative Desjardins Group that promotes financial services in developing countries, launched a pilot program
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: DiD Supports Microfinance Institution Kafo Jiginew in Offering “Input Savings” Voucher Plan to Help Farmers in Mali Buy Improved Pesticides
Developpement international Desjardins (DiD), a nonprofit unit of Canada’s cooperative Desjardins Group that promotes financial services in developing countries, recently partnered with Kafo Jiginew, a microfinance institution in Mali, to help it introduce a savings plan intended to address the fact that small-scale farmers often run out of funds between harvest and planting time.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Développement international Desjardins (DiD) to Provide Microfinance to Food Producers in Senegal in Partnership with Micronutrient Initiative
Développement international Desjardins (DiD), a Canadian nonprofit supporting the community finance sector in emerging economies, recently joined the “Project integer de nutrition dans les regions de Kedougou et Kolda (PINKK)”, which is aimed at increasing food security for women and children in the Senegalese regions of Kedougou and Kolda.