MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sun King Nets $10m from Proparco for Solar Products in Africa via Bond Issue Arranged by Symbiotics

Symbiotics Investments, a Switzerland-based investor focused on smaller businesses in low- and middle- income countries, recently arranged a bond issue channeling USD 10 million from the French development finance institution Promotion et Participation pour la Coopération Économique (Proparco) to Sun King, a US-based firm selling solar products in Arica and Asia. Formerly known as GreenLight Planet, Sun King was founded in 2009. Its products include five types of solar lights, four types of home solar electrification kits and an inverter to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Babban Gona Borrows $5m from Huruma Fund to Support Smallholder Farmers in Nigeria, Prepare for International Expansion

Spain’s Gawa Capital, manager of the public-private Huruma Fund, recently disbursed the fund’s second investment in Africa, lending EUR 5 million (USD 5.2 million) to Babban Gona, a Nigerian firm that supports 81,000 farmers with financing, inputs, training

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Standard Life Organization Borrows $3m from Oikocredit to Invest in MSMEs, Education in Nigeria

Standard Life Organization, an NGO in Nigeria, recently agreed to borrow USD 3 million for three years from Oikocredit, a Dutch cooperative. Standard Life provides health services and skills training as well as lending to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, including many

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Gojo Raises $48m in Equity for Microfinance, Eyeing Digitalization in Asia, Expansion to Africa

Gojo and Company, an investor in financial inclusion in Asia, recently raised USD 48 million in a Series E equity round led by three of its ongoing investors, which were joined by 18 new investment firms and several individual investors. The plan for the fresh cash includes “strengthening the

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Buying Maritime Microfinance, Fintech Lender Payhippo Gains Deposit License, Access to Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System

Payhippo, a financial technology (fintech) lender to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria, recently agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to acquire Maritime Microfinance Bank. Maritime was founded in 2014 and provides in-person loans and savings services to enterprises in Nigeria that have zero to 500 employees, mainly in the shipping and

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: EU Guaranteeing $113m to Support $490m in Lending by EBRD to MSMEs in Eastern Europe, North Africa, Western Asia

In partnership with the multilateral European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the EU recently agreed to guarantee up to EUR 115 million (USD 113 million) in loans distributed by retail financial services providers (FSPs) to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in selected countries of

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

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Institution Fundeser of Nicaragua Borrows $1m from Aequitas, Marking Fund’s 1st Disbursement

Microfinanciera Fundeser, a microfinance institution serving rural Nicaragua, recently agreed to borrow USD 1 million from Aequitas, a fund launched by Desjardins International Development (DID), a unit of the Canadian cooperative Desjardins Group. This is the first loan disbursed by Aequitas, which was launched in 2021 with an investment of

SPECIAL REPORT: Agents for Impact: Well-equipped for Future Business Development

Agents for Impact GmbH (AFI), which acts as an intermediary be­tween investors and the world of impact investing, successfully has won FS Invest Holding as an investor. With an eye on the long-term, as of August 2022, FS Invest took a 75-percent stake in our consulting bou­tique, which is focused on sustain­ability, impact investing and financial inclusion.

FS Invest is part of the Helmig family’s group of companies, which is already active in sev­eral other holdings in the financial sector, in­cluding through its ATON Group.

“We are pleased to have an experienced investor at our side that will carry Agents for Impact into the future and enable us to expand our business,” says Dr Andrij Fetsun, AFI’s CEO (pictured).

About AFI

AFI was founded in 2018 by Dr Fetsun and Ms Edda Schröder with the purpose of: (1) increasing impact investments in emerging and developing markets by building bridges between impact investors and the world of impact investing in order to enable financial inclu­sion for under­served populations across the world; and (2) contri­buting to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the help of the firm’s proprietary SDG rating system, the Agents for Impact Sustainability Alignment Rating (AFISAR©) Tool.

AFISAR© helps microfinance institutions (MFIs) leverage the growing importance of strong sus­tainability performance vis-à?vis international investors, particularly im­pact investors. The rating tool analyses an MFI’s operations (at both the institu­tional and portfolio levels) based on a compre­hensive set of

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Coop TLM Borrows $1.3m from Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation for Microfinance in Indonesia

The Luxembourg-based Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation has reported disbursing a local-currency loan approximately equivalent to USD 1.3 million to Coop TLM, a nonprofit microfinance institution in Indonesia. Established in 2010 by the Tanaoba Lais Manekat (TLM) Foundation and headquartered in the city of Kota Kupang, Coop TLM seeks

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Themed “Inclusive Growth in a Digital Era,” Financial Inclusion Week 2022 Offers 180 Virtual Sessions, October 17-20

For the eighth year, the Center for Financial Inclusion, a program of the US-based NGO Accion, is organizing Financial Inclusion Week, an opportunity for all stakeholders to attend virtual sessions – both live and on-demand – at no charge. The theme for 2022 is “Inclusive Growth in a Digital Era,” with sessions covering 14 topics such as Climate Change, Client Protection,

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: To Fund Biogas Digesters, Cookstoves in Kenya, Sumac Microfinance Bank Borrows $2m from Spark+ Africa

Kenya’s Sumac Microfinance Bank recently secured a three-year loan of USD 2 million from Spark+ Africa Fund, an investor in “modern energy solutions.” Sumac is to use the funds to expand its Kawi product, which funds solar panels, fuel-efficient stoves and biogas digesters. Sumac’s partners include Kenya’s Burn Manufacturing and Mexico-based

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sonata Borrows $6m from MicroVest for Group Microlending to Women in Rural India

Sonata Finance, a provider of loans and insurance to women in India, recently borrowed USD 6 million from MicroVest, a debt-focused asset manager owned by US-based DAI Global. Founded in 2006, Sonata serves 700,000 borrowers on a cash-free basis via 460 branches. While most of the microfinance institution’s loans are to groups of women conducting rural enterprise, the institution also offers

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Loans $1.9m to ACF for Microfinance in Kazakhstan

Asian Credit Fund (ACF), a rural microfinance institution (MFI) in Kazakhstan, recently borrowed approximately USD 2 million from the Luxembourg-based Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation. Founded in 1997 by the US-based NGO Mercy Corps, ACF provides

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Funding Societies Inks $50m Line of Credit from HSBC to Bolster Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia

Funding Societies, a Singapore-based platform using crowdfunding and other sources of investment to lend to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), recently agreed to borrow up to USD 50 million from the local unit of UK-based HSBC. Funding Societies is active in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, offering products

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation Loans $1.9m to Mikra for Microfinance in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, which is headquartered in Luxembourg, has reported issuing a loan of EUR 1.9 million (USD 1.9 million) to the microfinance institution (MFI) Mikra of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mikra, whose head office is in the city of Sarajevo, seeks to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Crédit Agricole Lends $1.2m to Microfinance Institution Microinvest of Moldova

The Grameen Crédit Agricole (GCA) Foundation, whose head office is in Luxembourg,
has recently announced it has provided a loan of EUR 1.2 million (USD 1.2 million) to Microinvest, a Moldova-based microfinance institution. Established in 2003 and majority-held by the Balkan Financial Sector Equity Fund, Microinvest offers