Belgium-based Incofin Investment Management (Incofin), a private company that manages funds investing in microfinance institutions (MFIs), and Netherlands-based Triodos Investment Management (Triodos), the subsidiary of Triodos Bank that manages funds in “energy and climate, emerging markets, arts and culture and sustainable real estate”[2], jointly acquired a 36-percent equity stake in Microcredit Deposit-Taking Organization Arvand (Arvand), an MFI that operates in and around Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan as well as in the country’s Sughd region.
Category: Eastern Europe and Central Asia
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute Portfolio Management’s Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $5m to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Georgia, Bolivia, Tajikistan
Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an arm of Austria-based asset management group C-Quadrat, disbursed a total of USD 5 million as loans from its two Vision Microfinance funds, the Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance and the Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance Local Currency, to unidentified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Georgia, Bolivia and Tajikistan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Lends $5m to DemirBank of Azerbaijan to Promote Residential, Business Energy-Efficiency Projects
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based development bank that operates in eastern Europe, central Asia and northern Africa, has loaned USD 5 million to DemirBank, a commercial bank in Azerbaijan that focuses on lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with the intention of promoting projects that reduce energy use in the country.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government of Canada, International Finance Corporation (IFC) Support Small, Medium-sized Agricultural Enterprises in Ukraine
The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) recently informed MicroCapital that the government of Canada and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, plan to work together to provide an unspecified level of financial support and technical advice to small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises in Ukraine.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) to Host European Microfinance Week, November 12-14, 2014, With On-site Reporting by MicroCapital
Event Name: European Microfinance Week 2014
Event Dates: November 12-14, 2014
Location: Luxembourg
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Melbourne Microfinance Initiative (MMI) to Host Global Microfinance Case Competition, September 7-12, 2014
Event Name: 2014 Global Microfinance Case Competition
Event Dates: September 7-12, 2014
Event Location: Melbourne, Australia
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank Group Donating $22m to, Investing $2m in Agriculture Commercialization in Tajikistan
The International Development Association (IDA), the arm of the World Bank Group (WBG) that offers interest-free credits and grants to the world’s 82 poorest countries, is planning to disburse a grant of USD 22 million to support the “Tajikistan Agriculture Commercialization Project”[1] of the government of Tajikistan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: “KazAgro” National Management Holding of Kazakhstan Privatizing 48 Subsidiaries, Mostly Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
Astana-based “KazAgro” National Management Holding Joint Stock Company (“KazAgro”), the state-owned agency responsible for the implementation of national policy on agribusiness development in the Republic of Kazakhstan, reportedly has announced that it plans to sell 45 subsidiaries within the second phase of the ongoing privatization process in the country.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Central Bank of Tajikistan Unveil Draft for Mobile Banking Regulations
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, and the central bank of Tajikistan have been collaborating to launch a regulatory framework with the aim of utilizing technology and retail infrastructure to help banks and other organizations offer financial services outside of bank branches in the country.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Launches India-based InfrasoftTech’s OMNIEnterprise Microfinance Software in Gaza, Jordan, Syria, West Bank
InfrasoftTech, a financial software firm that was founded in 1995 and is based in Mumbai, India, reportedly has announced that the microfinance department of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides education, health care, social services has adopted InfrasoftTech’s OMNIEnterprise Microfinance Solution, a banking software system across its operations in: Gaza, Jordan, Syria and the West Bank.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: AlHuda Center of Islamic Banking and Economics to Host 4th Global Islamic Microfinance Forum, November 1-4, 2014, Dubai, UAE
Event Name: 4th Global Islamic Microfinance Forum
Event Date: Conference: November 1-2, 2014; Post-conference workshop: November 3-4, 2014
Event Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Loans $8m to Mongolia’s Khan Bank for On-Lending to Support Value Chains That Include Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, reportedly has issued a loan of MNT 15 billion (USD 8 million) to Khan Bank, a commercial bank based in Mongolia, as the final tranche of a total of MNT 47 billion (USD 25 million) to be on-lent by Khan Bank to suppliers of micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Mongolia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Investment Management Launches ProPulse Fund for Private Institutional Investors to Access Microfinance Institutions in Emerging Economies
Incofin Investment Management (Incofin IM), a microfinance fund manager based in Belgium, has announced the launch of its ProPulse Fund, which is designed specifically for private institutional investors to provide financing to entrepreneurs in emerging economies via microfinance institutions (MFIs) in response to “the large demand for local currency loans.”
MICROFINANCE EVENT: 10th Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, September 21-24, 2014, New York, USA
Event Name: 10th Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting
Event Date: September 21-24, 2014
Event Location: New York, New York, USA
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Effects of Female Leadership on Microfinance Institutions (MFIs); Impact of Microcredit in Morocco; Social Performance Management Guide
“Female Leadership, Performance, and Governance in Microfinance Institutions;” by Reidar Øystein Strøm, Bert D’Espallier and Roy Mersland; published by Elsevier; 2014; 16 pages; available for purchase at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378426614000284
This report examines the relationship between the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and whether women occupy high management positions, including CEO, chair or director, in those MFIs.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute Portfolio Management’s Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $14m to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, China, India, Peru, Tajikistan
Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an arm of Austria-based asset group C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that it has distributed credits in several currencies that total approximately the equivalent of USD 13.5 million to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, China, India, Peru and Tajikistan through its Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance and Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance Local Currency.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government-Backed Dutch Good Growth Fund Launches with $950m, Aims to Support Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the Netherlands, Developing Nations
The Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), a Netherlands-based loan fund that is funded with EUR 700 million (USD 947 million) from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has opened for business as of July 2014.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: AccessBank Azerbaijan Receives $15m Loan from Green for Growth Fund for Financing Energy-Efficient Projects
AccessBank Azerbaijan, a microfinance bank (MFB) in Azerbaijan, has borrowed USD 15 million from the Green for Growth Fund, Southeast Europe (GGF), a European public-private partnership that focuses on improving energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy sources in Southeastern Europe, with the aim of increasing AccessBank’s financing of energy-efficient projects.