MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grab Adds MoMo as Mobile Payment Option for Ride-sharing, Deliveries, Digital Financial Services in Vietnam

Singapore-based Grab recently added the payment solution of Vietnam’s MoMo to its “super-app” so that Grab customers in Vietnam have an additional option for making cashless payments for services such as hailing a motorbike, shopping online, ordering meal delivery or buying insurance. MoMo allows users to send funds from

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Gendered Investment Differences Among Smallholder Farmers: Evidence from a Microcredit Programme in Western Kenya,” by Keiji Jindo et al

The authors of this study conducted a client-level analysis to examine differences in the investment behavior of female and male microcredit users in Kenya. The scope included

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ABI to Leverage $69m from EIB to Boost SME, Mid-cap Financing in West Africa – Focusing on Women, Youth

Atlantic Business International (ABI), a holding company owned by the Morocco-based Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) Group, recently entered an agreement with the EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB) whereby EIB will fund half of EUR 130 million (USD 138 million) in funding to be distributed via ABI’s Banque Atlantique institutions in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. The funds are to be directed to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps with the goal of

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Okra Solar of Nigeria Raises Equity, Debt Totaling $12m to Expand Mesh Grids in Africa, Americas, Asia

Nigeria-based Okra Solar, whose products serve 14,000 people in Cambodia, Haiti, Nigeria, and the Philippines, recently raised USD 8 million in equity from five investors. The investment package is led by US-based At One Ventures and includes USD 1.5 million from

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Money Fellows of Egypt Borrowing $2.2m from Symbiotics to Support Digital ROSCAs

Symbiotics Investments, a Switzerland-based investor focused on smaller businesses in low- and middle-income countries, recently issued a loan of USD 2.25 million to Egypt-based Money Fellows. Money Fellows plans to use the fresh capital to expand its digitization of rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs), also known as money circles, as well as to broaden

MICROFINANCE EVENT: SAM (Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance); October 16-20, 2023; Lomé, Togo

Themed “Inclusive and Sustainable Finance: How to Reconcile the Challenges of Socio-economic Inclusion and the Transition to a Resilient and Ecological Economy,” this sixth edition of SAM (Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance, French for African Microfinance Week) includes two days each of conference sessions, an Investor Fair and an “Innovator’s Village,” along with a gala dinner and about 20 associated events on topics such as “agricultural finance, digital finance, microinsurance and social performance.”

The conference portion of the week includes sessions titled: (1) Carbon Markets and Environmental Service Payments: New Opportunities for Local Communities; (2) Beyond Taxonomies: the Role of

SPECIAL REPORT: Let’s Channel Climate Finance to Those on the Climate Front

Climate finance is hot, and right­fully so. The threat is real, and the needs are towering. The good news is that there are investible solutions out there. As with any new field, the development of climate finance has been accompanied by a range of standards, taxon­omies and met­rics. For climate mitigation, a clear consensus seems to be emerging on emissions reductions as the preferred metric to be tracked by investors, however the jury is still out on the ideal standards for tracking the impact of climate adaptation, and it is only starting to deliberate on resilience projects.

This difference in the pace of development of climate mitigation and adaptation standards has led to an unintended consequence: that the story of climate finance today is the story of climate mitigation. Less than 10 percent of all climate finance today goes to adaptation and resilience. This happens not because mitigation is more important than adaptation, but because the impact of mitigation projects is easier to track than that of adaptation projects. Simply put: what gets measured, gets managed.

The problem with too narrow of a focus on climate mitigation is that it does not take into account the fact that climate change is a challenge of livelihoods and social justice as much as it is an environmental chal­lenge, especially for low-income populations and other vulnerable com­muni­ties in the global South. Because climate change is not gender neu­tral, applying a gender (or JEDI for Justice, Equity, Diversity) approach to investments can

SPECIAL REPORT: Save the Date for SAM 2023 – African Microfinance Week – in Togo, October 16-20!

Registration is due to open within days for SAM 2023 – Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance – which will include a multi-day conference, a gala dinner, an Innovators’ Village and a two-day Investor Fair. The second day of the Investor Fair is new, reflecting the fact that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Tokyo Offering $900k to Asset Managers, Fintechs to Open “Green Finance” Office in Japan

Japan’s Tokyo Metropolitan Government is accepting applications for the Green
Finance Subsidy for Tokyo Market Entry, a financial and technical assistance initiative
intended to attract foreign green finance companies to Tokyo. The program is open to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FSPs in Ecuador to Evaluate Role of Bias in Financial Access for Women-led MSMEs with Support from IDB Invest, RFD

Red de Instituciones Financieras de Desarrollo (RFD), a network of 53 banks, cooperatives and nonprofit financial services providers (FSPs) in Ecuador, recently agreed to partner with IDB Invest, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, to offer RFD members advisory services relating to boosting their financing of female-led micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). RFD will distribute an online survey designed by the IDB Group to address

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Determinants of Choice of Credit Source Among Clients of Microfinance Systems in the Upper West Region of Ghana,” by Paul Bata Domanban et al

The authors of this article examined which groups of people in northwestern Ghana were more and less likely to borrow money from microfinance institutions (MFIs). The authors conducted

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: First City Monument Bank of Nigeria Offers Asset Financing Starting at $600 

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) of Nigeria has begun offering loans of NGN 500,000 (USD 600) to NGN 3 million (USD 3,600) with terms of one year to four years for businesses to finance purchases of equipment and machinery. FCMB reports that it also may grant customers – in certain circumstances –

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Predictors of Microfinance Sustainability: Empirical Evidence from Bangladesh,” by Maeenuddin et al

This article examines the financial sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Bangladesh. Using data from the MIX Market database, the authors develop a

MICROFINANCE EVENT: 2nd Annual Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Africa Conference; October 4-5, 2023; Sandton, South Africa

This conference offers opportunities to collaborate on incorporating environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) goals into organizations’ operations. The themes are: (1) Investment and Financing; (2) Measurement and Reporting; (3) Governance, Leadership and Culture; and (4) Legal. The itinerary for Day One of the event includes

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Mind the Gap in Financial Inclusion! Microcredit Institutions Fieldwork in Peru;” by Pilar Lopez-Sancheza, Elena Urquia-Grande

Microfinance providers in Peru carry a combined outstanding loan portfolio equivalent to USD 12.7 billion, serving 5 million borrowers. Dr Lopez-Sancheza and Dr Urquia-Grande conducted a qualitative analysis of these loans based on

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: KEPFIC Member Pension Funds Invest $61m in Acorn Holdings, Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC) to Boost Affordable Housing

Kenya’s Acorn Holdings Africa and the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC) recently won investments from members of the Kenya Pension Funds Investment Consortium (KEPFIC), a group of funds that collaborate to invest in alternative assets. In particular, KEPFIC pension funds placed

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Futu Expanding Digital Investment, Financial Education Platform to Malaysia

The Hong Kong-based wealth management company Futu Holdings is adding Malaysia to the list of countries whose residents can access its investment platform Moomoo, following the firm’s local subsidiary receiving preliminary regulatory approval for the service. Moomoo allows

MICROFINANCE EVENT: Africa Fintech Summit (AFTS); November 2-3, 2023; Lusaka, Zambia

Twice a year, this event convenes to promote collaboration on entrepreneurship as well as issues and opportunities regarding financial technology (fintech) in Africa. Following a pre-event dinner on November 1, the first day will include a