The World Bank Group’s Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC) is providing a framework for “angel” investors to work together to entertain pitches from and fund the development of “start-ups and early-stage enterprises” in the Caribbean region.
Category: Key Players
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Lending $5.6m to Romania’s Garanti Leasing to Finance Women-owned SMEs
Garanti Leasing, a subsidiary of the Garanti Group Romania specializing in financing real estate, vehicles and agricultural equipment, recently announced it will borrow EUR 5 million (USD 5.6 million) from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, in order to increase funding for women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IDB Loans Colombia $450m for Goals Including Facilitating Access to Capital for SMEs, Improving Financial Inclusion
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a US-based multilateral finance institution that operates in Latin America and the Caribbean, recently announced it will extend a loan of USD 450 million to the government of Colombia with the goal of helping to “solidify macroeconomic stability, boost development, encourage public/private partnership financing, strengthen regulation of the financial system [and] promote financial inclusion.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Invests $4.5m in Medical Credit Fund to Support SME Providers of Healthcare in Africa
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, recently announced it will invest USD 4.5 million in the Medical Credit Fund (MCF), a unit of the Dutch nonprofit PharmAccess Group, to finance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that provide healthcare services in Africa.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Solomon Islands’ National Provident Fund Launches youSave Retirement Savings Plan for Self-employed With Support from UN’s PFIP
The National Provident Fund, a government-backed retirement trust in the Solomon Islands, recently launched youSave, a savings plan designed to help self-employed islanders establish and contribute to retirement accounts as do “formally employed” citizens.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to Invest $1.5b in Infrastructure, Microfinance, SMEs Over 5 Years
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of US-based World Bank Group, recently agreed to launch a multifaceted project in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a development institution of the Japanese government.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Hedge Fund Route One Buys 0.88% Equity Stake in India’s Bharat Financial Inclusion for $15m
US-based Route One Fund I LP recently spent approximately INR 990 million (USD 15.4 million) to purchase 0.88 percent of the shares of Bharat Financial Inclusion, a for-profit non-banking microfinance institution (MFI) in India, via an open market transaction.
MICROFINANCE BRIEF: Carolina Trivelli to Chair CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) Executive Committee
The executive committee of US-based nonprofit CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) recently elected Carolina Trivelli to be its new chair as of June 30.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EFSE Lending $25m to Turkey’s Yapi Kredi Leasing for Micro-, Small Enterprises (MSEs)
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle, recently indicated that it intends to lend USD 25 million to Turkey’s Yapi Kredi Leasing, “the largest subsidiary of Yapi Kredi Bank.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Sells Equity Stakes in Microfinance Institution Financiera Confianza of Peru, Affiliate of Fundacion BBVA MicroFinanzas
Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management (Incofin IM) recently informed MicroCapital that three of its funds, Incofin CVSO, Volksvermogen and Rural Impulse Fund I, have sold their stakes in Financiera Confianza, a Peruvian microfinance institution (MFI) affiliated with Fundacion BBVA MicroFinanzas, which in turn was launched by Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) in 2007. While the sizes and prices of the stakes, which included all Confianza shares held by Incofin IM funds, remain confidential, Incofin IM reports that the funds earned “over
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Tunisia’s Union Internationale de Banques (UIB) Borrows $45m from EBRD for SMEs
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, recently announced it will loan EUR 40 million (USD 44.9 million) to Union Internationale de Banques (UIB), a Tunisian bank, to support small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) “lending activities and expand access to finance for underserved
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Sells 55% Equity Stake in Colombian Microfinance Institution Crezcamos to Its Founder, Mauricio Osorio
Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management recently informed MicroCapital that its Rural Impulse Funds I and II have sold all of their shares of Crezcamos, a Colombian microfinance institution (MFI), to
SPECIAL REPORT: Christoph Pausch of e-MFP on Housing Finance and the 2017 European Microfinance Award
MicroCapital:
Why was housing selected as the theme of this year’s European Microfinance Award?
Christoph Pausch: It’s really a question of staying true to the underlying purpose of the Award: to highlight practices that are outside the microfinance mainstream, but are financially sustainable and deliver significant
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Asian Development Bank (ADB) Places $10m Equity Investment in Satin Creditcare Network to Support Microfinance for Women in Rural India
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a Philippines-based multilateral institution, recently made an equity investment of USD 10 million in Satin Creditcare Network Limited, a for-profit Indian microfinance institution (MFI). The funding will be used to “expand and broaden” the institution’s services for unserved
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD, TaiwanICDF Loan $44m to Romania’s Banca Transilvania for Residential Energy Efficiency
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, recently announced that it will disburse a loan of EUR 40 million (USD 44 million) to Banca Transilvania, a Romania-based bank, in order to improve energy efficiency in residences in the country. The funds will come from the Green Economy Financing Facility
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Vision Microfinance Funds of C-Quadrat Loan $45m in Countries Including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Tajikistan, Nicaragua
C-Quadrat Asset Management recently informed MicroCapital that its Dual Return Vision Microfinance and Dual Return Vision Microfinance-Local Currency funds loaned a total approximately equivalent to USD 45 million during April to unidentified providers of financial services in a range of countries including Cambodia, Nicaragua and Tajikistan as well as – for the first time –
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Lending $49m to Mongolia’s XacBank in Partnership with Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, IFC
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a development finance institution backed by the US government, recently agreed to loan USD 49 million to XacBank, a microfinance institution in Mongolia, to support lending to women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Lending $5m to Accion’s Early Dawn Microfinance to Support Women Entrepreneurs in Myanmar
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a development finance institution backed by the US government, recently agreed to loan Myanmar-based Early Dawn Microfinance Company Limited USD 5 million. Dawn lends to low-income women in living in urban and peri-urban areas.