The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, England, recently announced that it will extend a guarantee facility of RSD 1.15 billion (USD 10.6 million) of a credit line totaling RSD 2.3 billion (USD 21.2 million) to be disbursed by Société Générale Serbia, a subsidiary of the France-based financial institution Société Générale, to rural microenterprises in Serbia.
Category: Key Players
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sanad, Bankmed Partner to Support Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Lebanon
The Sanad Fund for MSME (micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise) (Sanad), a Luxembourg-based organization that provides “medium- and long-term”[1] debt and equity to financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa region, has recently announced the disbursement of a loan of USD 15 million to Bankmed, a Lebanese commercial bank regulated by the Central Bank of Lebanon.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Economic Forum (WEF) Leaders Aim for Cooperation among Regulators for Financial Inclusion in Africa
During the World Economic Forum (WEF) in South Africa, business and political leaders from multiple African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa among others, emphasized the need for collaboration among regulators in order to promote financial inclusion globally.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Planning to Loan $50m to Bank CenterCredit of Kazakhstan for On-lending to Micro, Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, is considering the disbursement of KZT 9.3 billion (USD 50 million) to Bank CenterCredit, a commercial bank in Kazakhstan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Canada to Contribute $10m to International Organization of La Francophonie to Promote Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa
The International Organization of La Francophonie (IOF), a Paris-based organization of 80 French-speaking countries, and the government of Canada recently announced an agreement under which Canada would contribute approximately USD 10 million to IOF to promote employment for women and youth through entrepreneurship in francophone Sub-Saharan Africa.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Loans $10m to BasisBank of Georgia for On-lending to Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs); Energy Efficiency Projects
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, has announced that it is “deepening its partnership”[1] with Georgia’s BasisBank by disbursing it a credit package of USD 31.5 million.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Labour Office’s (ILO’s) Impact Insurance Facility, Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) Seek to Stimulate Innovation in Microinsurance in Sub-Saharan Africa
The Impact Insurance Facility of the UN’s International Labour Office (ILO) and the French government’s Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) recently signed a three-year partnership seeking to strengthen the resilience of middle-income workers in the informal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Financial details of this partnership have not been reported.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) Seeks Partners for Customer-Centric Financial Services Project
CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), a US-based nonprofit policy and research center devoted to worldwide growth of financial access, is searching for financial service providers with whom to partner to increase customer centricity within the providers’ systems.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kenya’s Jamii Bora Bank Upscaling to Target Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises
The Jamii Bora Bank of Kenya announced recently that it has shifted its focus to serving small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) from advancing microfinance.
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: 5th Pacific Microfinance Week: Next Mile Financial Services in the Pacific, September 21-25, 2015, Honiara, Solomon Islands
Event Name: 5th Pacific Microfinance Week 2015: Next Mile Financial Services in the Pacific
Event Date: September 21-25, 2015
Event Location: Heritage Park Hotel, Honiara, Solomon Islands
Event Summary: Pacific Microfinance Week (PMW) 2015 is a series of workshops, field visits and formal conference sessions focusing on providers of financial services for poor people in the Pacific region. The topics that will be discussed include digital finance and delivery channels, women’s empowerment through access to finance, enhancing the potential of non-bank financial institutions, policy and regulation, innovations in products and services, developing measures of financial inclusion, how corporate governance structures can improve organizational performance, and a special session on financial inclusion in the Solomon Islands. The most recent PMW was held in 2013.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC), Government of Guinea-Bissau to Promote Leasing to Small, Medium-sized Enterprise
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group that offers financial services to businesses and governments in developing countries with the aim of increasing economic growth, recently announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with the government of Guinea-Bissau.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Loan up to $10m to Prasac of Cambodia for On-Lending to Agricultural Micro-, Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group that offers financial services to businesses and governments in developing countries with the aim of increasing economic growth, recently announced that it has opened a long-term credit line of up to USD 10 million to Prasac Microfinance Institution Limited, a Cambodian microfinance institution (MFI).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: C-Quadrat Asset Management’s Dual Return Vision Funds Loan $1.25m to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, Ghana
During April 2015, Austria’s C-Quadrat Asset Management disbursed from its Dual Return Funds local-currency loans totaling USD 1.25 million to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Armenia and Ghana.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Greta Bull Appointed CEO of CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor)
Greta Bull, the former manager of the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Financial Institutions Group (FIG) Advisory Services, has been appointed CEO of CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), a US-based nonprofit that aims to facilitate the expansion of financial access.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EFSE Lends $7.8m to Microfinance Institutions Mikrofin of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Opportunity Bank Serbia
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle focusing on Southeast Europe and Central Asia, recently invested in two microfinance institutions (MFIs) in an effort to support micro- and small enterprises: Mikrofin, an MFI in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a network of 64 offices; and Opportunity Bank Serbia (OBS), a member of US-based Opportunity International, which is active in 22 countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CelsiusPro Partners with BlueOrchard to Manage KfW’s Climate Insurance Fund (CIF), World Bank Group to Improve Agricultural Insurance in Ukraine
Swiss microfinance investment manager BlueOrchard and Swiss weather index insurance service provider CelsiusPro recently were appointed as co-managers of the Climate Insurance Fund (CIF), an initiative created by German development bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank (KfW) that aims to reduce the vulnerability of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and low-income households to climate change by improving access to and use of insurance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Provide $4.1m Risk Sharing Facility to Cameroonian Bank Banque Internationale du Cameroun pour l’Épargne et le Crédit (BICEC) for Agricultural Lending
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, recently signed an agreement with Banque Internationale du Cameroun pour l’Épargne et le Crédit (BICEC), a Cameroonian bank, to provide BICEC with a CFA 2.5 billion (USD 4.1 million) “risk sharing facility… to support its lending activities to agriculture cooperatives active in the productions of cassava, maize and sorghum” [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Contribute $200m to IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund (FIG Fund), Bringing Total Funding to $345m at First Close
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank, recently announced that it will devote up to USD 200 million to the IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund (FIG Fund), an investment vehicle that will make equity investments that aim to increase access to capital for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing markets [1].