Asociación Dominicana para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (ADOPEM), a microfinance institution (MFI) in the Dominican Republic, reportedly has provided loans totaling DOP 70 million (USD 1.65 million) to 728 micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the country [1].
Category: Latin America & Caribbean
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Fifth Caribbean Microfinance Forum (CMF V) NEW LOCATION AND DATES
The Fifth Caribbean Microfinance Forum (CMF V), which had been scheduled to take place in Suriname from March 31, 2014, to April 3, 2014, instead will be held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, from June 2, 2014, to June 5, 2014.
The Caribbean Microfinance Forum is an annual gathering of microfinance institutions that was launched with the support of the Caribbean Microfinance Capacity Building Project (Carib-Cap), a joint effort of the US-based Multilateral Investment Fund, the Caribbean Development Bank, the EU’s European Commission and the US-based Citi Foundation.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute Portfolio Management (APM) Issues $12.5m in Credits from Dual Return Funds to Microfinance Institutions in Asia, Latin America
Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an Austria-based asset management company that offers investment and advisory services to microfinance institutions (MFIs), recently issued approximately USD 12.5 million in credit to unspecified MFIs in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Tajikistan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: OPIC to Support Citi in Loaning up to $200m to Support Small Businesses in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America
Citigroup (Citi), a US-based financial services corporation, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a development finance institution of the US government, reportedly have partnered to deliver USD 200 million to Citi’s local and multinational corporate and financial institution clients [1].
MICROCAPITAL EVENT: Inter-American Development Bank to Host Inter-American MicroEnterprise Forum (Foromic) 2013, Guadalajara, Mexico, September 30-October 2, 2013
Event Name: Inter-American MicroEnterprise Forum (Foromic) 2013
Event Date: September 30 – October 2, 2013
Event Location: Expo Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Asociación Dominicana para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (ADOPEM) of the Dominican Republic Collaborates with Codespa, La Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID) of Spain to Launch Agricultural Loan Program
Asociación Dominicana para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (ADOPEM), a microfinance institution based in the Dominican Republic, recently announced that it will collaborate with Codespa, a Spanish NGO that aims to increase access to jobs, healthcare and information technology, and La Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID), a Spanish nongovernmental humanitarian organization, to provide loans to farmers in the Dominican Republic [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: YellowPepper Launches Mobile Payments System in Colombia
YellowPepper, a US-based mobile payments provider, recently signed an agreement with 12 unspecified Colombian banks to launch its services in Colombia in an effort to replace cash payments and provide greater access to financial services for the country’s unbanked population.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Beneficiaries of Jamaica’s Program of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) to Receive Mobile Money Payments
The Jamaican government reportedly has announced a plan to begin disbursing mobile money payments to beneficiaries of its Program of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program established in partnership with the US-based World Bank Group that provides grants for health and education to qualified need-based applicants.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Austria’s Absolute Portfolio Management Issues Credits Worth $4m to Microfinance Institutions in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Georgia, Honduras, Indonesia
In July 2013, Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an Austria-based asset management company that offers investment and advisory services to microfinance institutions, issued approximately USD 4 million in credit to microfinance institutions (MFIs) located in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Georgia, Honduras and Indonesia through its two microfinance funds, Dual Return Fund – Vision Microfinance and Dual Return Fund – Vision Microfinance Local Currency [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Foundation, Grameen Bank, Brazil Foods (BRF) to Invest in Small Businesses, Genetically-Modified Organisms (GMOs) in Haiti
Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Muhammad Yunus reportedly announced in June 2013 a new partnership between the Grameen Foundation, a US-based nonprofit of which Yunus serves is a board member, the Grameen Bank, a Bangladesh-based microfinance institution (MFI) founded by Dr Yunus, and Brazil Foods (BRF), a Brazil-based food production and processing company, to offer an unspecified amount of money through microfinance loans to small businesses in Haiti that are engaged in the production of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), particularly in the poultry industry [1,2].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Banco De La Gente Emprendedora (BanGente) Hosts Fifth International Microfinance Forum in Caracas, Venezuela to Review “Universal Standards for Social Performance Management”
Banco De La Gente Emprendedora (BanGente), a Venezuela-based financial services organization, recently hosted the Fifth International Microfinance Forum in Caracas, Venezuela, to study the enforcement and monitoring of the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management (USSPM), a manual designed in June 2012 by the US- and Switzerland-based working group Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) that lists six practices microfinance institutions (MFIs) may adopt in order to expand their focus from financial to social goals [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Brazil’s Lower House of Congress Passes 1% Tax on Microinsurance
The lower house of the National Congress of Brazil recently approved a new financial operations tax for microinsurance companies of approximately one percent on the sale of microinsurance.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Oikocredit USA Summit 2013: Investing in People, Empowering Communities, September 5-6, 2013, Washington, DC, USA
Event Name: Oikocredit USA Summit 2013: Investing in People, Empowering Communities
Event Date: September 5-6, 2013
Event Location: Hyatt Regency Washington, DC, USA
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Investment Bank (EIB) to Loan $12b by 2020 to African, Caribbean, Pacific Countries for Infrastructure, Private Business, Regional Developments
The Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term lending bank of the European Union (EU), recently announced that it will loan a total of EUR 9 billion (USD 12 billion) by 2020 to institutions in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions through its ACP Investment Facility, a revolving and risk-bearing fund for private sector investment.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroCredit Enterprises Partners with Freedom from Hunger to offer Health-related Services to Clients of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)
MicroCredit Enterprises (MCE), a US-based NGO microfinance fund manager, and Freedom from Hunger, a US-based NGO that aims to alleviate hunger and poverty, are collaborating on a project that will offer “health-related education, loans, savings, insurance and linkages to local healthcare providers” in hopes that it will alleviate loan defaults caused by poor health and strengthen clients’ abilities to endure income-producing activities [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Loans $1m to BancoSol of Bolivia to Support Rural Areas
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, recently notified MicroCapital that it will provide a loan of up to USD 1 million to Banco Solidario SA (BancoSol), a Bolivian commercial bank that offers microfinance services, in an effort to improve financial access for farmers and poor rural families in the Bolivian cities of La Paz, Oruro and Potosi [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute Portfolio Management’s Dual Return Funds Invest $9.5m in Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) of Eight European, Asian, Latin American Countries
In June 2013, Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an Austrian firm that invests in microfinance and other sectors, issued loans totaling the equivalent of USD 9.5 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Poland though its two Vision Microfinance funds, Dual Return Fund- Vision Microfinance and Dual Return Fund- Vision Microfinance Local Currency Fund.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Alleviating Poverty via Mobile Communications; Integrating Microfinance, Health Services in the Andes; Mobile Phone Technology for Women in Afghanistan
“Alleviating Poverty: Mobile Communications, Microfinance and Small Business Development Around the World;” by Darrell M. West; published by The Brookings Institution; May 2013; 12 pages; available at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2013/05/16%20poverty%20mobile%20microfinance%20business%20west/westalleviating%20povertymobile%20comms%20microfinance%20small%20business51613v12.pdf