To protect the health of their workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, financial institutions have largely shifted their employees to working from home (WFH), increasing various cyber risks. During a two-month period early in the pandemic, “the use of remote access technologies such as the remote desktop protocol (RDP) and virtual private network (VPN)” increased by 41 percent and 33 percent, respectively. The authors posit
Category: Technology
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Energy Catalyst Community Seeks to Boost Commercialization of Solar, Wind, Battery, Payment, Other Innovations in Africa, Asia
Energy Catalyst, “a UK government-funded programme designed to accelerate access to sustainable energy” in Africa and Asia, recently launched its Energy Catalyst Community, offering a set of documents on commercializing energy innovations. The next phase of the project will allow companies funded by Energy Catalyst to collab
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Latinia Invests in Fintech Ábaco, Microlender in Colombia, Mexico
Spain-based software vendor and financial technology (fintech) investor Latinia recently announced it has invested an unspecified amount of funds in Ábaco, a fintech active in Colombia and Mexico. Based in Colombia, Ábaco makes lending decisions using software that “identifies the behavior of delivery platform workers and freela
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microsoft, IFC to Support Women Entrepreneurs, Forcibly Displaced Populations in Brazil with Business, ESG, Technology Training
Microsoft, a US-based technology firm, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently entered a partnership to deliver business and technology training in Brazil. This is to result in: (1) a publicly available workshop on January 26 regarding how to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) elements into a young business; (2) technology train
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Agritech CropIn of India Raises $20m in Equity from Investors Including ABC World Asia, CDC Group, Pratithi Investment Trust
CropIn, an agricultural technology (agritech) firm based in India, recently raised USD 20 million in its Series C funding round. The lead investor is ABC World Asia, a private equity firm headquartered in Singapore. ABC World Asia CEO David Heng said the investment
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fintechs Carticard, egabi, Mastercard Partner to Offer Microloans via Payment Cards in Egypt
Carticard, an affiliate of Egypt-based online business solutions platform egabi, recently partnered with Mastercard, a US-based payments technology company, through which Carticard will issue loans via Mastercard payment cards. This will increase to 400,000 the number of payment cards
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Pakistan Launches Digital Payment System Raast to Promote Financial Inclusion, Strengthen Rule of Law, Boost Government Services
The country of Pakistan recently began the rollout of Raast, an “instant digital payment system,” through which the government will route payments to individuals, such as salaries, pensions and welfare. Individuals and businesses
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: E-lending Company Creditas of Brazil Raises $225m in Equity, Eyeing Expansion to Mexico
Creditas, an online lending platform in Brazil, recently raised USD 225 million in equity, valuing the firm at approximately USD 1.75 billion. Among its plans for the new funds is
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Blue Mahoe Buying 40% Equity Stake in Microfinance Provider Sprint of Jamaica
Blue Mahoe Capital, an investment firm based in the US city of Miami, recently agreed to purchase a 40-percent equity stake in Sprint Financial Services Limited, a Jamaican microfinance company, for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is scheduled to close in March. Sprint plans to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Aye Finance Borrows $10m from Catalyst Trusteeship for On-lending to MSEs in India
Aye Finance, an online lender in India, recently received USD 10 million in debt financing from India-based Catalyst Trusteeship via Catalyst’s investment vehicles Masala Investment Sarl and Asian Access Vehicle (AAV) Sarl. Through a mobile-phone application,
MICROFINANCE EVENT: FinovateFall; September 13-15, 2021; New York, New York, USA
FinovateFall is one of a series of conferences focusing on financial technology (fintech). The event includes demonstrations of new fintech products, networking opportunities and approximately 120 speakers. Although the agenda for this year has yet to be announced, the 2020 agenda included sessions such as Keynote presentations by Pablos Holman, inventor at the Intellectual Ventures Lab; Sarika Sangwan, Global Head of strategy and marketing at Pinterest; and a panel discussion of post-Covid innovation. Details regarding an option to participate virtually are under development.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nigeria-based Microbank Citygate Global Introduces Fintech App Monéé
Citygate Global, a Nigeria-based microfinance institution, recently introduced Monéé, a digital application allowing customers to access financial services such as loans, savings, investments and bill payments via mobile phones. The app also offers fund transfers to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Singapore, Rwanda Implementing 1st Rollout of E-commerce Platform Proxtera; Promising SMEs International, Domestic Connections to Customers, Vendors, Logistics, Financial Services
Rwanda’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) recently signed a deal to implement the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) platform Proxtera in Rwanda. As the successor to Business sans Borders, Proxtera
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Digital Cash Transfers for Stranded Migrants,” by Anit Mukherjee, Published by Center for Global Development
In light of efforts by government entities to assist internal migrants within India whose lives have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Mukherjee argues that “unlike countries such as Brazil or Pakistan, India does not have a unified beneficiary database or social registry that could be used to identify, target, register and pay those in need of assistance.” The bureaucracy of India’s social assistance programs, which are fragmented among
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FEI OGEF Loans $4m to Bboxx to Expand “Pulse” Electric Power Management, Pay-as-you-go Solar Energy in DRC
The Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (OGEF), a debt fund of the Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI), recently lent USD 4 million to Bboxx, a UK-based solar energy installation and financing firm that is active in Africa and Asia. The loan proceeds are slated to help Bboxx meet its agreement with
SPECIAL REPORT: European Microfinance Week Closes, Looking to Future of Financial Inclusion: Wooing Regulators, Women Leveraging Loans by Factor of 5, Investor Collaboration, New Customers for MFIs
Claudio 
Gonzalez-Vega, a board member of Spain’s BBVA Microfinance Foundation, spoke of the huge impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at the closing plenary of European Microfinance Week, with life expectancy falling and an estimated 115 million people being pushed into extreme poverty. Despite the difficulties for microfinance institutions (MFIs), he said they may soon find a larger, very appropriate market for their services, given that many of these newly poor people have business experience. Dr Gonzalez-Vega argued that the “pandemic will make microfinance more important,” as – given MFIs’ “intimate knowledge of clients – the role of microfinance will be appreciated in a new light.”
Dina Pons of Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management agreed that microfinance clients have gotten
SPECIAL REPORT: Financial Inclusion for Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDPs) – Part 2: Regulatory Barriers, Segmenting Needs
(This is the companion feature to an earlier piece on a European Microfinance Week conversation on serving refugees.)
Swati Mehta Dhawan of Germany’s Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt argued for building up legal frameworks to allow forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) to escape “infinite limbo” by accessing documentation for identification purposes, working legally and integrating with host populations. She offered the example of a person displaced to Kenya, who has been there for 15 years without being allowed to work. Hans-Martin Zademach, also of Catholic University, noted many are “stuck in survival mode,” more in need of a reliable income source than methods for managing money.
However, Ms Dhawan explained that FDPs’ needs for financial services often increase as years go by. A common trajectory is
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bank-Genie, Cufa to Distribute BanqIn Digital Banking Platform to 23 Credit Unions in Rural Myanmar
Bank-Genie, a Singapore-based financial technology (fintech) firm, recently partnered with Cufa, an Australia-based NGO, to deploy Bank-Genie’s BanqIn platform in Cufa partner credit unions. The BanqIn platform will house the credit unions’ customer datasets,