Amartha, a firm offering peer-to-peer lending and other services in Indonesia, recently gained access to USD 6 million in debt financing from the Belgian impact investing firm Incofin Investment Management in an attempt to boost access to financial services for women entrepreneurs in rural Indonesia. Two thirds of the total invested comes from the Microfinance Enhancement Facility (MEF), and the remainder is sourced from
Category: Trends/Challenges
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mobilink Microfinance Offering Loans to “Home-based Restaurants” Using Foodpanda to Take Online Orders, Offer Delivery in Pakistan
Mobilink Microfinance Bank, a Pakistani digital financial services provider, recently initiated a collaboration with foodpanda home chefs, a division of Singapore-based “online food and grocery delivery platform” foodpanda. The objective is to extend weekly microloans of up to PKR 50,000 (USD 247) to home-based restaurant owners in order to “help resolve supply chain, marketing, and food quality issues” thus “empowering
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BlueOrchard, Luxembourg Ministry of Finance, Schroders Partner on Public-private Environmental Sustainability, Biodiversity Fund
The Luxembourg Ministry of Finance, the UK-based Schroders Group and its Switzerland-based unit BlueOrchard Finance recently agreed to initiate a fund to raise public and private capital to promote “climate mitigation, climate adaptation, and the protection of water and biodiversity.” Finance Minister Yuriko Backes stated that the plan “supports sustainable investments and contributes to resilient economies in emerging markets.” BlueOrchard will serve as
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ADB Lends $15m to KMF to Boost Financial Inclusion for MSMEs, Post-Covid Growth in Kazakhstan
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a multilateral development finance institution, recently agreed to lend USD 15 million to KazMicroFinance (KMF), a microlender in Kazakhstan. The loan is intended to boost its services to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) – especially in rural areas – to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: DFC, USAID, African Union’s AUDA-NEPAD Partner to Expand Access to Finance for MSMEs in Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Nigeria
The US Agency for International Development (AID) and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) recently joined with the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) to provide loan guarantees to support micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and Nigeria. The goals of the partnership are to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFAD Lends India’s Uttarakhand State $105m for Rural Enterprise Acceleration Project (REAP) to Address Incomes, Climate Resilience, Out-migration
The government of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand and the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) recently partnered to launch the Rural Enterprise Acceleration Project (REAP) with the objective of reaching 560,000 households by “supporting smallholder farmers, agricultural laborers, and micro and small agribusinesses to start and expand competitive businesses” including by
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government of Belize, ICDF, IDB Seek to Create Employment, Aid Pandemic Recovery Among MSMEs, Especially Women-led Firms
The multilateral Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) and Belize’s government recently agreed to collaborate on an effort to facilitate job creation and the growth of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Belize. With a focus on female entrepreneurs, the program targets MSMEs with investments to “finance
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UsPlus Borrows $11m from Lendable, Absa to Boost Access to Factoring for SMEs, Including Black-owned, Rural Companies
Verdant Capital, a Mauritius-based corporate finance firm, recently arranged USD 10 million in debt funding from US-based Lendable Asset Management for UsPlus, a South African funder of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This comes after UsPlus raised
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Translating Digital Credit Transaction Data Into Consumer Protection Supervision,” by Daniel Putman, Published by Innovations for Poverty Action
The adoption of digital financial services (DFS) has increased significantly in lower- and middle-income countries in recent years, specifically the usage of digital credit via mobile phone messaging, mobile apps and web browsers. Among the benefits of digital loans is the
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FICO, Círculo de Crédito Deploy Updated Credit Scoring System Seeking to Overcome Customers’ Lack of Credit History in Mexico
Círculo de Crédito, a Mexico-based credit bureau, and FICO, a US-based credit scoring company, recently implemented an updated credit scoring system to help lenders, insurers, automobile dealerships and other firms in Mexico to evaluate their customers. The companies estimate that “FICO Score 4” and “FICO Extended Score 4” will allow their clients to reach 8 million
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: JSIL Initiates JS Microfinance Sector Fund to Lend to MFIs in Pakistan
Pakistan-based JS Investments Limited (JSIL) recently launched the JS Microfinance Sector Fund (JSMFSF) with the goal of providing “the opportunity to tap into the growth potential of Pakistan’s microfinance sector” resulting in “a reasonable rate of return while maintaining high liquidity.” The fund carries a minimum investment of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Strategic Impact Advisors (SIA) Launches Campaign to Boost Personal, Business Financial Literacy Among Spanish-speaking Women
US-based Strategic Impact Advisors (SIA) recently released a set of free resources to deliver financial education to women in Latin America, including 22 audio lessons spanning 1 to 4 minutes in length. The lessons mainly cover topics relating to digital financial services, including using
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Fintech: Financial Inclusion or Exclusion?”; by Yoke Wang Tok, Dyna Heng; Published by International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Based on a review of existing literature, the authors find that the global gender gap in digital financial inclusion is 11 percent points and the rich-poor gap is 15 percent points. They then perform a regression analysis drawing from a wide range of datasets on digital financial inclusion; traditional financial inclusion; proxies for financial technology (fintech) such as fundraising; and measures of the digital divide by gender, income, and urban versus rural. The three main results are:
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Palestinian Monetary Authority, European Investment Bank (EIB) Announce $63m Package for MSMEs in Gaza Adjusting to COVID-19 Pandemic, with Focus on Companies Run by Women, Youth
The EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB) recently announced it will disburse EUR 60 million (USD 63 million) to the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA), with USD 50 million of the total to be on-lent by retail lenders in Gaza to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The remainder of the funding will
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Institution Banco Solidario Borrows $3m from MicroVest to Speed MSMEs’ Adjustment to COVID-19 Pandemic
Ecuador’s Banco Solidario recently agreed to borrow USD 3 million from MicroVest, a debt-focused asset manager owned by US-based DAI Global, to support the microbank’s financial education of women as well as “the expansion of the company’s SME [small and medium-sized enterprise] portfolio to revive the liquidity needs of small businesses seeking working capital in the post-COVID environment.” Established in 1995, Banco Solidario offers
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Institution Fundacion Espoir Receives $2m Investment from MicroVest, Targeting Women-led Businesses in Ecuador
MicroVest, a debt-focused asset manager owned by US-based DAI Global, recently agreed to lend USD 2 million to Ecuador’s Fundacion Espoir, an NGO providing microcredit, insurance and financial education. The goal is to support Fundacion Espoir in assisting women-led micro-, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in recovering from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Annual Conference; September 13-15, 2022; Leesburg, Virginia, USA
Themed “resilient entrepreneurship,” this event will focus on how small and growing businesses (SGBs) across the globe are adapting to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and an otherwise changing world. The agenda includes topics such as climate change, sustainability, and how SGBs can plan for the future. Although the session titles for this year have not been released yet, sessions from last year’s iteration included “A Care-centered Economic Recovery: The Role of SGBs and Impact Investment” and “How Have We Co-created Gender-smart Accelerators that Actually Meet Female Founders’ Needs?”.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Equity Group Nets Over $165m from IFC, BII, FMO, ResponsAbility, Symbiotics for Climate Projects, Financial Inclusion for MSMEs in Africa
Partially through its Financial Institutions Growth Fund, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is paying an undisclosed sum to acquire a 6.7-percent stake in Equity Group Holdings, which has banking operations in Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. IFC and the UK government’s British International Investment (BII) also are each lending the group’s Equity Bank Kenya