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].
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC, Cathay United Bank Loaning $50m to VPBank for SMEs in Vietnam with Support From Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group, and Cathay United Bank, a Taiwan-based commercial bank, recently announced that they will each lend USD 25 million to Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) to support small businesses in Vietnam.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Guatemala’s Fundación Génesis Empresarial, Pakistan’s Kashf Foundation, Opportunity Bank of Uganda Named as Finalists for Education Edition of $112k European Microfinance Award
The European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP), a network of European microfinance stakeholders working in developing countries, recently announced that three finalists for the 7th European Microfinance Award have been selected from 30 applicants: (1) Fundación Génesis Empresarial of Guatemala; (2) Kashf Foundation of Pakistan; and (3) Opportunity Bank of Uganda.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Controversy Brews as For-Profit Fintech Provider MyBucks Buys 6 African Microfinance Organizations from Nonprofit Opportunity International
The sale of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda over the first half of 2016 by US-based NGO Opportunity International to Luxembourg-based financial technology company MyBucks has raised concerns both that these MFIs’ clients could be negatively impacted and that these transactions signal that the sector’s overall direction has shifted toward profit-making.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: VisionFund International Buying Majority Equity Stake in Opportunity’s Microfinance Institution in Democratic Republic of Congo
Pending regulatory approval, VisionFund International, a US-based affiliate of the Christian humanitarian organization World Vision International, recently agreed to purchase a majority stake in Opportunity International’s (OI’s) microfinance institution (MFI) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Agora Microfinance, BRAC, Juhudi Kilimo, One Acre Fund, Opportunity, VisionFund International Launch “Propagate” Coalition to Support Financing of Small-scale Farmers
Six microfinance organizations based on four continents recently formed a coalition, called Propagate, to encourage the financing of small-scale farmers to help them improve their productivity and access to markets by (1) lowering economic barriers to entry; (2) enabling growth of financial services for smallholders; and (3) creating commercial and operational partnerships. The founding coalition members are Netherlands-based Agora Microfinance; Bangladesh-based development organization BRAC; for-profit Kenyan microlender Juhudi Kilimo; One Acre Fund, an NGO serving farmers in four African countries; US-based Opportunity International and UK-based VisionFund International.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $5m to Opportunity Bank Serbia for On-Lending to Micro-, Small Enterprises; Low-Income Households in Rural Serbia
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently announced that it will loan EUR 5 million (USD 5.4 million) to Opportunity Bank Serbia (OBS), a branch of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, to improve access to finance for micro -and small enterprises (MSEs) and low-income households in rural areas of Serbia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Opportunity International Selling 6 Banks in Sub-Saharan Africa to Financial Technology Company MyBucks
Opportunity International, a microfinance NGO based in the US city of Chicago, has announced that it intends to sell six of its banks that are located in unspecified sub-Saharan Africa to MyBucks Group, a financial technology company in Luxembourg.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Opportunity International, ReGrow West Africa, Tata Communications Make Commitments at 11th Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting
At the recent eleventh annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the US-based Clinton Foundation, 123 new commitments to “alleviate poverty, create a cleaner environment and increase access to health care and education” were announced, including [1]:
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MetLife Foundation Donates $1.8m to Opportunity International to Support Financial Access through Microfinance, Education in Rural China
MetLife Foundation, an affiliate of the Chicago-based insurance company MetLife, recently announced the disbursement of USD 1.8 million in grant funding to Opportunity International, a microfinance NGO also based in the US city of Chicago, to support its outreach via bank branches and mobile vans in rural China.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Opportunity Collaboration, October 11 – 16, 2015, Ixtapa, Mexico
Event Name: Opportunity Collaboration
Event Date: October 11-16, 2015
Event Location: Playa Quiet Beach, Ixtapa, Mexico
Event Summary: Opportunity Collaboration is a five-day networking and problem-solving event that engages social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, social financiers and grant-makers to explore methods of collaboration, identify opportunities for leveraging resources across organizations and generate mechanisms for reducing poverty.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Millicom International Cellular, Urwego Opportunity Bank Launch Tigo Sugira Mobile Savings in Rwanda
Millicom International Cellular, a Luxembourg-based telecommunications and media company, recently launched the mobile-based savings product Tigo Sugira in Rwanda with Urwego Opportunity Bank, a Rwandan microfinance institution [1].
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: Amret Microfinance, Econet Wireless, myAgro, Urwego Opportunity Bank to Engage Human-Centered Design Firms to Improve Digital Financial Services for Smallholder Farmers in Cambodia, Africa
CGAP (The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), a US-based nonprofit that aims to facilitate the expansion of financial access, recently selected the following financial service providers to receive an unspecified level of support from human-centered design firms to improve their digital financial services for small-scale farmers: (1) Amret Microfinance, a Cambodian microfinance institution; (2) the Zimbabwean arm of South African mobile network operator Econet Wireless and US-based relief and development nonprofit Mercy Corps; (3) myAgro, a nonprofit organization in Mali that sells agricultural inputs via mobile technology; and (4) Urwego Opportunity Bank (UOB), a microfinance institution that was created as a result of a merger between Urwego Community Banking and Opportunity International Bank of Rwanda [1]. While the Econet-Mercy partnership will engage human-centered design firm Ideo.org, the other three programs have not yet released the names of the organizations with which they will work.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Credit Suisse to Fund Opportunity International’s “Empowering Generational Change Through Education” in Africa, Asia, Latin America
Credit Suisse, a Swiss global financial services company with operations in 50 countries, has agreed to donate an undisclosed sum to Opportunity International, a US-based nonprofit providing microfinance in 22 countries, to launch a three-year program entitled “Empowering Generational Change Through Education” that focuses on lending for education initiatives.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Opportunity Collaboration, October 12-17, 2014, Ixtapa Mexico
Event Name: Opportunity Collaboration
Event Date: October 12-17, 2014
Event Location: Playa Quiet Beach, Ixtapa, Mexico
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MicroEnsure Raises $10m in Equity from International Finance Corporation, Omidyar Network, Opportunity International, Telenor Group; First-Time Investors AXA, Sanlam Emerging Markets
MicroEnsure, a UK-based, for-profit microinsurance company founded by US-based NGO Opportunity International, has announced that it has raised a total of USD 10.4 million from six investors including some of the company’s past investors: Opportunity International; the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group; Omidyar Network, a US-based social investment firm; and Telenor Group, a telecommunications company based in Norway.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Opportunity Bank Serbia; MDO Arvand of Tajikistan; Bai Tushum, Kompanion of Kyrgyzstan Receive Smart Campaign Client Protection Certification
The Smart Campaign, a consumer-protection initiative launched in 2010 by the US-based nonprofit Accion, recently granted its “Smart Certification” to four microfinance institutions (MFIs): Opportunity Bank Serbia, which is controlled by US-based NGO Opportunity International; Microcredit Deposit-Taking Organizaition (MDO) Arvand, an MFI in Tajikistan that provides financial services to entrepreneurs; Bai Tushum Bank, a microfinance institution serving entrepreneurs in Kyrgyzstan; and Kompanion, an MFI that offers “development products and services”[1] to entrepreneurs and individuals in Kyrgyzstan.