Source: Business Daily Africa.
Search Results for: ECOBANK
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Non-Profit ACCION International and Africa’s Ecobank Group Launch Microfinance Institution (MFI) in Ghana
ACCION International, a microfinance-oriented non-profit, and Ecobank, a banking group with operations throughout Africa, have partnered to launch microfinance bank EB-ACCION Savings & Loan in Ghana.
WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: Ecobank
Ecobank is an independent regional banking Group in West and Central Africa serving wholesale and retail customers. It has a network covering 18 countries namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tchad and Togo, with plans to establish presence in East and Southern Africa. The Group has a network of over 320 branches and offices established in the last nineteen years. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) the parent company of the Ecobank Group plays a central role in the definition and implementation of common policies and standards on the basis of a “one bank” concept across the group’s network.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Ecobank and ACCION International to Launch New Microfinance Banks in 20 African Countries
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, an African regional bank and parent of the Ecobank Group, and ACCION International, a global microlending organization, announce completion of plans to open microfinance banks in at least 20 countries across
Boston-Based ACCION International Partners with Togo-Based Ecobank Transnational Incorporated to Expand into Western Africa
Accion International, a private US-based nonprofit microfinance network that partners with 22 microbanks globally which held a total, collective loan portfolio of USD 1.34 bn in 2005, partnered with Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (Ecobank), an independent regional West African bank based in Togo. The two organizations will work together over the next three to five years to deliver products such as microcredit, business training and other financial services through Ecobank’s existing branch network. These products will also be available through Ecobank’s ATMs, point-of-sale terminals and phone banking system. With the support of Accion, Ecobank will now offer financial services such as savings and insurance products and loans as low as USD 100.
EBRD Loans Armenian Inecobank USD 5 Million in Microfinance Investment to Be Used for Small Business Lending
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently announced that it will be lending USD 5 million to Armenia’s CJSC Inecobank, which will be used for “on-lending to local micro and small enterprises.” EBRD, with support from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will also contribute technical training to improve the bank’s lending operations. In 2005, the EBRD lent Inecobank USD 1 million to start up its microlending branch. The head of the EBRD’s Armenia office, Michael Weinstein, mentioned that the loan will “facilitate growth in the banking sector and support mico and small enterprises’ access to finance.”
SPECIAL REPORT: Joy Ogutu of Agents for Impact on Impact Investing in Africa
How best to invest in Africa? What makes this region attractive to investors? This month, we introduce you to Joy Ogutu (pictured), an Africa-based Investment Officer at Agents for Impact (AFI), an impact investment company based in Germany. As an expert in sustainable investments and impact in Africa, Joy offers us keen insight into these and other questions on sustainable growth and the current conditions in Africa.
Joy 
has over 10 years of experience in the financial sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Before joining AFI, she worked at the African Guarantee Fund, where she held the positions of Business Development Officer and Credit Officer. Her roles involved managing the guarantee cycle of financial institutions providing loans to small and medium-sized enterprises. Prior to that, she worked at Equity Bank, Ecobank and Commercial Bank of Africa (now NCBA). Her areas of expertise include deal structuring, credit risk analysis, portfolio management and relationship management. Joy is passionate about promoting sustainable development by facilitating access to finance and aiding organizations in their investment strategies. She believes that financial returns can be obtained while making a positive impact on the environment and the communities in which AFI operates.
MicroCapital: In your work in financial services, what have been the highlights? What motivates you?
Joy Ogutu: I am
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Investment Bank Launches EIB Global to Expand in Africa, Asia, Latin America
The EU’s European Investment Bank (EIB) recently launched a new unit, EIB Global, to expand its operations in Africa, Asia and Latin America with support from Team Europe, an initiative launched by the EU to help countries worldwide adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic. To support its expanded geographic scope,
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “A Digital Bookkeeping App to Improve Access to Finance,” Published by UN Capital Development Fund
Ghana-based financial technology firm Ozé and Ecobank, a Togo-based commercial bank that operates in 35 countries, partnered beginning in 2020 to expand usage of the Ozé Business App among young entrepreneurs in rural Ghana. The Ozé mobile phone app is designed to help users track
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: DEG, agRIF, Daiwa Enter $9m Equity Agreement to Support Rent2Own, a Transportation Company in Myanmar
Deutsche Investitions – und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), a subsidiary of German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW); agRIF, a fund of Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management; and Japan-based asset manager Daiwa Partners recently signed an agreement to make an equity investment totaling USD 9 million
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Loans $1.2m to AFK of Kosovo for Microlending to Smallholder Farmers; Micro-, Small Enterprises (MSEs)
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a unit of the World Bank Group, recently loaned EUR 1 million (USD 1.2 million) to the Agency for Finance in Kosovo (AFK), a microfinance institution that focuses on
SPECIAL REPORT: Promoting Partnerships that Support Value Chains at Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance (SAM)
During the opening plenary session of African Microfinance Week, also known as Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance (SAM), the hot topic was partnerships, especially those that support value chains. André Okou of the African Development Bank, explained that his organization aims “to create new synergy by approaching the value chain in an integrated fashion – supporting all parts of the chain, including non-agricultural elements – to tackle constraints.” Raphaël de Guerre of the French government’s Agence Française de Developpement stated, “In Guinea we have added value for coffee producers. In Cameroon, we have increased honey prices by a factor of 3, showing private investors that this is viable.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $4.2m to Agricultural Cooperative Bank of Armenia (ACBA) Leasing for On-lending to Micro-, Small Enterprises
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently announced that it is disbursing a senior loan of EUR 3.4 million (USD 4.17 million) to Agricultural Cooperative Bank of Armenia (ACBA) Leasing, a subsidiary of ACBA, for on-lending to micro- and small enterprises (MSEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mozido Raises $185m from MasterCard, Wellington Management, Individual Funders to Expand Operations
Mozido, a US-based mobile payment and marketing software company, recently raised USD 185 million in capital in the first round of its Series B financing to expand its mobile and payment services in Africa, China, Europe, India, Latin America and the Middle East.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Liberia Investing for Business Expansion (IBEX) Provides Technical Support, Access to $860k in Credit to Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Via Banks
The Liberia Investing for Business Expansion (IBEX) program, a project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that focuses on improving access to financial services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by linking them with banks, provided clients in the agriculture, construction and trade sectors with access to loans totaling USD 860,000 from July to September 2014.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $19m to Komercijalna banka Beograd of Serbia for Housing Purchases, Improvements
Serbia’s Komercijalna banka Beograd, a bank based in Serbia, recently borrowed EUR 15 million (USD 19.2 million) under a senior loan agreement from the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based, government-backed microfinance investment vehicle.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) Rwanda, Kenya Commercial Bank Group (KCB), Kenya’s I&M Bank, Rwanda’s RSwitch to Offer Cardless ATM Banking Services in Rwanda
Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) Rwanda, the Rwandan branch of South Africa-based mobile telecommunications company MTN, reportedly has announced a partnership with Kenya Commercial Bank Group (KCB) and I&M Bank, which both offer corporate and retail banking services in Kenya, and RSwitch, an electronic payment service firm based in Rwanda, to offer cardless automated teller machine (ATM) services in Rwanda.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bank of Punjab, MasterCard Launch Electronic Government-To-Person Social Security Payment System in Pakistan
The Bank of Punjab, which is owned by the government of the Pakistani province of Punjab, and MasterCard Incorporated, a US-based payments and technology company with operations in 210 countries and territories, recently announced a “Social Security Program” to convert government assistance to individuals to electronic payments.