By Benjamin Feigenberg, Erica Field and Rohini Pande,; Harvard Kennedy School Working Paper no. RWP10- 019; available at: http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/4449105/Feigenberg_BuildingSocial.pdf?sequence=1
Social capital, defined as “features of social organization, such as trust, norms and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions”, is built up as a result of repeated interpersonal interactions.
In January 2011, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) provided MicroCapital with data pertaining to debt and equity investments made during 2010 via the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and the Social Entrepreneurship Program (SEP). The investments are covered by MicroCapital in three separate briefs.
In January 2011, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) provided MicroCapital with data pertaining to debt and equity investments made during 2010 via the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and the Social Entrepreneurship Program (SEP). The investments are covered by MicroCapital in three separate briefs.
In January 2011, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) provided MicroCapital with data pertaining to debt and equity investments made during 2010 via the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and the Social Entrepreneurship Program (SEP). The investments are covered by MicroCapital in three separate briefs.
CreditEase, a Beijing-based financial services firm, has launched an online referral engine in China aimed at connecting investors and the public with borrowers that include graduate students and rural women through partnerships with merchants, microfinance institutions (MFIs) and universities. The company’s microfinance operations are detailed at http://www.yinongdai.com/. While other lending services are handled via http://www.creditease.cn/.
Former directors of Havilah Microfinance Bank Limited, Rufus Dada Oluyole and his son-in-law Rotimi Olubowale, have been arraigned before a magistrate’s court in Lagos, Nigeria on criminal charges of conspiracy, forging the letterhead of Havilah and falsely representing themselves as directors of the bank to customers after they no longer filled those roles.
Commercial and retail banks in Kenya, recognizing the increase in demand for microloans in the country, have lowered their loan minimums to compete against moneylenders and microfinance institutions (MFIs).
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other organizations offering microfinance products in Sri Lanka – which reportedly number in the thousands – are to be regulated under a new microfinance bill to be introduced to the Sri Lankan parliament soon.
The West African Development Bank (WADB), an international development bank based in Lomé, Togo, and Kafo Jiginew, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Mali, have come to terms on a XOF 1.5 billion (USD 3.03 million) loan to Kafo Jiginew to expand its financing of local agricultural projects, including loans to cotton growers and credit unions.
MFTransparency, a US-based nongovernmental watchdog that focuses on interest rates in the microfinance industry, recently expanded its Transparent Pricing Initiative to Rwanda to educate citizens in that country on interest rates in an effort to impel microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the country to lower microfinance interest rates. Plans for this expansion were announced on this website in October.
Dr Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in microcredit, has again spoken out against the commercialization of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and their deviation from the mission of poverty alleviation.
The Indian government has introduced a life insurance scheme for members of self-help groups (SHGs), village-based groups of about 10 to 20 women that offer savings and loans to their members, in an effort reassure bankers who invest in SHGs.
Daniel Rozas, a microfinance consultant based in Brussels, and Vinod Kothari, a microfinance practitioner based in Kolkata, India, recently wrote an article published on the Microfinance Focus website discussing the different rating methodologies practiced by rating agencies CRISIL and Fitch on securitized microfinance investment products.
Leopard Capital, an investment management firm founded in 2007 that invests in developing countries within Asia, recently acquired a 33.7 percent stake in the Cambodian microfinance institution (MFI) Intean Poalroath RongRoeurng (IPR) for an undisclosed sum.
responsAbility Social Investments AG, an investment company based in Switzerland, recently reported to MicroCapital that it invested the equivalent of USD 13 million in two microfinance institutions (MFIs) in South America.
The microfinance sector in Afghanistan has seen growth in demand for credit since the Afghan government developed the Microfinance Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA) in 2003, with approximately 1.5 million loans totaling USD 831 million disbursed to date.
Ujjivan Financial Services, a microfinance institution (MFI) headquartered in Bangalore, India, has raised INR 40 crores (USD 8.82 million) of debt capital through the issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to Developing World Market (DWM) (Cyprus) Limited, a member company of Developing World Markets, a US-based social investment fund manager.
A USD 2.5 million grant from Japan’s Fund for Poverty Reduction, which is financed by the Japanese government and administered by Asian Development Bank (ADB), will be used to attempt to strengthen the regulation of Mongolia’s savings and credit cooperative market.