Appzone, a Nigeria-based financial technology firm, recently raised USD 10 million (NGN 3.8 billion) in its Series A round of funding, which was led by Nigeria-based private equity investor CardinalStone. The other participating investors were US-based Lateral Investment Partners and three Nigeria-based firms:
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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Pngme, Data Processor for Lenders in Africa, Raises $3m in Seed Equity Round Led by EchoVC, Lateral Capital, Radical Ventures, Raptor Group
Pngme, a US-based financial data firm focused on African markets, recently announced it has closed its seed fundraising round at a volume of USD 3 million. Pngme offers an application program interface (API) that allows financial institutions to access and analyze
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: UNIDO Incubates Agro-processing Training Center, Moving Groundnut, Sesame Farmers Up Oils Value Chain in South Sudan
The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) recently handed over a program for developing agricultural value chains to local managers in South Sudan. Since its launch in 2019, 250 farmers in the country have enrolled, learning entrepreneurship skills and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sempli of Colombia Raises $8m in Equity Round Led by Incofin, Oikocredit
Sempli, a financial technology (fintech) company based in Colombia, recently secured Series A equity totaling USD 8 million via a funding round led by Incofin CVSO, a cooperative fund managed by Belgium-based Incofin Investment Management (IM), and Netherlands-based cooperative investor Oikocredit. Established in 2017, Sempli combines in-house with
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CDC, Omidyar Network, Accel Lead $21m Equity Funding Round for Indifi Technologies, Lender to SMEs in India
The CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution, recently invested USD 15 million as part of a USD 21 million fundraising round for Indifi Technologies, a digital lender to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India. Two US-based investors, Omidyar Network and Accel, also
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Presents “Metrics from the Ground Up;” February 18 – 19, 2019; Merida, Mexico
Metrics from the Ground Up focuses on measuring the impact of small and growing businesses (SGBs) and developing strategies to increase that impact. Its organizer, the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), is an adoption partner of the
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs’ (ANDE’s) Metrics from the Ground Up; June 12 – 13, 2018; Washington, DC, USA
Summary of Event: The tenth iteration of this event will address how to quantify impact in the “small and growing businesses” (SGBs) sector. Participants will take stock of the progress made over the last decade as well as discussing ways to overcome challenges in the industry. Draft agenda items include; Collecting Data Across the Five Dimensions of Impact, Using Outcome Data to
MICROFINANCE PAPER ROUND-UP: Microfinance for Housing; Female Smallholders in Mozambique, Tanzania; Client Protection for Savings Groups That Go Digital
“Microfinance for Housing: Building New Foundations in Housing Microfinance;” by Sam Mendelson, Katarzyna Pawlak, Ewa Bankowska, Gabriela Erice and Daniel Rozas; published by the European Microfinance Platform; April 2018; 40 pages; available at http://www.e-mfp.eu/sites/default/files/resources/2018/04/European%20Dialogue%20no_12_web_0.pdf
This report presents the status, trends and potential of the housing portion of the microfinance sector, including case studies of the 10 semi-finalists for the 2017 European Microfinance Award. In addition to content specific to the eight past European Microfinance Awards, the authors outline the status of low-income housing globally and discuss why housing microfinance has been slow to develop.
To help service providers address the lack of affordable housing worldwide, they identify the following
MICROFINANCE PAPER ROUND-UP: Graduation Programming in Uganda, Financial Lives of Farmers in DRC, Funding Local-currency Microlending in Myanmar
“The Impact of Variations of Ultra-Poor Graduation Programming in Uganda;” by Richard Sedlmayr, Munshi Sulaiman and Anuj Shah; published by Innovations for Poverty Action; February 2018; 4 pages; available at https://www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/publications/VE%20Results%20Brief.pdf
Village Enterprise is a US-based NGO that offers microenterprise services in Africa such as cash transfers, mentorship, financial education and business education with the goal of helping participants achieve financial stability and increased income. This study includes a sample of approximately 6,000 Ugandan households in 138 villages that accessed Village Enterprise programs. The researchers studied a control group and groups engaged in four sets of interventions: (1) unconditional cash transfers equivalent to USD 300; (2) cash transfers coupled with training on how to manage the money; (3) cash transfers with training plus mentoring; and (4) all three of these services plus participation in business savings groups.
The fourth intervention – the full graduation program – had the largest
MICROFINANCE PAPER ROUND-UP: Measurement: from Financial Access to Economic Empowerment; Savings Groups’ Impact; MFIs’ Role with Start-ups
“Advancing Financial Inclusion Metrics: Shifting from Access to Economic Empowerment;” by Carlos Monteverde, Mahadevan Chidambaram, Matthew Blake and Drew Propson; published by the World Economic Forum; January 2018; 24 pages; available at
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_White_Paper_Advancing_Financial_Inclusion_Metrics.pdf
The authors of this report address how to improve the measurement of financial inclusion and ultimately how to bridge financial inclusion with financial health. They identify the following mechanisms as critical to successful financial inclusion: (1) payments; (2) savings; (3) credit; and (4) regulation and policy. Regarding the connection of financial inclusion to financial health, the authors consider three case studies: (1) Insight2Impact, a data-analysis company seeking to measure financial inclusion based on the needs of consumers rather than on the products they are offered; (2) the nonprofit Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), which measures “long-term” consumer outcomes in the US; and (3) the application of CFSI’s model to other countries by
MICROFINANCE PAPER ROUND-UP: Achieving SDGs by Supporting SMEs, Engaging Youth in Financial Services via Social Media, Effects of Financial Education on Credit Card Usage
“SMEs and SDGs: Supporting Small and Medium Enterprises to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” by Maria Teresa Zappia and Lisa Sherk, published by BlueOrchard, November 2017, 28 pages, available at http://www.blueorchard.com/smes-sdgs-supporting-small-medium-enterprises-achieve-sustainable-development-goals-insights-blueorchard-survey/
In this report, the authors explore how improving the business climate for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), may help achieve many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 17 guiding principles intended to help combat poverty, protect the environment, and encourage economic and political stability.
Ms Zappia and Ms Sherk surveyed financial institutions that lend to SMEs in the Caucasus, Central and South America, East Asia and
MICROFINANCE PAPER ROUND-UP: Index of Women Entrepreneurs; Investing in Affordable Housing; Comparing Impact, Traditional Investment Returns
“Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs 2017,” published by Mastercard, March 2017, 31 pages, available at https://newsroom.mastercard.com/eu/files/2017/03/Report-Mastercard-Index-of-Women-Entrepreneurs-2017-Mar-3.pdf
This tool is intended to measure the evolution of women’s participation in business around the world. The authors apply a set of 37 indicators to data from 54 economies to explore the variations in: (1) women’s advancement; (2) knowledge assets and financial access; and (3) supporting entrepreneurial conditions. One of the primary women’s-advancement indicators is the percentage of CEOs and managers that are women in a given country. Six of the top 10 performers are upper-middle-income countries, with Canada and New Zealand being the only
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Digital Wallets for Illiterate Customers in India, Agency Banking in Africa, Gender Equality in Financial Services
“Digital Wallet Adoption for the Oral Segment in India: Concept Development for MoWo (Mobile Wallet for Oral);” by Brett Hudson Matthews, Richa Valechha, Vivek Anand, Avantika Kushwaha, Saborni Poddar and Rachit Ohri; published by MicroSave; May 2017; 50 pages, available at:
http://www.microsave.net/files/pdf/DWA_Research_Concept_Development_for_MoWO.pdf
The authors describe a project conducted during 2016 in India on the Mobile Wallet for Oral (MoWo), a mobile-money service designed for the “oral” market segment, which includes 264 million people in the country who have low reading-skill levels. A group of 310 participants from various communities were subjected to “signing, reading and numeracy” tests. Thereafter, 138 people of varying literacy levels participated in focus groups on the user interface of the mobile wallet. Finally, 29 participants performed usability testing.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: 11th Symbiotics MIV Survey, Very Small Businesses in Ethiopia, Climate-shock Recovery Lending in Africa
“2017 Symbiotics MIV Survey,” published by the Symbiotics Group, September 2017, 55 pages, available at:
http://symbioticsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Symbiotics-2017-MIV-Survey.pdf
This 11th annual survey of microfinance investment vehicles (MIV) offers data from 93 microfinance funds managed by “44 specialized asset management companies located in 17 countries.” The responding firms’ funds comprise 94 percent of the estimated market size of USD 13.5 billion. The MIV’s assets allocated to microfinance total USD 9.6 billion, of which 73 percent is in fixed-income funds, 16 percent in mixed funds and
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Metrics from the Ground Up; NEW DATES: February 27 – 28, 2018; Nairobi, Kenya
Event Name: Metrics from the Ground Up
Event Date: NEW DATES -> February 27 – February 28, 2018
Event Location: Radisson Blu Nairobi; Nairobi, Kenya
Summary of Event: The ninth iteration of this conference will center on “aligning impact” by addressing variations in the definitions of impact, which depend on “context, country, and culture of origin.” The organizers hope to generate collaboration on defining “the African impact agenda.” The previous “Metrics” events were held in the US city of Washington DC.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Unrealistic Expectations in Impact Investing, Valuing Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), Banking Costs in Kenya
“Marginalized Returns,” by Mara Bolis and Chris West, published by the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2017, 3 pages, available at:
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/marginalized_returns
The authors of this article cite the Global Impact Investing Network’s (GIIN’s) “2016 Annual Impact Investor Survey,” which reports that 84 percent of 158 investors who seek “measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return” in particular are expecting “risk-adjusted market-rate returns.” Ms Bolis and Dr West state that netting annual returns of 10 to 15 percent would
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Offshore Financial Centers for Impact Investing; Financial Inclusion in 2025; Microfinance in India
“Offshore Financial Centers for Financial Inclusion: A Marriage of Convenience;” by Sam Mendelson and Daniel Rozas; published by the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) at Accion; June 2017; 14 pages; available at:
http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/publications-a-resources/browse-publications/865-offshore-financial-centers-for-financial-inclusion
This paper explores the use of offshore financial centers (OFCs) based on interviews with 13 equity impact investors.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Free-riding vs Group Insurance; “Responsible” Microfinance Pricing; State of Microinsurance
“The Social Dilemma of Microinsurance: Free-riding in a Framed Field Experiment;” by Wendy Janssens and Berber Kramer; published by Elsevier; March 2016; 15 pages; available at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268116300166
This paper analyzes the incentives for individuals to buy health microinsurance while active in borrowing groups. Health issues are consistently among the top reasons people become unable to repay loans.