Two Nigeria-based companies, the financial services portal Credit Café Africa and Sterling Bank, recently agreed to collaborate to distribute NGN 10 billion (USD 21.7 million) in loans to health and education facilities. The loans, which will be sized between NGN 100,000 (USD 217) and NGN 20 million (USD 43,400) are to focus on
Tag: Education
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Digital Finance Campaign Replication Guide,” Published by USAID
This paper describes a digital finance education campaign called “Hey Sister! Show Me the Mobile Money,” including efforts to make it easy to replicate from one geographical context to another. The program facilitates low-income women’s access to digital financial services (DFS) by addressing the challenges of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Oikocredit, Opportunity International Commit $100m to Education Finance in Low-income Countries
Opportunity International, a US-based nonprofit providing microfinance and other services in 30 countries, and Oikocredit, a Netherlands-based impact investor, recently announced a three-year partnership valued at USD 100 million. Through increased funding of financial institutions partnered with Opportunity International’s EduFinance program, Opportunity International and Oikocredit aim to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Deetken Impact Invests in Pro Mujer Mexico – Provider of Education, Healthcare, Microfinance – Through Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund
Canada-based asset management company Deetken Impact and US-based nonprofit women’s development organization Pro Mujer recently announced they are making an investment in Pro Mujer Mexico from the investment vehicle they co-manage, the Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund. The parties to the transaction wish
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Philippines Moving Toward New Effort to Promote Financial Inclusion, Education in Rural Areas
The Committee on Rural Development of the Philippines’ House of Representatives recently approved a bill that would implement a “financial and digital literacy program” to boost access to financial services – including
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC, We-Fi Invest $2.5m in Flat6Labs to Support Entrepreneurship in Jordan
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently agreed to invest USD 2 million in Flat6Labs Amman, a venture capital fund in Jordan, to support
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Invest in Visions (IIV) Mikrofinanzfonds Lends $12m to Bayport for Payroll Lending in Colombia
Invest In Visions Mikrofinanzfonds, a fund managed by Germany-based Invest In Visions (IIV), has disbursed a senior loan of EUR 10 million (USD 12.1 million) to Bayport Colombia, one of the nine financial services providers (FSPs) of Mauritius-based microfinance network Bayport Management Limited. Bayport Colombia is using the cash to fund
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Positive Ventures of Brazil Raises $10m for Impact Fund Supporting Cleantech, Education, Fintech, Health
Positive Ventures, a Brazilian venture capital and private equity firm, recently raised USD 10 million for an impact investment fund from its limited partners, including Cândido Bracher, who previously served as Chairman of Brazil-based Itaú Unibanco; Teresa Bracher; and Luis Stuhlberger, who co-founded Brazil-based Verde Asset Management. Positive Ventures invests in companies seeking to “create an economic, social and
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Financial Literacy Education: Implication on the Economic and Social Life of the Teacher in Ghana,” by Juabin Matey et al, Published by International Research Journal of Multidisciplinary Scope
The authors of this paper investigated “how consumers acquire knowledge of financial numeracy and how it’s applied, especially to their economic and social lives.” Past research has shown both higher borrowing costs and over-spending to be correlated with
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) Hosting “Getting Inclusion Right;” November 1, 2018; Washington, DC, USA
In recognition of its tenth anniversary, the US-based Center for Financial Inclusion will hold this event to consider how it and its partners will move forward in their work to promote the availability and usage of appropriate financial services. The agenda will include discussion of how increased access to financial services can lead to improved quality of life for customers and what sorts of risks customers need protection against
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Loans $45m to Bank CenterCredit of Kazakhstan, Mostly for Micro-, Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) Run by Women Outside Major Cities
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, recently disbursed three-year loans totaling USD 45 million to Bank CenterCredit, a commercial bank in Kazakhstan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CFI’s Africa Board Fellowship Accepting Applications from Microfinance Providers
The Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI), an affiliate of the US-based nonprofit Accion that promotes universal financial access, is seeking board members and CEOs of organizations that work toward financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa to enroll in its Africa Board Fellowship (ABF).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Government of Sweden Gives $3m for EBRD’s Women in Business Programme for SMEs in Moldova
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, recently disbursed a grant in the amount of SEK 26 million (USD 3 million) to support its Women in Business Programme in Moldova. The funds, which have been supplied by the Swedish government
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: Asian Development Bank (ADB): “Embracing the E-commerce Revolution in Asia and the Pacific”
This is a summary of a paper published by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), June 2018, 101 pages, available at:
https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/430401/embracing-e-commerce-revolution.pdf.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD, UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Training Farmer Cooperatives in Serbia
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based development bank, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an Italy-based organization of the UN dedicated to addressing world hunger, recently have united to support farmer cooperatives in Serbia. With assistance from the Serbian government,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Holding Company ASA International to Trade on London Stock Exchange, Citigroup Coordinating IPO
ASA International, a microfinance holding company that owns and operates 12 microfinance institutions in Asia and Africa, is scheduled to become a Premium Listed company on the London Stock Exchange on July 13. The firm, which has offices in Bangladesh and the Netherlands, was co-founded by Md Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, the founder and President of ASA. ASA,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank’s IDA Loans $50m to Kenya Industry and Entrepreneurship Project (KIEP) for Technical Support for Entrepreneurs; Seed Grants for SMEs
The International Development Association (IDA), a unit of the World Bank, recently issued a credit of USD 50 million to create the Kenya Industry and Entrepreneurship Project (KIEP), which is designed to strengthen the productivity and competitiveness of existing small and medium-sized
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IDB Invest Places $10m in Bozano Growth Capital Fund to Take Equity Positions in Mid-sized Healthcare Firms in Brazil
IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, recently executed an equity investment of USD 10 million in Bozano Investimentos, a Brazil-based private equity and asset