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

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Malawi, IFAD Debut $58m Financial Access for Rural Markets, Smallholders and Enterprise Programme (FARMSE)

The government of Malawi and the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) recently agreed to launch the Financial Access for Rural Markets, Smallholders and Enterprise (FARMSE) Programme, whose primary objective is to address poverty in Malawi by boosting rural households’

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank’s IDA Loans $15m to Women and Youth Entrepreneurship Project in Djibouti for MSME Guarantee Fund, Training, Business Plan Competitions, Online Resource Portal

The International Development Association (IDA), a unit of the World Bank, recently issued a credit of USD 15 million to the Women and Youth Entrepreneurship Project to facilitate financial, educational

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Social Finance Global Network, Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) Launching Social Finance India; Seeking to Raise $2b for Education, Other Double Bottom Line Investing

The UK-based Social Finance Global Network (SFGN), an group of nonprofits supporting impact investing, and the UK-based Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG), which has 19 country members plus the EU, recently announced the debut of Social Finance India. This new NGO is seeking to raise USD 1 billion each for the India Impact Fund of Funds (IIFF) and

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: OPIC Loans $5m in Local Currency to Grameen Impact Investments India for SMEs

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency of the US government that seeks to facilitate investment by US-based firms in developing countries, recently loaned INR 355 million (USD 5 million) to Grameen Impact Investments India (GIII), a unit of Grameen Capital India (GCI) that

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Kazakhstan’s Government Expanding Bastau Business Project, Supporting Agricultural Cooperatives, Entrepreneurship Training, Rural Microfinance

Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Labour and Social Protection, Nurzhan Altayev, recently announced plans to expand the Bastau Business Project, a government-sponsored initiative that involves “training rural people with entrepreneurial skills, including the principles of forming agricultural cooperatives, and supporting their business projects” with credit. The program, launched in 2017,

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: WeConnect, Airbnb, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, HP Make Commitments to Women, Entrepreneurship, Education at 12th, Final Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting

At the recent 12th annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a program of the US-based nonprofit Clinton Foundation, various organizations made 25 new commitments worth USD 70 million as part of the “Girls, Women and the Global Goals” project, which is intended to “advance women’s economic participation, address violence against girls and women, and promote women’s leadership in the public and private sectors”,

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nicaragua’s Fabretto Acquires Grants Totaling $1.8m for Training Rural Youth from Japan Special Fund for Poverty Reduction, Multilateral Investment Fund

Fabretto, an educational NGO in Nicaragua, recently received grants from two entities managed by the US-based Inter-American Development Bank Group: (1) USD 1 million from the Japan Special Fund for Poverty Reduction (JPO), which is funded the government of Japan and; (2) USD 800,000 from the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), which assists organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Innovations in Building Financial Capability; BBVA Microfinance Foundation Social Performance Report; Growth, Evolving Trends in Financial Inclusion in India

“A Change in Behavior: Innovations in Financial Capability”; published by the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion; April 2016; 47 pages; available at http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/fi2020/roadmap-to-inclusion/innovations-in-financial-capability

This document describes research aimed at identifying effective interventions for building the financial capability of microfinance customers, specifically as administered by three groups: financial service providers, governments and social service providers.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR), Child Savings International (Aflatoun), United Kingdom’s Department for International Development Inaugurate Youth Educational Program in Rwanda

The Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR), an umbrella organization for Rwandan microfinance institutions (MFIs) and related organizations, recently partnered with Child Savings International (referred to as Aflatoun), a Netherlands-based nonprofit, and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (UKDID) to launch an educational program in Rwanda that will teach entrepreneurial, savings and financial skills to youth.