by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: The Impact of Digital Financial Inclusion on Global Development

In September 2015, every UN member country endorsed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which comprises 17 target areas known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

After falling from 10.1 percent in 2015 to 8.6 percent in 2018, the global poverty rate increased to 9.2 percent in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reversing a long trend of poverty reduction. Other headwinds such as armed conflicts, rising inflation, food in­security, and political and social unrest also are affecting global devel­opment, and the UN estimates that these crises combined to cause an additional 95 million people to live in extreme poverty in 2022.

On the other hand, the digital revolution has made many people’s lives easier with access to mobile phones, the internet and other tools. Digital financial inclusion (DFI) and its innovative business models have had a particularly disruptive effect, bolstering financial inclusion worldwide.

Impact on Sustainable Development Goals
DFI is enabling all types of pathways to advance the achievement of the SDGs, strengthening the link between financial inclusion and de­vel­opment. In 2016, CGAP and

by the MicroCapital Team -

SPECIAL REPORT: Agents for Impact: Well-equipped for Future Business Development

Agents for Impact GmbH (AFI), which acts as an intermediary be­tween investors and the world of impact investing, successfully has won FS Invest Holding as an investor. With an eye on the long-term, as of August 2022, FS Invest took a 75-percent stake in our consulting bou­tique, which is focused on sustain­ability, impact investing and financial inclusion.

FS Invest is part of the Helmig family’s group of companies, which is already active in sev­eral other holdings in the financial sector, in­cluding through its ATON Group.

“We are pleased to have an experienced investor at our side that will carry Agents for Impact into the future and enable us to expand our business,” says Dr Andrij Fetsun, AFI’s CEO (pictured).

About AFI

AFI was founded in 2018 by Dr Fetsun and Ms Edda Schröder with the purpose of: (1) increasing impact investments in emerging and developing markets by building bridges between impact investors and the world of impact investing in order to enable financial inclu­sion for under­served populations across the world; and (2) contri­buting to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the help of the firm’s proprietary SDG rating system, the Agents for Impact Sustainability Alignment Rating (AFISAR©) Tool.

AFISAR© helps microfinance institutions (MFIs) leverage the growing importance of strong sus­tainability performance vis-à?vis international investors, particularly im­pact investors. The rating tool analyses an MFI’s operations (at both the institu­tional and portfolio levels) based on a compre­hensive set of

by Teo Lin-Bianco -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: REGMIFA Raises $10m from FMO to Invest in MSMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa

Recently, the Regional MSME Investment Fund for Sub-Saharan Africa (REGMIFA), a fund that invests in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in 19 countries, accepted an investment of USD 10 million from Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), a Dutch public-private partnership. The purpose of REGMIFA is to

by Eugene DeCosse -

MICROFINANCE EVENT: Convergences World Forum; September 5-6, 2019; Paris, France

The 12th edition of this event is themed “inequalities – transitions – solutions.” The program will focus on six of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): quality education; decent work and economic growth; reduced inequalities; climate action; peace, justice and quality institutions; and