Archive for the ‘Latest News’ Category

Microfinance Focus, March 14, 2010: The Social Performance Task Force (SPTF), a support  group  for microfinance institutions announced its next annual meeting in Bern , Switzerland which will take place on June 30 to July 1, 2010, according to information release on their website. The meeting sponsored by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC, Liechtenstein Development Service, Ford Foundation and CGAP. SPTF consists of over ... Full story

Microfinance Focus , March 14, 2010 : The American Red Cross issued a two-month progress report describing its efforts since the January 12 earthquake and sharing its plans to address longer-term needs such as emergency and longer-term shelter. To promote livelihoods and  complement ongoing aid distributions in Port-au-Prince and reach additional families in need, the American Red Cross announced March 10 that it will provide ... Full story

Microfinance Focus, March 13, 2010: Freedom from Hunger has been working with three Microfinance Institutions in India, Bolivia, and Burkina Faso to develop and test the feasibility of specific health loans products, said Marcia Metcalfe, Director, Microfinance and Health Protection at Freedom from Hunger in a discussion forum of Microfinance Focus. Explaining the learning experiences of action research ... Full story

Microfinance Focus, March 13, 2010: Microfinance venture firm Dia Vikas Capital is investing Rs 2.5 crore ($550,000) for a 49% stake and another Rs. 2.5 crore in the form of convertibles loans  in Orissa (India) -based NBFC microfinance institution Annapurna Micro Finance Pvt. Ltd, a microfinance arm of People's Forum. Dia Vikas Capital is a 100% subsidiary of global microfinance services provider Opportunity International Australia. Annapurna ... Full story

Microfinance Focus, March 12, 2010: Uncertain political and economic environment, high inflation, rising poverty, over indebtedness, absence of credit bureaux are some of the factors that led to a crisis situation in Pakistan's microfinance, said Kashf Microfinance Bank CEO Ghazanfar Azzam, in an exclusive interview with Microfinance Focus, Lahore-based Kashf Microfinance Bank Ltd (KMBL) in Pakistan ... Full story

Microfinance Focus, March 12, 2010: Bangalore-based MicroGraam has launched India's first auction- and reputation- based microfinance online marketplace (http://www.micrograam.com) that enables people to invest at the lowest interest rate that the free market will bear. Funded by entrepreneurs Sekhar Sarukkai and Rangan Varadan, MicroGraam uses mobile and Internet technologies, and uses open marketplaces, to bring down interest rates paid by low-income borrowers to levels that ... Full story

Microfinance Focus, March 11, 2010: Model Metrics, the leader in cloud computing services for the enterprise and an Amazon Web Services Solution Provider, announced on Thursday it has partnered with Global Business Assist and Grameen Foundation's Mifos™ Initiative to migrate the Mifos platform to Amazon Web Services to support Global Business Assist's microfinance programs in Africa. The Mifos platform is a centralized open source technology platform ... Full story

Microfinance Focus, March 11, 2010: CGAP, an independent microfinance center based at the World Bank, announced on Thursday a new partnership with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to expand ongoing global efforts to use information and communication technologies (ICT), especially mobile phones, to increase access to basic financial services for the poor. In addition to a 2006 grant from the Bill & Melinda ... Full story

Microfinance Focus, March 11, 2010: WWB will hold this year's conference on microfinance institutions on March 23 and 24, 2010 in New York, bringing together leading professionals from the mainstream financial sector and the microfinance industry, including senior managers of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and social and commercial investors. The objective of the conference is to provide each group unique opportunities to network, discuss concrete funding ... Full story

By Souren Ghosal Microfinance Focus, March 11, 2010: There is no doubt that the most popular mandate in developing countries is to outreach poor by creating employment opportunities and providing financial support to the poor through state interventions.  Obviously such intermediation often fail to reach the poor as these intermediaries floated by the state are loaded with bureaucrats and politicians who are more prone to exploit ... Full story

By Jerome Peloquin, Microfinance Focus, March 11, 2010: Dick Hoeff and I met on Skype for about 45 minutes.  I was lucky to get the opportunity (no pun intended) after a rocky start with me missing a call date and Dick’s travel between Wisconsin and the west coast; we almost did not get to do the interview.  Still a voice for clarity and commitment, he speaks ... Full story

By Jerome Peloquin, Microfinance Focus, March 11, 2010: Many papers and articles(link) here in The Microfinance Focus have discussed the coming “bubble,” in micro lending.  Is there such a bubble and why should it affect our sector.  Are we not immune from the greed and avarice of the hedge fund and debt/equity swap market manipulators?  We are the good guys … Aren’t we?  I ... Full story

Microfinance Focus, March 11, 2010: Eliza Linford Kelly, former marketing communications director at Cobalt, has joined Unitus as Vice President of Global Communications. Unitus is a nonprofit “Advisory” firm that works with high potential microfinance institutions to help them scale rapidly. Lelly will be responsible for crafting Unitus's global marketing strategy and provide guidance on issues ... Full story

By Jose Guillermo Quintana Microfinance Focus, March 11, 2010 : Latin American has witnessed and been involved in a large revolution to develop an entrepreneurship amidst the generation of micro businesses. This fact has allowed the insertion of many people that were in extreme poverty into the economy market of business. Therefore, the microfinance movement is responsible for playing an important role in this revolution. The ... Full story