Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Ugandan-Government-to-Set-up-Laws-for-Regulating-its-Microfinance-Sector.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Ugandan-Government-to-Set-up-Laws-for-Regulating-its-Microfinance-Sector.html During the 2007 Citigroup Micro-entrepreneurship awards ceremony in Kampala on January 10, 2008, State Minister for Microfinance, Caleb Akandwanaho announced that a new law regulating the activities of microfinance institutions will take effect in June 2008. The law is meant to bring an end to corruption in Uganda’s savings and co-operative organizations (SACCOs) following dozens of complaints from customers claiming to have been fleeced of their savings, and police investigations in September 2007 of four savings and co-operative organizations (SACCOs) suspected of fraud, including the suspension of The Support Uganda Savings and Cooperative Society, and arrests of SACCO heads. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Old-Mutual-and-South-Africas-Department-of-Trade-and-Industry-DTI-Launch-$129m-Microfinance-Initiative-Isivande-Womens-Fund-IWF.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Old-Mutual-and-South-Africas-Department-of-Trade-and-Industry-DTI-Launch-$129m-Microfinance-Initiative-Isivande-Womens-Fund-IWF.html The Department of Trade and Industry of South Africa has teamed with Old Mutual Group’s Masisizane Fund to launch the Isivande Women’s Fund (IWF), financing women-run enterprises in the country. The new fund is the result of a 2006 study conducted by the DTI’s Gender and Women Empowerment Unit, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and FinMark. The study found that although women are more responsible managers of credit than men, they only receive 30 percent of loans, with black women receiving the least funding. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/South-African-Microfinance-Institution-MFI-Blue-Financial-Services-and-Nigerias-Intercontinental-Bank-to-Launch-$259m-Microfinance-Bank.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/South-African-Microfinance-Institution-MFI-Blue-Financial-Services-and-Nigerias-Intercontinental-Bank-to-Launch-$259m-Microfinance-Bank.html Blue Financial Services (BFS), a South African microfinance institution (MFI), and Intercontinental Bank Plc, Nigeria’s largest commercial and retail bank by assets, are collaborating to launch a Nigerian microfinance bank capitalized at NGN 3 billion (USD 25.9 million), the largest such institution in the country. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Federal-Executive-Council-FEC-of-Nigeria-Approves-$272m-Loan-from-the-International-Fund-for-Agricultural-Development-IFAD-for-Rural-Microfinance.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Federal-Executive-Council-FEC-of-Nigeria-Approves-$272m-Loan-from-the-International-Fund-for-Agricultural-Development-IFAD-for-Rural-Microfinance.html The Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Nigeria, presided over by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, approved a USD 27.2 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as reported by AllAfrica.com. The loan, along with a USD 400,000 grant from IFAD, will constitute the core financing of IFAD’s Rural Finance Institution-Building Programme (RFIBP), a seven-year plan to strengthen rural microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Nigeria as well as establish increased linkages between MFIs and mainstream financial institutions. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/KfW-Entwicklungsbank-Development-Arm-of-German-Bank-Lends-$147m-to-Moroccan-Microfinance-Institution-MFI-Fondation-pour-le-Developpement-Local-et-le-Partenariat-FONDEP.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/KfW-Entwicklungsbank-Development-Arm-of-German-Bank-Lends-$147m-to-Moroccan-Microfinance-Institution-MFI-Fondation-pour-le-Developpement-Local-et-le-Partenariat-FONDEP.html The Microfinance Capital Markets Newsletter of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) reported that KfW Entwicklungsbank, the emerging-economy financing arm of a German banking group, issued a loan of EUR 10 million (USD 14.7 million) to the Fondation pour le Développement Local et le Partenariat (FONDEP), a Morocco-based non-governmental organization (NGO). The loan accompanies a convention of partnership signed by both parties that aims to establish a basis for future collaborations. The loan is refundable over eight years with a grace period of two years. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Citi-Foundation-Creates-$112m-Program-with-SEEP-Network-to-Strengthen-Trade-Associations.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Citi-Foundation-Creates-$112m-Program-with-SEEP-Network-to-Strengthen-Trade-Associations.html The Citi Foundation will work with the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion Network (SEEP) to create the 3-year USD 11.2 million Citi Network Strengthening Program. The program will include 12 major microfinance trade associations and their members. The program’s goal will be to improve the integration of microfinance into the mainstream economies of developing countries. This includes improving participating trade associations’ ability to develop products and services which meet their clients’ needs. In addition, the program seeks to “enhance the industry’s infrastructure, introduce higher standards of management and governance, and promote the vital role of microfinance in providing the poor with access to financial services.” http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Black-Investors-PLC-of-Britain-Lends-$13m-to-Microfinance-Institution-MFI-Kagisano-of-South-Africa.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Black-Investors-PLC-of-Britain-Lends-$13m-to-Microfinance-Institution-MFI-Kagisano-of-South-Africa.html Black Investors PLC, a British investment company, has granted a ZAR 100 million (USD 13 million) long-term loan facility to Kagisano Financial Enterprises, a South African mass market credit provider. The loan will be earmarked for Kagisano’s advances book, bringing its value to over ZAR 300 million (USD 39.1 million). It comes during a period of brisk growth for the company, which has been opening about three new outlets a month as it offers new products and its customer base becomes more affluent. According to CEO Eugene van Niekerk, demand for Kagisano’s products has remained strong in spite of a high interest-rate environment. Black Investors PLC does not appear to have an Internet presence, and further information about the firm could not be ascertained. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Globalization-of-Microfinance-Markets-an-Overview-and-Some-Conditions-for-Success-by-Dr-Jairo-MoralesNieto.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Globalization-of-Microfinance-Markets-an-Overview-and-Some-Conditions-for-Success-by-Dr-Jairo-MoralesNieto.html Written by Dr. Jairo Morales-Nieto, Executive Director of local economic development consultants InterAfrica Corporate Ltd, this 10-page discussion on the necessary steps to transition from local to global microfinance markets was published in January 2008. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Old-Mutual-and-South-Africas-Department-of-Trade-and-Industry-DTI-Launch-USD-129M-Microfinance-Initiative-Isivande-Womens-Fund-IWF.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Old-Mutual-and-South-Africas-Department-of-Trade-and-Industry-DTI-Launch-USD-129M-Microfinance-Initiative-Isivande-Womens-Fund-IWF.html The Department of Trade and Industry of South Africa (previously reported) has teamed with Old Mutual Group’s Masisizane Fund to launch the Isivande Women’s Fund (IWF), financing women-run enterprises in the country. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Nigerian-Government-Creates-$426m-Microcredit-Development-Fund.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1674/Nigerian-Government-Creates-$426m-Microcredit-Development-Fund.html Nigerian President Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua announced the creation of an N50 billion (the equivalent of over USD 426 million) microcredit development fund to be administered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The new fund will be used to provide existing microfinance institutions (MFIs) with funding for credit creation and operational expenses.