TC-I FundWatch

Editor’s note: In order to more quickly provide our readers with pertinent information, ThinkChange India has created TC-I FundWatch, a regular post that summarizes important investments made by social and traditional venture capital firms that directly affect the lives of India’s poor. This way, on Tuesdays, our readers will be able to get a regular [...]

MFIs tend to lose focus as they ‘evolve’

A new report released by the Women’s World Banking (WWB) observes that as many microfinance institutions transform from non-profits to traditional financial intermediaries, they tend to shift away from their original focus on helping poor women and instead focus on making larger loans a la a traditional financial institution. The results were disheartening as the [...]

Wrap it Up: Two Papers reviewed by Microcapital.org

Microcapital.org reviewed two recently released papers this week; here is a summary of those.
1. “Should Access to Credit Be a Right?” by Marek Hudon
This is a very interesting question as fields like microfinance have gained so much popularity and success. The paper takes both practical and normative approaches to this issue and frames the overall [...]

UNIFAD Seeks Innovative Remittance Proposals

The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development is looking for innovative remittance schemes to invest $13 million into. The initiative is labeled the Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) 2008 and the proposals need should focus on “[p]romoting innovative remittance systems and investment channels for migrants.” The objectives are the following:
* Improve remittance transmission and [...]

Microfinance and Wall Street

Is microfinance compatible with large scale investing houses like Wall Street banks? A conversation with Susan Davis of BRAC and Rod Dubitsky of Credit Suisse discussed this question in a recent article in Forbes Magazine. The article highlighted two fundamental differences between an MFI and a commerical bank
Two key distinctions between MFIs and other commercial [...]

Credit Suisse to launch their own social index

Hot off the news that M-Cril will be launching their own social capital exchange, as reported by Santhosh, and also the plans by Xigi.net to create a social capital index that I spoke about some time back, Credit Suisse plans to launch its own Social Responsibility Index. As reported by Microcapital.org:
Credit Suisse will launch in [...]

Midday Newsfeed

Some titillating headlines:
Microfinance:

Whole Planet Foundation (WPF), a Whole Foods Market nonprofit that “empowers individuals in the global community through entrepreneurship” recently announced the creation of the Whole Planet Foundation Supplier Alliance for Microcredit (WPFSAM), a coalition of natural foods companies that aims to support the financial endeavours of WPF. The WPFSAM Alliance has pledged [...]

Pioneers in Microfinance, Part 2: MYRADA

Today, Microcapital.org published the second part of their “Pioneers in Microfinance” series, in which they continued their interview of a pioneer in microfinance, Aloysius P. Fernandez, Executive Director MYRADA and Chairman of the Board of Microfinance Institution Sanghamithra Rural Financial Services.   To refresh your memory on Part One of this series, read this earlier post by Vinay.
The [...]

Measuring the Impact of Microfinance on Women and their Families

Are the women who participate in Self Help Groups (SHGs) more socially, politically, and economically empowered than their counterparts?  How is “empowerment” defined or measured?  Can “empowerment” be attributed strictly to the savings and credit aspect of microfinance, or do more holistic, awareness-based initiatives (ie through SHGs) have a significant role to play as well? 
In [...]

Indian Microfinance Review 2007

The Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) and Microcredit Ratings International Limited (M-CRIL) recently released the “Indian Microfinance Review,” 2007.  The trends described in the report are based on M-CRIL’s sample of 58 rated and MIX’s 37 reporting MFIs.  An analysis from Microcapital.org follows:
This review reports that the majority of MFI’s are located in Southern India. This is largely [...]

SMS Banking for the Village

Microcapital.org reports that Centurion Bank of India (CBoP) intends to unveil a platform that will enable people in the rural areas of India use banking services via text messages.
For instance, if a farmer wants to purchase fertiliser, he can just send an SMS to a fertiliser dealer about his requirement. The dealer, in turn, will [...]

Microfinance for Macro-disasters

From Microcapital.org:
The Quick Centre, a knowledge sharing platform for microfinance practitioners, went live in February 2008 … Their aim is to serve the larger development community by facilitating the exchange of existing documentation and organizational experiences related to the practice of microfinance in disaster situations. The site advertises best practices on post-disaster microfinance support measures, [...]

Goldman Sachs to Provide Management Education to Women Social Entrepreneurs

While the work of microfinance institutions such as Grameen Bank and Unitus have done wonders to empower women in developing countries, these budding entrepreneurs continue to lack any formal business training. To address this dearth in education, Goldman Sachs announced last week that it will invest $100 million over the next five years to provide [...]

Reliance Capital Starts Microfinance Fund

Looks like the biggest of the big see profits in reaching out to the smallest of the small. Anil Ambani’s Reliance Capital announced the formation of a microfinance fund that will target the rural poor. Microcapital.org writes that
Reliance Capital is joining hands with two Gujarat-based microfinance institutions - MAS Financial Services and Vardan Trust - [...]

Spotlight: MYRADA

Microcapital.org yesterday profiled Aloysius P. Fernandez, and his organization Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency (MYRADA).
MYRADA “provides training programs for rural development in the Indian states of Karnataka, Andhrapradesh, and Tamil Nadu as well as staff support to 6 other states and promotion of the Self-help Affinity Strategy in Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.” One of the [...]