Author Archive
Posted on July 1, 2009 - by Gavin
Economic Policy Tilting Toward the Less Rich…
The Korea Times
In an apparent reaction to criticism, the Lee Myung-bak administration has been adopting a series of policies to appease the less well off. But the move has attracted criticism from chaebol and the rich.
Finance-Strategy Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun announced his intention not to cut income and corporate taxes for big business, and then on Tuesday unveiled a 2.1-trillion-package for the poor.
But chaebol lobby group, the Federation of Korean Industries, Tuesday urged the government to adopt a pro-business policy so that companies can create more jobs and increase investment.
The policy U-turn came amid opposition criticism that the Lee administration is a government only for the rich and business groups.
Minister Yoon said it will become easier for the working class to get small loans without collateral, and families with three or more children will be given priority when applying for apartments supplied by the government.
“Difficulties are continuing for the working class as incomes fall, household economies worsen and the job market falters,” the minister said Tuesday. “It will take considerable time until things get easier for the working class, though the economy is showing signs of improvement,” he added. (more…)
Posted on July 1, 2009 - by Gavin
Google to bring free text information to Africa…
Strategy Eye um4syjrzwb
Google is partnering with technology and microfinance charity the Grameen Foundation to provide an SMS texting service designed to help impoverished Ugandans gain access to online information. Google SMS will allow mobile owners to text free requests for information such as weather forecasts and sexual health advice.
The service will also provide a virtual marketplace and be accompanied by Google SMS Tips, which the company says provides a search-like experience through SMS.
Fixed-line telephones and internet connections are few and far between in most of Africa, but the continent has comparatively high mobile phone penetration rates. The service will allow Google to reach almost 9m Ugandan mobile phone users who are unlikely to come into contact with the brand in any other way. If the project is a success, it is likely Google will roll out the scheme to other developing nations.
The service will only be available on the MTN Uganda network. Company spokesman Noel Meier says: “We are hoping to reach people in rural and disadvantaged communities while we build up a new line of business for the company.” (more…)
Posted on July 1, 2009 - by Gavin
Lending changes threaten poor…
Business Day
The end of interest-rate caps on pay day lenders will leave low-income earners vulnerable to exploitation.
State-based rate caps that stop lenders charging exorbitant interest are likely to disappear once the Federal Government takes over regulation of consumer credit, raising concern about the impact on low-income borrowers who have no choice but to use high-cost “fringe” lenders.
The Federal Government is expected to rely on its “responsible lending” laws, due to take effect from November, rather than maintaining the interest-rate caps that apply in NSW, the ACT, Victoria and Queensland.
However, the co-author of a Griffith University study of interest-rate caps, Therese Wilson, says the Government shouldn’t dismiss them out of hand. And, she says, regardless of which route it takes, it must ensure vulnerable, low-income borrowers have access to safe, affordable, short-term credit by closely monitoring and enforcing its rules.
“The Government has indicated that it’s not keen on interest-rate capping,” says Wilson, who also chairs the Australian Microfinance Network. “There will be a responsible-lending requirement attached to credit contracts and I think it’s relying on that to minimise exploitative lending practices. (more…)
Posted on July 1, 2009 - by Gavin
MICROCAPITAL STORY: M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust Awards Global Partnerships in the United States with a $180,000 Capacity-Building Grant to Expand Its Microfinance Investment Funds…
Microcapital
Global Partnerships (GP), a Seattle non-profit organization founded in 1994 that funds microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America, has received a USD 180,000 grant to help manage its loan funds.
The three-year grant comes from the M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust, a private grantmaking foundation for the Pacific Northwest based in Vancouver, Washington and established in 1975. As of 2007, GP has fund assets worth USD 10.5 million whereas the Murdoch Trust had USD 892 million in assets.
As stated in GP’s press release, elements of the grant-supported project will include building GP’s staff capacity to manage the growth of its funds, broadening GP’s base of investors, and creating a knowledge management system to manage and analyze fund data.
This project is part of GP’s greater objective to augment management of its three investment funds and improve its management and tracking of fund data. Moreover, GP plans to expand into Mexico this summer, its eighth country.
As stated on the Murdoch Trust’s website, the grant will primarily be used to hire a new director of investment operations to manage GP’s microfinance investment programs. (more…)
Posted on June 30, 2009 - by Gavin
Kiva: a different way to microlend…
The Phnom Penh Post
THE Mong Reththy Group, a diversified company that recently moved into the pig-rearing trade, has called on microfinance institutions (MFIs) to lend money to farmers so they can buy its piglets.
Company President Mong Reththy said the Kingdom would benefit by importing fewer pigs from neighbouring states. He said 800 pigs are imported to the capital daily, and that the country spends US$100 million annually on pork imports.
“Our breeding program won’t be able to increase Cambodian pig production if farmers lack money to buy piglets to raise,” he said.
Figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries show the country consumed almost 225,000 tonnes of pork last year.
The Mong Reththy Group recently spent $5 million importing 600 breeding pigs from Britain. It plans to breed 7,000 piglets for sale by next March, each of which will sell for around $50 (more…)
Posted on June 30, 2009 - by Gavin
INDONESIA Parish’s microfinance program aids poor…
Union of Catholic Asian News
JAKARTA (UCAN) — Witah was not at all business savvy when she first started selling vegetables on a south Jakarta street.
The low prices she charged for her goods left her with little profit. This changed after she joined a parish-run micro-financing program earlier this year.
The Credit Union Microfinance Innovation (CUMI)scheme,established last September, offers training on how to run a business effectively. The scheme, started by Jesuit Father Antonius Sumarwan, assistant priest at Our Lady of the Queen Church in South Jakarta, also offers both savings and loans to poor people looking to improve their businesses, but are unableto get credit from mainstream banks.
“The program helps me to manage my business better and increase my profits,” said Witah, one of 110 members of CUMI. Eighty percent of members are Muslims, the rest are Catholics and Protestants. She said CUMI gave her a 500,000 rupiah (US$49) loan on joining the program. She used the money to buy vegetables and then sold them using the business skills she had acquired.
“I sell vegetables in the mornings and afternoons. I can earn 300,000 rupiah a day and use the money to buy produce for the following day,” said the 62-year-old Muslim mother of eight. “I can now pay the rent,
support my family and save the rest in CUMI,” she said. Before joining CUMI, she sold vegetables intermittently and only in the mornings. As a result, she had little savings.
“I am happy and really thankful to the Catholic Church for helping me develop my small business,” she smiled. Witah was sharing her experience with 150 priests, nuns and laypeople at a June 20 meeting of parish-level social ministries of Jakarta archdiocese.
The archdiocese’s commission for socio-economic development organized the event, titled “How to improve the economic life of underprivileged families. ” Father Sumarwan told meeting participants he was inspired to start CUMI after reading Bangladeshi Muhammad Yunus’ book, “Banker to the Poor,” was published in 2003. Yunus, a banker and economist, developed the concept of micro credit for entrepreneurs who are too poor to
qualify for traditional bank loans. In 2006, Yunus and his Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping the poor advance economically.
“Our target is underprivileged families so that they do not fall into poverty,” Father Sumarwan said,
adding that each of the current members are obliged to save a minimum of 2,500 rupiah a week. He said the first CUMI members were five women who used to sell food in front of the parish church
every Sunday.
“Our five lay activists trained them in running small businesses and improving their economic lives. ” CUMI has set a target of 150 members by the end of this year, Father Sumarwan said. He and his volunteers have been promoting the program by word-of-mouth. Jesuit Father Yosephus Edi Mulyono, who heads the
archdiocese’s commission for socio-economic development, told UCA News that at present, 96 percent of Church aid to the underprivileged is through charitable handouts.
Economic empowerment programs form only four percent. “The Church should do it the other way round, by providing 96 percent of resources for empowerment programs and four percent to charity,” he said. “We
will encourage other parishes to establish their own CUMI.
We just want this program to grow so people will be more self-reliant instead of being dependent on others,” he said. Ratri, another Muslim CUMI member, told meeting participants she was selling food on the streets before joining the program. “After joining CUMI, my business improved. I now run a catering business,” said the 58-year-old proudly.
Source:
“http://www.ucanews.com/2009/06/29/parishs-microfinance-program-aids-poor/”
Posted on June 30, 2009 - by Gavin
Microfinance: The Next Bubble?…
Wealth of Nations
Our Rio de Janeiro correspondent, Mac Margolis, delves into a new microfinance study, and wonders whether the much-lauded sector is about as efficacious as a subprime CDO and as bubbly as a Pets.com equity option.
BWS The international financial crisis has destroyed many certainties, but one of the touted survivors
is the old saw that small is beautiful. Sure, no one is flogging mansions to paupers anymore. But microfinance is still flourishing, and even expanding. Ever since Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus started handing out small loans to the poor in 1974,the idea that a little credit can help peasants and simple villagers climb out of poverty has swept the map. Civic groups, the World Bank, even commercial lenders have gotten into the act,capturing millions of barefoot clients across the developing world.
Today microfinance is a global growth industry. It reaped Yunus the Nobel prize. Even the developed world is catching on. Grameen Bank, the Bangladesh-based microlender Yunus founded, opened a branch in Queens, New York, last year and plans to unveil another in Omaha, Nebraska. Take that, Citicorp. But hold that confetti.
(more…)
Posted on June 30, 2009 - by Gavin
Citibank Korea Inc. and Korea Institute of Finance Held the Award Ceremony for the 2nd Citi-KIF Public Contest for Excellent Theses on Finance…
Citibank Korea Inc Seoul (Korea Newswire)
June 30, 2009 01:55 PM Korea Institute of Finance (President Tae Joon Kim) and Citibank Korea Inc(CEO Ha, Yung Ku) jointly held the award ceremony of “The 2nd Citi-KIF Public Contest for Excellent Theses on Finance” in the Bank Hall in Myung-dong on 29th of June.
The event was open to all colleges and graduate level in the nation and there were more than
215 pieces of finance related book reviews and theses submitted to compete in the public contest.
122 contenders were primarily awarded with scholarship given to the 72 undergraduate winners and
for the 50 graduate student winners. With attendance of CEO Yung Ku Ha from Citibank Korea Inc., Tae Joon Kim, President of Korea Institute of Finance, and the selection committee, the 177 team winners were awarded and given prize money at the award ceremony.
(more…)
Posted on June 30, 2009 - by Gavin
BAAC set for rural microfinancing role…
Bangkok Post
The Finance Ministry wants the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives to expand its lending activities to include microfinancing projects in rural communities. Sathit Limpongpan, the finance permanent secretary, said community microfinancing could be managed as a unit of the BAAC, similar to the People’s Bank programme run by the Government Savings Bank.
The People’s Bank offers small loans to entrepreneurs seeking to finance small business projects. But while the People’s Bank is focused largely on urban residents, the BAAC would concentrate on rural communities. Mr Sathit said a microfinance programme should provide small sums of 1,000 or 10,000 baht relatively quickly to meet emergency cash needs. Such a programme would provide an alternative to underground lenders who often charge extortionate interest, catching the poor in a debt trap.
Posted on June 30, 2009 - by Gavin
NEWS WIRE: Microfinancing Money and Talent…
Microcapital
Government agencies and international aid groups have long supported programs that train the world’s poor
in how to start and run their own businesses. The training is seen as a way to end hunger and stabilize societies.
Fred Phillips, right, a business adviser with TechnoServe,helping Susana Nsiah and Yaw Dankwa on a cocoa farm in Ghana.Since 1968, TechnoServe has helped small businesses worldwide.
But interest in these programs has grown lately with the wider availability of microloans, or very small enterprise loans made to the poor.
(more…)
Posted on June 26, 2009 - by Gavin
Efforts are on to protect women from economic slow down – Krishna Tirath…
PIB Press
Smt. Krishna Tirath Minister for Women and Child Development has
said that the efforts are on by the Indian Government to protect
women from economic slow down and also enable them to uplift
themselves. Self help group movement is being strengthen further
to mobilize more and more women for income generating activities
with linkage to micro credit.
The Minister was addressing the Plenary Session of 3rd East Asia
Gender Equality Ministerial Meeting at Seoul, South Korea
yesterday.
Speaking about impact of economic crisis on women, on their
health, nutritional level and their economic sustainability, Smt.
Krishna Tirath said that Indian Government is committed to uplift
women in every sphere of life and it is contemplating to increase
reservation for women upto 50% in local Government, which is 33 %
at the moment.
Posted on June 26, 2009 - by Gavin
Microinsurance is lucrative, so will it be the next ‘revolution’?…
Digital Journal
Microinsurance works like microfinance: It enables the poor who
live in developing nations to access life insurance, crop
insurance, and insurance for damage caused by natural events.
Commercial insurance firms have realized that they’ve been
overlooking a profitable market segment, but now that they are
aware of what they’ve been missing out on, they are now
capitalizing on the new opportunities.
One organization is leading the pack, having raised some $44
million for the world’s first microinsurance fund.
Before you think that this is strictly a cash grab, consider the
benefits for the poor, who have never been able to afford
insurance before. Farmers will take chances with new seed stocks;
or people who have been devastated by natural disasters such as
hurricanes, floods or other catastrophes will no longer have to
lose everything. And should people wish, they can purchase life
insurance, which would help pay for the rising costs of funerary
services.
Posted on June 26, 2009 - by Gavin
Home Proposals pave way for banks to reach rural poor…
Business Daily
Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday proposed amendments
to the Banking Act to legalize branchless banking and allow the
Kenya Post office and Savings Bank to trade in the foreign
exchange market.
Should the proposals be enacted, The Post Office Bank long
saddled by laws barring it from carrying out conventional banking
business will now be able to receive deposits on behalf of
commercial banks while trading in the forex market.
In the landmark proposal, minister for finance Uhuru Kenyatta’s
move to allow commercial banks to use non-bank agents such as the
post office is expected to unlock the reach of banking services
across the country.
Posted on June 26, 2009 - by Gavin
Global Partnerships gets microfinance grant…
Triangle Business Journal
Global Partnerships, a Seattle microfinance organization, has
received an $180,000 grant to help manage its loan funds, which
have attracted more than $45 million in capital since 2006.
The organization received the three-year grant from the M.J.
Murdock Charitable Trust in Vancouver, Wash. The grant will
primarily be used to hire a director of investment operations.
More broadly, it will allow the nonprofit to better manage its
three investment funds and improve its management and tracking of
fund data.
Since 2006, Global Partnership’s funds under management have
increased from $2.5 million to more than $48 million. Some of the
nonprofit’s existing loan fund investors include Seattle
University.
Posted on June 26, 2009 - by Gavin
NEWS WIRE: Kenya to License Nine Deposit-Taking Micro Lenders by December…
Microcapital
Faulu Kenya Ltd. was granted a license by the central bank to
accept deposits, the first microfinance institution in Kenya to
receive such a permit.
As many as nine micro lenders are expected to receive similar
licenses by the end of this year, Central Bank of Kenya Governor
Njuguna Ndung’u told reporters today in the capital, Nairobi.
Previously, the company wasn’t allowed to take money from the
public and was only able to issue loans.
Faulu was among nine companies that have submitted formal
applications to become deposit-taking institutions, Ndung’u said.
The license was granted in terms of the Microfinance Act that
came into effect in May 2008 and is expected to promote a culture
of saving in Kenya, Ndung’u said.
Posted on June 25, 2009 - by Gavin
Microfinance: How Anyone Can Support Small Businesses, Our American Roots…
Napsnet.com
(NAPSI)-Small businesses are the epitome of the American
way–improving one’s life and supporting a family by offering
useful services and products to communities by hard-working,
industrious people. According to the Association for Enterprise
Opportunity (AEO), today, small businesses comprise a whopping 87
percent of all businesses in the U.S., and chances are that you
know or shop at one near you. The recent emergence of Web-based
microfinance in the U.S. lets anyone directly fund the small
businesses that supply local communities with unique character
and opportunities.
Microfinance In The U.S.: How You Can Take Part
There are many microfinance organizations in the U.S. that make
microloans, and getting involved is easy.
Posted on June 25, 2009 - by Gavin
Micro-finance can boost labour class income…
The Nation
KARACHI – The success of micro-finance institutions around the globe has established that it could make an important contribution in improving the socio-economic conditions of the poor. All stakeholders of micro-finance industry in the country need to realise that micro-finance is but one element of a
comprehensive strategy to combat poverty.
Interventions based on this can indeed lead to poverty alleviation, at macro scale, reports SBP publication, Towards Achieving Social and Financial Sustainability: A study on the performance of micro-finance in Pakistan.
The survey results revealed that the availability of loan had a partial impact to reduce the incidence of child labour.Though respondents expressed rise in their income levels as a result of availing the loan but it alone did not serve as a universal remedy to fully convince parents to take their children out of
work.
Posted on June 25, 2009 - by Gavin
Microinsurance industry sees profits from the poor…
Reuters
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Slum-dweller Krustin bin Juri lost everything
when floodwaters swept through his home and shop on the banks of
Jakarta’s filthy Ciliwung river two years ago.
But when the next flood hits, and it will because Jakarta sees
frequent floods in the rainy season, bin Juri may have a modicum
of protection thanks to a low-cost insurance policy that he
purchased this month.
He is among millions of the world’s poor who are covered for
natural disasters by cheap insurance, or microinsurance, as
commercial firms recognize that insuring the poor is not just
good public relations but also profitable.
Posted on June 25, 2009 - by Gavin
FINO: Bank to the poor…
Business Rediff
Thirty-seven-year-old Sivan Pandiyan had to run from pillar to
post for over seven to eight months to get a meagre Rs 5,000 as
loan from a bank to carry out the maintenance and repair work of
his taxi.
Tested to his limits, Pandiyan finally turned to the Financial
Information Network & Operations Ltd, which came to his
rescue by sanctioning the amount without any hassle.
Thanks to FINO, Pandiyan has been able to repair his taxi to eke
out a living earning Rs 500-1,000 per day.
For many like Pandiyan, FINO has emerged as the helping hand
providing much-needed financial assistance instantaneously,
making it an attractive alternative to banks.
Posted on June 25, 2009 - by Gavin
US Congressional Gold Medal suggested for Muhammad Yunus…
The Hindu News
Washington (PTI): Two identical bills have been introduced in the
US Senate and the House of Representatives to award Congressional
Gold Medal to Bangladesh’s Nobel Laureate and Grameen Bank fame
Dr Muhammad Yunus.
Congressional Gold Medal is the highest award conferred by the US
Congress. So far only a few international personalities,
including the Dalai Lama, have been bestowed with this award.
The Senate Version of the Bill (S-846) has been sponsored by
Senator Richard Durbin and co-sponsored by 55 others, while the
House of Representative Bill (H R 2000) has been introduced by
Congressman Rush Holt and cosponsored by 29 others.
The MiFi Report
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