Posts Tagged ‘loans’
Posted on December 1, 2009 - by boris
Tanzania: MFI Faidika to award clients who use their loans productively…
Microfinance institution Faidika will launch an annual competition for clients and award those who use their loans productively. The first winner will be awarded Sh500,000 while the second runner-up get Sh300,000 and the third one Sh200,000.
Marion Moore, Chief executive officer of Faidika, told journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the competition was aimed at encouraging borrowers to spend their loans judiciously.
Faidika aims at empowering people to reach their full potential and making right decisions on using their money. It has been investing in an education programme to further the clients’ knowledge in financial management and to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship.
Source: http://thecitizen.co.tz/newe.php?id=15953
Posted on November 17, 2009 - by boris
Credit firms use social link to help poor access loans…
Lending to the low income groups is always a brave bet as their chances of servicing the loans is never guaranteed. But a credit firm has found a way to help low income earners guarantee one another when applying for loans— turning out to be one of the safest ways of ensuring that loan is repaid.
Women Enterprise Solutions (WESO), a credit company, uses the concept of social solidarity, made famous by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank— to help poor people access credit.
“We have two groups that we focus on: poor and very poor women. They have no substantial collateral,” said Mrs Juster Weru, CEO of WESO. Other institutions offering credit to organised groups include the Kenya Women Finance Trust, a microfinance firm that also focuses on women.
Source: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539444/687062/-/s13m2d/-/
Posted on November 11, 2009 - by boris
Blue Financial just launched its Cashxpress product in Rwanda…
Blue Financial, a South African microfinance institution, just launched its Cashxpress product in Rwanda. The service is intended to help employed, yet low income individuals borrow money in emergency situations.
According to the Blue Financial website, Cashexpress is unique since it will disburse unsecured loans of between 100 and 5,000 Rands to exisiting customers who are faced with difficult financial situations, an opportunity that has thus far been the domain of loan sharks in the developing world.
From press and company descriptions, Blue’s product operates similarly to payday loans common in the United States, a service that is often criticized because of the high interest payments charged to borrowers.
Source: http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/11/expanding-loan-options-in-rwanda/
Posted on November 4, 2009 - by boris
Equity Bank pre-tax profits grow by 48%…
EQUITY Bank, East Africa’s microfinance bank, has posted a 48% rise in pre-tax profit to Ksh4.3b (about sh107b) in the year to September, up from Ksh2.9b during the same period last year, latest financial results show.
Dr. James Mwangi, the chief executive officer, explained that the bank registered positive growth despite a challenging environment occasioned by the global downturn.
“These results are attributable to sustaining our strategy of balanced growth, high operating efficiency, and prudent management of risk,” said Mwangi in a statement.
Source: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/220/699916
Posted on October 30, 2009 - by boris
Indonesia: Mandiri posts 16.8% profit growth as loans rise…
Lending expansion helped Bank Mandiri, the nation’s largest asset-based lender, achieve a 16.8 percent growth in net profits in the first nine months of the year from a year earlier despite a slower economic growth.
Net profits during the January-September period reached Rp 4.62 trillion (US$478 million) from Rp 3.95 trillion during the same period in 2008.
Mandiri president director Agus Martowardojo claimed Thursday the bank’s profit growth was higher than the national figure, which was estimated to be around 11 percent. The positive performance was in part due to strong lending expansion, particularly in the micro- and retail-credit portfolios.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/10/30/mandiri-posts-168-profit-growth-loans-rise.html
Posted on October 22, 2009 - by boris
SMS-based microfinance system unveiled…
A new system that claims to let microfinance institutions run their entire operations via mobile phones and a single laptop has been unveiled.
The FrontlineSMS: Credit system combines SMS-aggregating software and mobile commerce offerings to let MFIs deliver and track loans via handsets. It is based on FrontlineSMS – free, open source software that turns a laptop and mobile phone into a central communications hub. Once installed, the program taps the GSM wireless telephone network to enable users to send and receive text messages with groups of people through mobile phones.
The new venture is building a series of free and open source financial modules that will allow FrontlineSMS to communicate with mobile payment systems in real time. The founder says this will turn FrontlineSMS in to a microfinance management information system, a payroll centre for SMEs, a collection and distribution centre for micro-insurance premiums and payouts, and a hub for individual credit histories and scores.
Source: http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=20616
Posted on September 17, 2009 - by boris
The Executive Board of the IFAD approves US$ 217.82 million for rural poverty work worldwide…
Poor farmers seeking to better their lives against the backdrop of climate change received a boost this week.
During its two-day meeting here, the Executive Board of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) approved more than US$161.56 million in loans and $56.26 million in grants – many of them for projects helping smallholder farmers adapt to a changing climate and contributing to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
These include projects to: enable Chad’s water network to support the seasonal movement of shepherds and livestock, encourage small-scale water resources management to increase yields in Bangladesh and strengthen water harvesting and soil conservation measures in Lebanon.
Source: http://appablog.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/ifad-executive-board-approves-us-217-82-million-for-rural-poverty-work-worldwide-2/
Posted on September 17, 2009 - by boris
Microfinance marks ten years in Serbia and Montenegro…
Ten years after AgroInvest dispersed its first loan in Montenegro, the World Vision and VisionFund*- affiliated microfinance institution is now providing services to more than 40,000 clients across Serbia and Montenegro with a focus on improving the lives of the rural poor.
Over ten years AgroInvest has grown from an initial grant of US$296,470 to an organisation that now manages a loan portfolio of more than US$85 million.
It works through 521 Village Associations, established to involve community members in the loan process, and has implemented 659 social projects to improve the lives of some 110,000 rural children through better education and health care.
*VisionFund is the microfinance subsidiary of World Vision.
Source: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/wvmeero/0600cbd5f3aa1f86a243075dad9bc3b9.htm
Posted on September 17, 2009 - by boris
Poor women are unable to repay MFI’s interest rates…
A microfinance institution (MFI) catering to women’s self-help groups in Bhandara is facing flak from its borrowers for its high rates of interest.
Spandana Sphurti Financial Ltd from Hyderabad, which charges 25% interest rate on principal amount, recovers the sum in fifty weekly instalments. Most women in the self-help groups, each of which comprises 10 women, are slum-dwellers and say they didn’t know what they were getting into at the time of borrowing.
Spandana Sphurti typically extends loans ranging from Rs 8,000 to 10,000. The loan forms are in English and, therefore, beyond comprehension of the women, most of whom are barely literate enough to sign their name.
Many put their thumb impressions because they are completely unlettered. Group members are the guarantor of each member, so if a member fails to pay the instalment, it is the responsibility of the remaining nine members to ensure the payment of defaulter member. If a group borrows Rs 10,000, the weekly instalment is Rs 250. Therefore, the group repays Rs 12,500 for the loan amount.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/nagpur/Poor-women-struggle-to-repay-MFIs-high-interest-loans/articleshow/5020701.cms
Posted on September 16, 2009 - by boris
Savings helps individuals during difficult times…
We hear a lot about the promise of microcredit, small loans to help low income people start businesses and improve their lives. The concept has caught fire among philanthropists who see it not as a handout but as a way to help people help themselves.
In the Seattle area, nearly two dozen non-profits are dedicated to microfinance, loans and other financial services for the poor.
Bob Christen of the Gates Foundation said that the reality of microcredit hasn’t lived up to its promise to lift poor people out of poverty, despite the $2 billion a year being spent on it. He made a strong case that the picture is more complex than just loans, and savings should be a much bigger part of the solution. Savings helps individuals, enterprises and economies get through uncertain times.
Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thebusinessofgiving/2009872802_low_income_savers_held_on_to_t.html
Posted on September 14, 2009 - by boris
Why the world’s poor refuse insurance?…
There are higher-yielding varieties of groundnut than those that farmers in Malawi tend to plant, but getting them to switch is tough. Better seed is pricey, increasing their risk. So researchers from the World Bank ran an experiment. With local NGOs, they offered the farmers loans.
Some loans even came with a crop-insurance policy: if the season was dry and the yield a dud, the debt would be forgiven. The farmers’ risk was lowered. Of farmers offered conventional loans, 33% signed up. With the added incentive of insurance, 18% did. The researchers were puzzled.
It’s been more than 30 years since microfinance began its fantastic rise, spreading billions of dollars in credit to hundreds of millions of overlooked borrowers around the world. Insurance is the next big promise of financial services for the poor.
Source: http://www.indiamicrofinance.com/microfinance/microinsurance-india/why-the-worlds-poor-refuse-insurance.html
Posted on August 25, 2009 - by boris
Microfinance firms in India are planning to set up a credit bureau…
Microfinance companies are planning to set up a credit bureau to facilitate smooth disbursal of loan to the needy sections of the society. Hyderabad-based SKS Microfinance, the largest player in the segment in terms of assets, is playing a key role in this regard.
“There is no credit bureau that supports microfinance lenders. So we are in the process of getting one. We are talking to the Credit Information Bureau (India) and a couple of other people. Hopefully by this month end, an announcement will be made,” Suresh Gurumani, chief executive officer of SKS Microfinance, told Financial Chronicle.
SKS has been one of the most successful companies in the microfinance sector domestically. Set up on the Grameen Bank model of Bangladesh’s Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, it had a total outstanding loan amount of almost $500 million by the end of March. The company was ranked as number one microfinance institute (MFI) in India and second worldwide by the Microfinance Information Exchange Ma-rket, a major business information provider for the microfinance industry.
Source: http://www.indiamicrofinance.com/microfinance/india-microfinance/microfinance-credit-information-bureau-to-be-launched-soon-in-india.html#more-1872
Posted on August 14, 2009 - by boris
According to Rajalaxmi Kamath,poor neighborhoods in India are being carpet-bombed with loans…
Microlending fights poverty by helping poor people finance small businesses — snack stalls, fruit trees, milk-producing buffaloes — in slums and other places where it’s tough to get a normal loan. But what began as a social experiment to aid the world’s poorest has also shown it can turn a profit.
That has attracted private-equity funds and other foreign investors, who’ve poured billions of dollars over the past few years into microfinance world-wide.
The result: Today in India, some poor neighborhoods are being “carpet-bombed” with loans, says Rajalaxmi Kamath, a researcher at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore who studies the issue. In India, microloans outstanding grew 72% in the year ended March 31, 2008, totaling $1.24 billion, according to Sa-Dhan, an industry association in New Delhi.
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB125012112518027581-lMyQjAxMDI5NTEwMzExMjMxWj.html
Posted on August 13, 2009 - by boris
According to Hasina Bano, loans can lead to public shame…
Hasina Bano, a silk-factory worker from Ramanagaram, says that, for her, the most difficult aspect of microfinance is that debts can become public knowledge in the community. So when she got in over her head with loans, she had two big problems: Difficulty repaying, and public shame.
Ms. Bano, 27 years old, makes about $8 a week working in a silk factory, and says she owes her microlender a weekly payment of $7.20. She has struggled to make the payments for years. Meantime, her groupmates are watching and waiting — because they can’t secure new loans until she has repaid her share.
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125008232217325553.html
Posted on July 24, 2009 - by boris
MICROFINANCE group Blue Financial Services focus still on growth in Africa…
BusinessDay posted:
MICROFINANCE group Blue Financial Services had slowed the pace of its expansion due to the global financial crisis, but the rest of Africa remained its focus and it would enter more countries this year, said CEO Dave van Niekerk yesterday.
There were plans, for instance, to open in Ghana this year. Blue already operates in 14 countries, including Mauritius, which serves as a treasury for its African operations and provides certain tax benefits.
Reasons for the slower expansion included the lesser availability and higher cost of finance and the devaluation of many African currencies.
(more…)
Posted on July 17, 2009 - by boris
Leyden Students Learn In Africa…
Journal-Topics.com posted:
While many students learn about issues in the developing world through text books, a group of Leyden High School students recently learned about poverty, AIDS and other issues in the developing world by seeing them first hand in Africa.
Late last month a small group of high schoolers from both campuses, which serve most of Rosemont, returned from a 14-day trip to Zambia in conjunction with World Vision, a Christian charitable organization that provides direct aid in the form of infrastructure projects, health initiatives and other programs.
“Hands down the most memorable and emotionally grabbing moment was meeting people with AIDS,” said East Leyden High School student Denise Paarlberg. “To learn their names, families and stories instead of just looking at it as statistics, it gave it a face and a family. It’s more than just a disease.”
(more…)
Posted on July 16, 2009 - by boris
Kiva takes community feedback on U.S. loans today…
The Seattle Times posted:
This afternoon the micro-lending site Kiva will be hosting an open conference call to get feedback on its pilot program in the United States.
The program has generated mixed reactions and a protest led by a Seattle lender who thinks Kiva should stop featuring borrowers from the U.S. The U.S. loans deviate from Kiva’s original mission to help the poorest, said Tom Behan.
“New Kiva loans are facilitating the richest country on the planet in making loans to itself,” Behan said.
(more…)
Posted on July 14, 2009 - by boris
Bay Area Microfinance Reaches Rural Chinese…
AsianWeek posted:
Over one hundred guests gathered at the San Francisco Ferry Building on Sunday, June 28th, for the official launch of Wokai.org in the Bay Area. Many were energetically discussing the potential of MFI (Microfinance Institutions) to help alleviate rural poverty, while others were there to mingle and learn more.
All guests had one thing in common though, to support and raise money and awareness for the nonprofit organization that is reaching out to those who are both literally and figuratively living on the margins.
With the backdrop of the Bay Bridge against a brilliant blue sky on an unusually warm afternoon, guests were transported thousands of miles away to rural villages in the Mongolian and Sichuan provinces, where a short film, “How the Other Half Lives,” captured how Wokai’s micro loans are changing the lives of over a hundred rural Chinese peasants.
(more…)
Posted on July 14, 2009 - by boris
281,000 houses in squatter areas formalized- Govt…
The Citizen Daily posted:
The Government has formalised 281,028 houses constructed in unplanned areas, the National Assembly was told yesterday.
Lands, Housing and Settlements Development minister John Chiligati said the houses were formalised between 2005 and last month in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Moshi, Dodoma and Tanga.
He said 264,360 houses were formalised in Dar es Salaam, 6,053 in Mwanza, 3,945 in Tanga, 1,019 in Moshi and 5,651 in Dodoma. He said 86,953 title deeds were issued to home owners.
(more…)
Posted on July 13, 2009 - by boris
Lagos Traders Lose Millions Of Naira To Fake Microfinance Bank…
The Guardian
IT was a tale of woes for unsuspecting traders who fell prey to the antics of a fake microfinance bank and lost millions of Naira in the process.
Some of the Lagos-based traders, who disclosed their ordeal to The Guardian, said they were lured into parting with substantial amounts of money, contributed through daily savings with marketers of the bank.
The bank was said to have lured the victims, the majority of which were market women, into saving millions of Naira sequel to securing some phantom mouth-watering loans.
(more…)
The MiFi Report
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