The Microfinance Movement

The Microfinance Movement

Do you have spare money sitting around in your bank account? Then you can participate in the burgeoning field of microlending and microfinance! Any amount, be it $20 or $200 can make a huge difference in someone's life across the world... [more]

Do you have spare money sitting around in your bank account? Then you can participate in the burgeoning field of microlending and microfinance! Any amount, be it $20 or $200 can make a huge difference in someone's life across the world. Read more to learn about the easy and effective ways you can put that money to use and directly change someone's life.

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Written by tonypizzle on
MicroPlace Today's highlight is on a peer-to-peer lending site, MicroPlace. I liked the idea of p2p lending when I highlighted Kiva.org so I went to look for another interesting p2p idea. MicroPlace is a p2p lending site that is run by Ebay. The Ebay founders have always been involved in microfinance. They have their own foundation that gives out millions in microloans. MicroPlace was started by Stanford graduate, Tracy Turner. Her experience working for the Bangladesh based Grameen Bank inspired her to start her own site for microfinance. The company was bought by Ebay shortly after. Microplace is similar to Kiva in that people ... Read Full Story
Written by tonypizzle on
As I have told you in my overview of microfinance piece, microfinance has become widely popular over the past 20+ years. Dr. Yunus of the Grameen Bank won a Nobel Prize for his work in starting microfinance all those years ago. Now it has become a booming business. According to estimates made by several organizations the total assets of all microfinance institutions was about $33 billion dollars last year. Although this is only a small percentage of the trillions of dollars in banking in total it has grown rapidly. These small loans that were once intended to help the poor are now helping companies ... Read Full Story
Written by hnbbs on
I am a poor person but I believe in Microfinance . I been doing Kiva for months now. I am happy with them and will be making a another loan via Kiva in 3 days. I do a $25.00 loan each month. I think Micro-loaning is a great idea but I am surprised that it works. After I have made 12 Kiva loans I think I will sign up with a different microfinance site and use them for a time. Just so I can see how it works with a new company. I am thinking of going with MicroPlace as the next one. I ... Read Full Story
Written by tonypizzle on
This seems like the most obvious place to start my blog named "The Vast World of Microfinance". Microfinance is giving permanent access to a full range of financial services from savings, loans, and money transfers to the poor. This was mainly developed because many conventional banks do not allow the poor to use any of their services because they do not own anything to use as collateral for loans or have enough money to start a savings account. Before microfinance took off in the 1970s the poor were mainly using loansharks and local collectors for their financial services needs. These local players would charge ... Read Full Story
Written by tonypizzle on
As I mentioned before microcredit is a portion of the work done in microfinance. Microcredit is the idea of loaning small amounts of money to people so they can have the opportunity to begin to pull themselves out of poverty. The loans are given with an interest rate but usually at a very reasonable rate that will not overwhelm the borrower. Although there are some companies that do this to solely make a profit and they may charge a higher interest rate but I will wait for another post to address that way of business. As I began to tell you in the previous ... Read Full Story
The Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) recently released “2008 MFI Benchmarks” covering financial and performance data from 1084 microfinance institutions (MFIs) worldwide, reflecting the impact of the financial downturn. Blaine Stephens, COO and director of analysis at MIX said, “By the end of 2008, MFI growth rates had already begun to slow, leaving MFIs faced with [...]  
From microcapital.org ()
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President Yudhoyono recently announced his intention to expand the reach of the Kredit Usaha Rakyat (KUR) program.  The expansion will increase disbursement of micro-loans by as much as IDR 100 trillion (USD 10 billion) over the next five years. The goal of the KUR program is to encourage commercial banks to expand their services into [...]  
From microcapital.org ()
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Overview: The DID Partnership Fund (DID PF) provides capital to financial institutions or funds specializing in the financial sector in developing countries. Description: The Partnership Fund (PF) was created by Développement international Desjardins (DID) in 1996. The DID GF invests in microfinance institutions (MFIs), which are retail micro-lenders, in the form of ordinary or privileged shares, options, and [...]  
From microcapital.org ()
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Last month, Ryan took a look at the impact of the financial crisis on microfinance in Latin America, arguing that uncompetitive microfinance markets and small or inexperienced MFIs were responsible for increased premiums. A recent paper on Microfinance in Southern Sudan by Melody Atil finds that many of obstacles to expanding microfinance in Sudan's south, and thus lowering premiums, would also be remedied by diversifying and improving the...  
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Microfinance Focus is a global knowledge centre for Microfinance, serving 60,000 microfinance professionals worldwide. It publishes a monthly magazine, daily news stories, articles and write-ups written by experts who are practitioners in the field.  
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Overview: BlueOrchard Microfinance Securities (BOMS 1) is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that created a Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO) that is collateralized by microfinance institution (MFI) debt obligations. Description: BOMS 1 is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with a seven year maturity. The SPV was created to make seven-year loans to a portfolio of microfinance institutions (MFIs), which [...]  
From microcapital.org ()
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Milford Bateman, “a confessed microfinance sceptic” made a serious and novel (to me) charge against Kiva on the devfinance mailing list, that Kiva’s cheap capital is padding the profits of any for-profit microfinance banks through which it lends. I tweeted his message, so I ought to share with you the reply I received from Kiva. [...]  
From cgdev.org ()
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Mexico's Independencia To Buy Microfinance Co FinsolWall Street JournalThe acquisition will expand Independencia's microfinance business, which still represents a small portion of its largely consumer-orientated loan portfolio. ...Independencia Launches ADRLatinFinanceFinanciera Independencia to Acquire Financiera Finsol and to Expand ...PR Newswire (press release)Mexico's Financiera Independencia to acquire Financiera Finsol for $41...  
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Hey, I've been working with Kiva.org and CHF International to get small microfinance style loans to small businesses in the West Bank of Palestine. You can check out my portfolio here. The deal is that this creates jobs where we...  
From cnewmark.com ()
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Organised by the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP), this three day conference held in Luxembourg brings together over 300 delegates drawn from financial institutions, NGOs, government agencies, academics and sector specialists to share their ...  
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