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Peace Through Finance?: How the Middle East Investment Initiative uses financial tools to help a troubled region
It often seems like a unique set of religious and tribal conflicts are responsible for the Middle East’s problems. But they’re also driven in part by a more universal concern: a weak economy. That’s why the Middle East Investment Initiative is delivering finance and technical assistance that stimulate sustainable economic growth in the region. We discuss this approach with the organization’s CEO and Managing Director in part 1 of this Q&A.
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Teaching the Poor to be Better Customers: Marketplace literacy is the missing piece in the poverty fight
The knowledge gap results in lost wages and limited opportunity for poor people to lift themselves out of poverty. The answer, argues Business Professor Madhu Viswanathan, is marketplace literacy efforts that help the poor evaluate opportunity costs (money, time and effort) of buying a product or service. He reflects on the Marketplace Literacy Project, which he founded more than 10 years ago.
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OPINION: Responsible Investors Needed in Weak Microfinance Markets
Four years have passed since the launch of the Principles for Investors in Inclusive Finance, a compact signed by 40 global investors in the Netherlands. The introduction to these principles states:
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Zambian MFIs Complain of Negative Impact of Bank of Zambia Interest Rates Limits
The decision by Bank of Zambia (BoZ) to limit interest rates that licenced non-banking financial institutions can charge customers had a negative effect on micro-finance institutions (MFIs) performance last year.
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- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- lending, microfinance
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OPINION: Bitcoin: A Ponzi Scheme for Redistributing Wealth From One Libertarian to Another
If Bitcoin were a currency, it'd be the worst-performing one in the world, worse even than the Russian ruble.
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Helios Investment Partners raises US $1 billion African investment fund
Pan-African private investment firm Helios Investment Partners has raised over US$1 billion for a third Africa-focused fund, with the firm claiming the fund is the largest in existence dedicated to African private equity.
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- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Magnetizing Entrepreneurs, Investors and Mentors: The Inclusive Business Accelerator aspires to be a hub for dealmaking (and much more)
Earlier this month, a new online magnet to attract entrepreneurs, investors and would-be mentors focused on base of the pyramid enterprises and opportunities began in earnest. The Inclusive Business Accelerator (IBA), created through a partnership a between the BoP Innovation Center (BoPInc), SNV and VC4Africa, opened for business - the business being that of connecting the startups with the money and the know-how that they need to be successful.
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Absolute Portfolio Management Invests $8.5m in Microfinance Institutions in Cambodia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru
Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an arm of Austria-based asset management group C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that it disbursed credits totaling the approximate equivalent of USD 8.5 million from its two Vision Microfinance funds, the Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance and the Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance Local Currency, to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Cambodia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
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