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Viewpoint: Indian Microfinance Sector Must Transform Before It’s Too Late
Borrowers are juggling multiple loans—sometimes 6 or more—from MFIs, SHGs, local moneylenders, and even app-based lenders. Field staff are exhausted. Community ties that once held JLGs together are fraying. And loan officers are under pressure, leading to shortcuts, fraud, and rising stress levels.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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uMunthu Fund Exits Baobab Nigeria
The impact of this now-completed partnership is far-reaching: from operating only in Kaduna state to 16 states in Nigeria.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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IFC and IDB Invest Forge Partnership with Itaú Unibanco to Issue First Bond with a Focus in Biodiversity and Social Initiatives in Brazil
This marks Itaú's first bond with a focus on biodiversity, aimed at increasing access to credit for green projects.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
- Region
- Latin America
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The Emergence of Tokenisation in Microfinance: How this Blockchain-Based Technology is Driving Faster Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs In Emerging Markets
Tokenisation — the process of leveraging blockchain to create digital tokens that represent real-world assets — is gaining significant momentum, with some estimating that it could become a $3.8 trillion market by 2030. According to Michele Mattioda at Mikro Kapital, the microfinance industry — and the small and medium enterprises it supports — have a lot to gain from the tokenisation wave. He explores how tokenisation is gradually making inroads into the sector, and discusses Mikro Kapital's experience launching the market’s first tokenised bonds to raise proceeds for microfinance institutions.
- Categories
- Finance, Investing, Technology
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Why Insurance Matters: Announcing the European Microfinance Award 2025 on ‘Building Resilience Through Inclusive Insurance’
Insurance is a hard sell, especially among low-income populations. Yet as Sam Mendelson at e-MFP, and Matthew Genazzini and Asier Achutegui at the Microinsurance Network argue, affordable and tailored insurance products are essential to ensuring economic security and resilience in vulnerable communities. They explore the challenges and opportunities in offering insurance products to low-income customers, and announce the launch of the European Microfinance Award 2025, which will focus on “Building Resilience Through Inclusive Insurance.”
- Categories
- Finance
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BII Provides $100 Million Towards Green Investments and Financial Inclusion in Africa
The funding aims to drive sustainable growth by facilitating lending to climate-related projects and women-led enterprises, expanding financial inclusion, and helping to close the region’s $42bn gender financing gap.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Finance, Transportation
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Summit Africa Launches Private Equity Fund II With US $20 Million Anchor Commitment From British International Investment, Supporting Businesses in South Africa and the Southern African Region
The fund will drive financial and digital inclusion, job creation, diversity, and food security as a new sector, through investment in small-to-mid market companies.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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Press Release: Triple Jump Receives EIB Financial Inclusion Grant to Support Oxfam Novib Investees’ Climate Resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa
Triple Jump and ONF will support up to six microfinance institutions (MFIs) with the fund they from Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF).
- Categories
- Finance
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