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Vikram Akula’s Next Big Gig
On January 29, the board of SKS Microfinance, the country's only listed microfinance entity, approved the company's proposal to apply for a licence to set up a small finance bank, a new category of lenders that the Reserve Bank of India has created to drive financial inclusion. A few kilometres away from the SKS office in Hyderabad, Vikram Akula, who founded the company in 1997 and had to unceremoniously exit in 2011, is giving final touches to the application for a small finance bank for his start-up VAYA Finserv.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Microfinance Strikes Deep Roots in West Bengal
The Indian microfinance sector has found a new Andhra Pradesh in West Bengal. The sector, which has not been able to see any business in the state of Telangana and AP, has seen brisk business in this eastern state, piping other southern states as well.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Twitter Top Ten – 2/15/15
We’ve got plenty of tweets in this "Valentine’s Day Weekend" edition of our Twitter Top Ten. And we’ve even thrown in a holiday-themed tweet just for the occasion - a great example of behavioral science humor (yes, there is such a thing). Beyond that, we’ve got tweets covering everything from the ongoing debate over microcredit to the (hopeful) winding down of an epidemic in this week’s list.
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- Health Care
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Bangladesh’s Political Turmoil Taking Its Toll on Small, Medium Businesses
The ongoing political turmoil continues to take its toll on the small and medium businesses who have borrowed money from micro finance institutions (MFIs) as the big MFIs have tightened their vigilance fearing the future impact on loan recovery.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- lending, microfinance
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For MFIs in India, Transition to Small Banks Could Be Arduous
The Reserve Bank of India’s decision to create small finance banks could be a game-changer for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the country.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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World Bank Boosts Financial Inclusion in Cameroon
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has recently announced an advisory services agreement with Mircrofinance Institute Advans Cameroun geared at expediting the rate of financial inclusion in Cameroon by expanding the range and reach of services available to underserved urban and rural populations.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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NexThought Monday – Why Exiting Our MFI was the Best Way to Ramp Up Impact
In 2009 Sammie Rayner co-founded a microfinance nonprofit called Lumana, which was designed to provide loans and financial services in rural Ghana. Four years later Lumana’s MFI operations were spun off in a deal with a Ghanian NGO. In discussing their decision to exit, she cautions nonprofits against getting too attached to the ongoing survival of their mission.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Why More Nigerian Microfinance Banks May Collapse
The Managing Director of Asha Microfinance Bank, in Nigeria’s western city of Lagos, Mr Aminul Bhuiya, on Thursday raised fears about the possible collapse of more microfinance banks in the country saying this was due to high cost of operation.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- microfinance
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