-
Press release: Bamboo Capital Partners exits its investment from Vitas Group, a leading microfinance institution in post conflict MENA and Eastern Europe regions
Vitas has grown significantly over the course of Bamboo’s investment. Since 2011, Vitas and its affiliates’ Gross Loan Portfolio increased from $82 million to $247 million and the number of clients has tripled. Currently, Vitas and its affiliates serve more than 112,000 clients while employing nearly 1600 local professional staff.
- Categories
- Investing
-
Beyond Microcredit: Why Tackling Poverty Requires More Than a Loan
It's clear that microcredit is not enough to end poverty, say Gary Carrier and Harrison Pharamond of MCE Social Capital. But this does not stop MCE from investing in microfinance institutions. Instead, they maximize the impact of these investments by supporting MFIs in offering “credit-plus services” - additional services that address poverty holistically.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing, Social Enterprise
-
Giving Capitalism a Social Conscience
Yunus has recently written a new book, “A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions,” in which he argues that capitalism is in crisis and remains moored in a flawed conception of human motivation. He proposes a far more robust role in the economy for “social businesses,” which he defines as “non-dividend” companies “dedicated to solving human problems.”
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Meet 12 Youth-Led Social Businesses Inspired By Muhammad Yunus
From communities of women developers springing up across Africa to jointly revolutionize science and technology, to a Brazilian social business educating their countrymen of ‘effective altruism’ through scientific evaluation of charities, to Indonesian youths redefining conventional cafes by employing and engaging the deaf with the wider community, we are entering a new era of a capitalistic society led by the rise of youth social entrepreneurship.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
India’s microfinance institutions are struggling for survival. Here’s why.
Two decades after India-born Americancitizen Vikram Akula founded SKS Microfinance, which was rechristened as Bharat Financial, the industry that delivered livelihood to millions of poor is facing its pincer moment with private banks giving a big push to micro lending.
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- microfinance
-
‘Cross-sell Done Well’: How One Finance App Found a Balance Between Digital and Human Touch
Field officers at the Sajida Foundation, a microfinance provider in Bangladesh, knew their clients had rich financial lives, and that some held sizable savings balances to enable their goals. They also knew these clients could earn more by converting their savings to a term deposit account. Yet it was difficult for them to offer complex financial advice, or to answer questions around tiered interest rates and differentiated products. The Foundation worked with BFA to develop an Android-based app to address these issues – Ashirul Amin discusses the lessons learned.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
-
The First MicroFinance Bank Afghanistan; Mibanco of Peru; and Cooperative Tosepantomin of Mexico Announced as Finalists for European Microfinance Award on Microfinance for Housing
This year, the Award highlights the role of microfinance in supporting access to better quality residential housing for vulnerable, low income and financially excluded groups with no or limited access to housing finance in the mainstream sector. This problem is multi-dimensional: sub-standard housing is not just an identifier of poverty, but rather it is the cause of a host of developmental problems.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
-
Maisha Becomes First Microfinance Bank in Kenya to Offer Mobile Loans
Maisha MFB becomes the first telco-backed microfinance to launch a savings and mobile money solution in the market and the fourth financial institution, alongside banks like Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and Equity.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech, lending, microfinance
Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter, "NextBillion Notes"
Published each Wednesday, our e-newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with a selection of news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage — and regular conference ticket giveaways.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.