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Morgan Stanley Offering Advisors Sustainable Investing Platform
April, 26 2012
Global - Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is launching a platform for its financial advisors to offer clients investments with positive social and environmental impact in what appears to be a major push to offer sustainable investing to mainstream investors
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Two Persistent Divides in Financial Inclusion: Gender and Rural
April, 25 2012
Global - What percentage of women in South Asia have a formal account compared to those in Latin America? What are the most common self-reported barriers to financial inclusion among women and rural residents worldwide? To what degree has mobile money reached the unbanked in Sub-Saharan Africa
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South Africa: Microfinance Bodies Merge Into Single Fund
April, 24 2012
South Africa - A new umbrella microfinance agency, which will fall under the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), will use the new Postbank facilities at post offices around the country to fast-track loans to small businesses
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Ghana: Only 30% use banks
April, 23 2012
Ghana - Seventy percent of Ghanaian adults do not have a bank account -- not only because of poverty, but also because of the cost, travel-distance, and the amount of paperwork involved in opening one, says the World Bank
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India: Making Money off the Poor: Business Models in the Developing World
April, 20 2012
India - In the heart of rural India, local farmers plow their land with the help of oxen, abide by tradition, and follow a local ‘sarpanch’ who arbitrates law and order. The villagers do not earn much selling their produce and are distanced from infrastructure where they might spend their earnings. Yet businesses such as Healthpoint and for-profit lenders thrive in this environment, to both their benefit and the benefit of the community.
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Rethinking the Role of Capital Markets in Enabling Social Progress
April, 19 2012
Global - Earlier this week at the Global Philanthropy Forum, Tracy Palandjian, CEO of Social Finance, Inc., served on a panel discussion around the challenges and opportunities of impact investing. In the below interview with Tracy, we discussed her career trajectory, the first-ever social impact bond in the United Kingdom and its potential to be replicated in the United States, and much more
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Palestine: Microfinance on the rise, despite the risks
April, 19 2012
Ramallah, Palestine - The demand for micro-loans has risen steeply in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in recent years, according to data from the Palestinian Network for Small and Microfinance (Sharakeh), which represents 11 microfinance non-profit institutions whose total loan portfolio was $75 million by the end of 2011
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India: Can SKS Change Its Spots?
April, 19 2012
Mumbia, India - After being the bad boy of microfinance, SKS is now trying to pick itself up and transform into a more cost-effective, diversified organization
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Financing Your Business: What is Crowdfunding?
April, 17 2012
New York, USA - A hot topic for entrepreneurs these days is "crowdfunding." It's a way to raise money for small businesses that don't have the means to be funded through angel investors or venture capitalists
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Islamic Microfinance Indispensible For Poverty Alleviation in Arab Countries
April, 15 2012
Arab Countries - United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in collaboration with USAID and CGAP jointly organised "Iraq Microfinance Policy Forum" on 10 and 11 April 2012 in Erbil-Iraq.
The forum aimed to set up Policy Goals for Microfinance in Iraq, which was attended by high Government functionaries from Iraq Government, including Advisors to Prime Minister, Central Bank in Iraq, USAID, ILO, UNOPS, CGAP, UNHABITAT representatives
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From Under the Mattress and into the Bank: Increasing Financial Access for Women in Nigeria
April, 12 2012
Abuja, Nigeria - A growing chorus of voices is calling for a shift away from cash-based economies in the developing world. For governments, non-governmental organizations and companies focused on expanding financial access to the underserved, it is fast becoming a top priority. Not only is it too costly and unsustainable to reach people who rely solely on cash-based financial services, but relying solely on cash severely limits economic and social growth.
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India Joins Ranks of CGAP Members
April, 12 2012
Washington DC - In a clear sign of its increasing influence on the global financial stage, India has today become the newest member of CGAP, the independent policy and research center housed at the World Bank dedicated to improving financial access for the world's poor.
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East Africa: EIB Launches EUR 50m East Africa Microfinance Programme
April, 12 2012
East Africa - Small and micro businesses across East Africa will benefit from the European Investment Bank’s new EAC Microfinance Facility, launched today. The initiative will encourage job creation and increase access to long-term funding for micro and small enterprises through experienced local intermediaries. Faulu Kenya DTM and Co-operative Bank Kenya joined the EUR 50 million scheme today as the first regional partners
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India: Microlending Business Declines in 2011-12
April, 10 2012
Hyderabad, India - Growth in the microfinance sector is set to decline for the second consecutive year ending 2011-12. This is due to the continuing crisis in Andhra Pradesh, where the collection of dues and fresh disbursal of loans have been hit since October 2010.
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New Credit-Risk Models for the Unbanked
April, 10 2012
Washington, DC - An alternative approach has emerged that would help lenders to build better risk models and help borrowers to receive improved and affordable products and services. Being pioneered by a handful of mobile operators, utilities, retailers, and direct-sales companies, the approach entails tapping into new forms data spun off from their core businesses to lend in responsible, low-touch and low-cost ways
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Making Disclosure Work for Low-Income Financial Consumers
April, 09 2012
Global - A micro-borrower in the Philippines struggles to figure out which one of several loans is the least expensive—one comes with a flat charge, another a weekly interest rate, and still another a monthly rate with an upfront deduction. In Senegal, a recent survey of low-income consumers revealed that more than 99% of respondents were unaware of their right to standardized price information on the loan and deposit services they used. In Mexico, poorer consumers looking for a cheaper way to save, reported to CGAP losing 25%, 50%, or even their whole savings due to hidden fees on “low-balance” accounts they were not aware of until it was too late
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India: Re-visiting the Fundamentals: A Self Assessment on MFIs
April, 09 2012
India - Microfinance institutions (MFIs) must be breathing easier (at least those outside AP) with some positive indicator in and around the Industry. All the mid and large micro-finance institutions have registered moderate portfolio growth for current financial year.
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Brazil: Daniel Izzo on Brazil's First Impact Investing Venture Capital Firm
April, 07 2012
Brazil - Recently, the Opportunities for the Majority (OMJ) Initiative of the Inter-American Development Bank hosted Daniel Izzo, co-founder and partner of Vox Capital, Brazil’s first impact investing venture capital firm, which focuses on high potential businesses that serve the Brazilian low income population through products and services with the potential to improve their lives. In addition, Vox Capital is the first Brazilian fund OMJ is investing in
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India: Big Investments Need Stable Environment
April, 06 2012
India - Investment decisions cannot be held hostage to petty posturing by policy-makers out to humour a particular caste, community or ally. Investors will put in money where there is clarity in thought and a legal framework
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Global Entrepreneurs Need New Funding Models
April, 04 2012
Global - Entrepreneurship seems to have become the silver bullet for a job-scarce, unemployment-saddled global economy still struggling to shake off recession. Around the world, leaders talk about how start-ups can create new jobs and lift regions out of poverty. But many entrepreneurs — particularly those in the world's toughest economies — are still battling to secure the cash they need to launch and run their businesses
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What It Will Take to 'Graduate' 1.2 Billion People Out of Extreme Poverty
April, 04 2012
Global - A new report from the World Bank brings welcome news on the global poverty front. Despite the worldwide recession of the late 2000s, the total number of people living in extreme poverty has actually gone down in recent years -- so much, in fact, that we've reached the first of the UN's eight Millennium Development Goals five years ahead of schedule, a startling achievement.
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Microfinance Giant Launches Venture Capital Fund For East Africa
April, 04 2012
East Africa - Accion, an international microfinance and investment firm, has launched Venture Lab, a $10 million investment vehicle which will provide seed capital and management support to financial inclusion startups worldwide, with a particular focus on East Africa and India
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India: The Men Who Made Microfinance Work
April, 03 2012
India - Two different personalities. Two different methods. Two successful companies. Why Chandra Shekhar Ghosh of Bandhan, and Samit Ghosh of Ujjivan are beacons of hope for microfinance companie
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