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Jul 2020
Uganda: EIB Lends $12.5m to Fenix for Solar Electrification via Solar Kits
July, 31 2020
Uganda - The European Investment Bank (EIB) has recently signed a $12.5 million loan agreement with Fenix International, the subsidiary of the French group Engie. Through this financing, the solar home systems provider aims to electrify 1.4 million people living in rural areas in Uganda ...
COVID-19 Pandemic Shows the Need to Strengthen Digital Safety Nets for Women
July, 31 2020
Global - By enacting consumer protections and investing in appropriate financial education, governments can help bring relief to women suffering from the coronavirus recession — and create the basis for higher financial inclusion for women in the future ...
Digital Financial Inclusion – Kenya and Nigeria Case Studies
July, 31 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa - Digital financial services are both broadening and speeding up financial inclusion in many African countries – a key factor in accelerating economic growth. This study looks at their development in Kenya and Nigeria and notes the differences in their impact ...
Domestic Development Spending to Fall by $396B in 2020-21, Report Predicts
July, 31 2020
Global - The economic repercussions of COVID-19 mean low- and middle-income countries will have $396 billion less than projected for public spending on development from 2020-21, according to a report by End Water Poverty and WaterAid ...
Latin America: IDB Invest Funds LAAD Farmers
July, 30 2020
Latin America - IDB Invest, part of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), has granted a five-year, $30 million loan for Latin American Agribusiness Development (LAAD) to cover costs for small farmers hit by the COVID-19 pandemic ...
EBRD Extends 5mln Euro Loan to Moldova's Mobiasbanca - OTP Group to Support SMEs
July, 30 2020
Moldova - The loan is granted under the EU4BUSINESS EBRD Credit Line, which supports Moldovan companies to boost production locally and trade more successfully on the European market. ...
Private Equity Prepares to Step Up as Africa Looks to Fund Its Recovery
July, 30 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa - The Southern African Venture Capital released its 2020 Private Equity Industry Survey report on Thursday. While the survey looked at fundraising, deal-making, and investments by the sector in 2019, SAVCA members say they don’t expect Covid-19 to dry up funding sources in 2020 ...
A. Khanna, V. Schippers and D. Bartel, CARE: Beyond Gender-Lens - CARE’s New Impact Fund Opts for ‘Gender Justice’
July, 30 2020
Global - CARE — alongside its partners, Bamboo Capital Partners and International Trade Centre’s SheTrades Initiative — have designed the CARE-SheTrades Impact Fund with hopes of moving beyond counting women to tackling root causes of gender discrimination ...
Cambodia: SME Bank and ARDB Disburse $63m in Loans
July, 30 2020
Cambodia - SMEs can borrow up to $200,000 for working capital and $300,000 for investment capital with a maximum interest rate of seven per cent per annum and a repayment period of seven years ...
Sub-Saharan Africa: FMO Backs Eco.business II Sub-Fund
July, 29 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa - FMO has approved the commitment of $10m in senior shares of Eco.business II Sub-Fund (EBF II), an open ended debt fund managed by Finance in Motion ...
How to Mainstream Impact Investing in Europe
July, 27 2020
Global - Investors and policy makers who want to advance impact investing in Europe need to account for the field's different levels of maturity in national, subnational, and municipal markets ...
ESP Launches COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program for Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism and Hospitality in Rwanda
July, 27 2020
Rwanda - Kigali, Rwanda — Today, Entrepreneurial Solutions Partners (ESP), in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and Equity Bank Rwanda PLC, announced the creation of a COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience program, to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Tourism and Hospitality sector ...
India: Danish Company Maj Invest Buys 18% Equity in Save Solutions for Rs 120 Crore
July, 26 2020
India - SAVE Solutions is a business correspondent for State Bank of India, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda and intends to use this capital to expand its direct lending through subsidiaries SAVE Microfinance and SAVE Financial Services, group chief financial officer Gourav Sirohi told ET ...
IFC Partners with Access Bank to Strengthen Local Businesses in Nigeria
July, 24 2020
Nigeria - In a press release, the IFC said it had provided a $50 million loan to the bank to help it increase liquidity to thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggling with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria ...
Nigeria: Details of CBN’s New Intervention Schemes for Non-interest Financial Institutions
July, 23 2020
Nigeria - The overall objective of these interventions is to promote financial inclusion in the country ...
Morocco’s BCP Bank Gets $100 Mln Loan from EBRD to Mitigate COVID-19 Impact
July, 23 2020
Morocco - BCP will extend EBRD funds to corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises that are experiencing a decrease in activity, turnover and profitability to help them address liquidity needs ...
Covid-19 and Food Security: Challenges and Opportunities in Emerging Markets
July, 23 2020
Global - The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the potential vulnerability of the world’s food supply chains. This is galvanising governments in emerging economies to boost domestic production through new agricultural inputs and investment in agri-tech and logistics networks ...
Kenya Is Doubling Down on Regulating Mobile Loan Apps to Combat Predatory Lending
July, 23 2020
Kenya - The country’s central bank is proposing new laws to regulate monthly interest rates levied on loans by digital lenders in a bid to stamp out what it deems predatory practices. ...
Orange and NSIA Launch Orange Bank Africa in Côte d’Ivoire
July, 23 2020
Côte d'Ivoire - Orange Bank Africa will address the needs of a large part of the population, often excluded from the world of conventional banking, allowing them to borrow and save small amounts that are nonetheless essential for their everyday lives ...
GGF Provides EUR 25 million in Green Finance to DenizBank in Turkey
July, 22 2020
Turkey - A senior loan of EUR 25 million to the new partner in Turkey will increase the uptake of renewable energy, energy efficiency and resource efficiency measures, GGF said ...
India: Whatsapp Pay’s Rural Push - From Insurance, Micro-Credit to Pension Are the App’s Next Big Bets
July, 22 2020
India - Providing access to financial services such as insurance, micro-credit, pension and lower income segments in rural India is WhatsApp’s next big bet on the payments front ...
Philippines: AgriNurture Buys 51% of Fintech Firm
July, 22 2020
Philippines - Businessman Antonio Tiu-led AgriNurture Inc. (ANI) is taking over fintech firm Pay8 Inc. from the DFNN Group as part of a vision to “digitally transform” the agriculture and agrarian sector and usher farmers into the financial system ...
Nuveen Completes $150 Million First Close of Global Impact Fund to Tackle Income Inequality and Climate Change
July, 21 2020
Global - Nuveen, a leading global investment manager with over $1 trillion in assets under management, announced the initial close of the Nuveen Global Impact Fund, LP. The private equity fund, which is open to institutional investors globally, secured $150 million in commitments toward its targeted $400 million offering ...
India: MFIs See Gradual Ramp-Up in Collections - ICRA
July, 21 2020
India - Even though impacted by economic turmoil due to Covid-19, the country's microfinance institutions or MFIs have reported better-than-expected collection efficiency in June 2020, rating agency ICRA said on Tuesday ...
A. Counts and G. Hattem, Board Members, Deutsche Bank Microcredit Development Fund: How and Why to Shut down a Successful Nonprofit
July, 21 2020
Global - A nonprofit that finds itself in a position of strength amid a rapidly changing world may do more for social change by handing its assets to another organization better equipped to navigate the future ...
Africa: EEP Africa Finances Redavia to Provide Solar Energy to Enterprises
July, 21 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa - Photovoltaic solar energy provider Redavia has recently received a €1.5 million loan from EEP Africa, a multi-donor fund hosted and managed by the Nordic Development Fund (NDF). This funding will enable Redavia to expand the deployment of its solar systems to businesses primarily in Ghana and Kenya ...
Covid-19: A New Dawn for Impact Investing in Emerging Economies?
July, 21 2020
Global - While global investment is expected to fall sharply this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, impact investment – the funding of projects that generate a positive social or environmental impact, as well as a financial return – is tipped to hold relatively steady, and could play a key role in the recovery of emerging market economies ...
Microfinance Institutions in India Should Be Allowed to Accept Public Deposits, Says Muhammad Yunus
July, 20 2020
India - Raising concerns that many MFIs may become "loan sharks", Yunus said the sector should be defined as a "social business" and also pitched for zero dividend-paying entities ...
Two Ways to Make the COVID-19 Recovery More Inclusive for Women
July, 20 2020
Global - Millions of women are out of work as the COVID-19 pandemic shuts down economic activity in wealthy and poor countries alike. The IMF warns of drastically slower growth through 2021, setting us up for a slow recovery ...
IFC Finances City Bank to Help Bangladeshi Companies and SMEs Impacted by COVID-19
July, 19 2020
Bangladesh - The International Finance Corporation, or IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a loan of up to $30 million to The City Bank Ltd, a leading private commercial bank in Bangladesh, to provide financing for small and medium enterprises and corporate companies affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This is expected to help keep their doors open and preserve jobs ...
Impact Investing Won’t Save Capitalism
July, 17 2020
Global - Our governments have wasted nearly three decades ignoring the IPCC and other experts on climate change. We cannot waste another decade — not even a year — ignoring these economic realities ...
How Inclusive Businesses Are Pioneering Sustainable Solutions
July, 17 2020
Global - Including low-income consumers and producers is good for business – and key to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal ...
DWS and International Environment Group Ltd. Announce Investment for Expansion of Waste Management Operations in China
July, 16 2020
China - DWS, one of the world's leading asset managers, announced today that a sustainable investments private equity fund advised by the firm has invested $23 million USD in International Environment Group Limited (IEG). IEG is a leading environmental service provider focusing on waste treatment and waste management. ...
R. Cohen, Chair, Global Steering Group for Impact Investments: Crisis Offers a Chance to Rewrite Accounting to Include Impact
July, 16 2020
Global - Today’s technology and big data allow us to measure and value impacts dependably. If governments force companies to publish impact-weighted accounts starting two years from now, they will immediately start to focus on improving their impact and finding solutions to social and environmental problems ...
Is There a Liquidity Crisis among MFIs, and If So, Where?
July, 16 2020
Global - The findings may come as a surprise: The liquidity situation among MFIs as of end April does not appear worse than before the crisis. More than half (56 percent) of MFIs would have no trouble covering a full year's worth of operations with the cash and liquid assets they have on hand ...
Public, Private Lending Mash-Up Offers Lifeline to Virus-Hit African Firms
July, 16 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa - Blended finance, a mix of public and private capital, is set to boom in Africa to meet funding demand from businesses cash-strapped in the wake of COVID-19 and as investors seek safeguards against financial risks ...
E-Wallets Drive Surge in Deposit Accounts, but over 51m Filipinos Still Unbanked - BSP
July, 16 2020
Philippines - An additional five million Filipinos opened deposit accounts in 2017 to 2019 but majority of adults remain unbanked, a new central bank survey showed ...
Gender Lens Investing Landscape - East and Southeast Asia: New Report Launched by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Catalyst at Large, and Sagana
July, 16 2020
Asia - Serving as a springboard for capital deployment strategies, this report aims to inspire investors interested in GLI and asset managers who wish to create GLI investment vehicles. ...
Boao Forum for Asia Launched Asian Index of Financial Inclusion Ecosystem (AIFIE)
July, 16 2020
Asia - To further promote the development of financial inclusion in Asia, the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) and the Asian Financial Cooperation Association (AFCA) jointly held the "Roundtable on Ecosystem Building and Digital Development of Financial Inclusion in Asia" and launched the BFA flagship report "Asian Financial Development Report on Financial Inclusion" on July 2 in Beijing, with support of Institute of Digital Finance (IDF) of Peking University. ...
IFC Provides $100m to a Mid-sized Brazilian Bank to Support SMEs Impacted by COVID-19
July, 15 2020
Brazil - IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a US$ 100 million loan to support Banco Daycoval, a leading mid-sized Brazilian bank, expand access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including women-owned businesses ...
Intention Is Not Enough: Impact Investors Seek Standardised Measures of ‘Impact’
July, 14 2020
Global - The impact investing market is thriving. Asset managers from across the spectrum of the industry are buying into the trend, raising funds to invest in projects that aim to make positive social or environmental change, as well as a strong financial return ...
World Bank’s Guide to Scale up Green Finance in Emerging Markets
July, 14 2020
Global - The World Bank has published a guide outlining the processes that financial regulators can use to develop a green taxonomy in order to scale up green finance ...
Sub-Saharan Africa: Komaza Raises $28m Series B to Capture Africa’s $30b Wood Deficit While Restoring Degraded Lands
July, 14 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa - With continued investment and support from their Series A lead Novastar Ventures, this financing round was co-led by Novastar LPs AXA Investment Managers (through the AXA Impact Fund: Climate & Biodiversity), and the Dutch development bank FMO, with further participation by Mirova’s Land Degradation Neutrality Fund ...
Sri Lanka: IFC Supports Combank to Expand Access to Finance for Women
July, 14 2020
Sri Lanka - In June, IFC invested $100 million in ComBank – a $50 million loan as part of IFC’s US$8 billion global COVID-19 fast track financing facility, and another $50 million through a private placement of new equity shares ...
International Finance Corporation and ProCredit Deepen Their Cooperation to Support SMEs in Nine Emerging Economies during the Corona Crisis
July, 13 2020
Global - The funds will be available at short notice to qualified SMEs in nine of the altogether twelve ProCredit banks. These are the ProCredit banks in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine ...
IFC Invests EUR 25mn in Ivorian Bank NSIA Banque Côte D’Ivoire
July, 13 2020
Côte d'Ivoire - The loan is IFC’s first investment in Côte d’Ivoire as part of its global COVID-19 fast-track financing support package, designed to help client financial institutions — and the thousands of smaller businesses they support—weather COVID-19-related disruptions. ...
India: Impact Investing Touches $11 Bn; Helps 490 Million Lives in 10 Years
July, 13 2020
India - As per the study, impact investing has seen strong growth with USD 10.8 billion of equity capital flowing into the sector over the past decade, clipping 26 per cent in each of the first eight years and rapid growth over the past two years - helping as much as 490 million lead better lives. ...
D. Wood, Director, Initiative for Responsible Investment: Roles Foundations Play in Shaping Impact Investing
July, 13 2020
Global - A better understanding of the roles that foundations have played in the development of impact investing can shed light on the problems that arise when philanthropy turns to the private sector to help with achieving a greater good ...
Pakistan: Agriculture, Livestock Proved the Most Pandemic-Resistant Sector
July, 12 2020
Pakistan - Proving their resilience in one of the worst economic slowdowns, agriculture and livestock sector fared far better than services and small-scale manufacturing sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic, which crippled the latter, a top microfinance official said ...
Fairfax Africa Holdings Enters Purchase Agreement with Helios Holdings Ltd
July, 11 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa - Canada-based Fairfax Africa Holdings Corporation has reached an agreement to merge with Helios Holdings limited, the Africa-focused private equity firm which was co-founded by Tope Lawani and Babatunde Soyoye. The purpose of the merger is to create a truly pan-African investment firm ...
Turning on the Lights for 450,000 People in Rural Myanmar
July, 11 2020
Myanmar - More than 450,000 people in rural Myanmar are expected to gain access to clean energy for the first time following the signing of a grant agreement between the World Bank Group and the Government of Myanmar ...
Findev Canada to Support Lending for 270 MW of Renewables in Latam, Caribbean
July, 10 2020
Latin America and the Caribbean - FinDev, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canada’s export credit agency, will provide a USD 15 million (EUR 13.3m) to Panama-based non-bank financial institution Corporacion Interamericana para el Financiamiento de Infraestructura SA (CIFI) ...
Assessing Gender Lens Investing in Blended Finance
July, 09 2020
Global - This year, Convergence analyzed how gender has been incorporated in the blended finance market, based on its database of over 530 blended finance transactions, the majority of which have launched since 2010 ...
Virus Spurs Emerging Market Investors to Seek Returns in ESG
July, 08 2020
Global - Emerging-market investors may have identified the assets that offer sustainable post-pandemic returns. Now they just need to find more of it ...
Kiva Receives USAID Design Funding to Structure Innovative $100m Fund to Support 1 Million Women Globally
July, 07 2020
Global - The contract will support an 18-month process that will engage major asset owners and gender lens investing experts in developing K-IWF, which aims to provide $100 million in critical capital for women entrepreneurs ...
Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank Arranges the First Green ABCP Note Financing Electric Vehicles in Client Auto Retail Loan and Lease Pools
July, 07 2020
Global - Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (“Credit Agricole CIB”) announced today its first issuance of a green Asset-Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP) note, raising USD25 million. Crédit Agricole CIB understands this to be the industry's first green ABCP note financing electric vehicles (EVs) in client auto loan and lease pools. ...
EIB and ICFA Luxembourg Sign MoU to Promoting Climate Finance
July, 07 2020
Luxembourg - The initiative seeks to help fund managers in their startup phase by creating an attractive and supporting environment for them. ...
Developing World Markets Secures $90 Million for Sustainable Impact Investments from Nordic Institutions
July, 07 2020
Global - Developing World Markets (DWM) has secured commitments of US$90.4 million from three Nordic financial institutions to invest in low-income countries, many hit hard by the global pandemic ...
GGF, Yapı Kredi Leasing Support Renewables in Turkey with Loan Package of EUR 20 Million
July, 06 2020
Turkey - The Green for Growth Fund – GGF invested in Turkey’s Yapı Kredi Leasing for the fourth time. The senior loan of EUR 20 million is primarily intended for rooftop solar installations at industrial facilities ...
IFC Provides CIB Egypt $100m Loan to Support Businesses Disrupted by COVID-19
July, 05 2020
Egypt - The funding will help CIB, a longstanding partner of the IFC in Egypt, provide short-term loans to corporations and businesses, including small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facing liquidity challenges ...
Cambodia: PRASAC Gets $150 Million Bank Credit
July, 03 2020
Cambodia - Cambodian Securities Exchange (CSX)-listed PRASAC Microfinance Institution Plc received $150 million in credit facilities from South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank to strengthen its capital base, liquidity and expand its lending ...
India: RBI May Have Its Task Cut Out in Overseeing Urban Cooperative Banks Added to Its Fold
July, 03 2020
India - The RBI already has its hands full in monitoring regulatory compliance by the 86 scheduled commercial banks, 10 small finance banks, 53 regional rural banks and thousands of NBFCs under its watch ...
South Africa: AfDB Concludes R2 Billion Investment in SDG Bonds Issued by Nedbank SA
July, 03 2020
South Africa - This SDG-linked Tier 2 bond issuance, the first of its kind in Africa, is expected to benefit the South African economy through the creation of over 6,000 new jobs and nearly 20,000 SME loans, in addition to catalyzing around R4 billion ($232 million) in additional investment in clean energy ...
China: Online Lending Alliance to Ease Credit Crunch of SMEs
July, 03 2020
China - The cooperation between banks and third-party institutions in the online lending business is an effective way to make loans more accessible for small and medium-sized businesses and reduce their financing costs, experts said ...
New Spanish AM Venture Aims to Raise €50m for Impact Bets
July, 02 2020
Global - The Luxembourg-domiciled fund, which is formally called the Global Social Impact (GSI) fund, will focus on business models in sub-Saharan Africa and will aim to expand into the Latin American market in the near future ...
UK Government Development Bank to End Fossil Fuel Financing
July, 02 2020
United Kingdom - The CDC Group revealed its new climate strategy, which will end support for the most polluting fossil fuel projects, including the production of oil and coal, and channel almost a third of its spending towards climate finance ...
Farming Could Empower Millions of Women across South Asia - Here's How
July, 02 2020
South Asia - South Asia’s record on gender equality is weak, to say the least. Yet there is one sector where women are taking over: agriculture. This is an opportunity for women’s economic empowerment that should not be missed ...
EBRD, EIB Provide 12.5 Mln Euro New Financing to Romania's Agricover Credit IFN
July, 01 2020
Romania - The new funds will enable Agricover Credit IFN to expand its financing for agriculture and help farmers hit by the coronavirus outbreak, the EBRD said ...
IFC, Citi Launch $800M Fund to Support Trade Finance in Emerging Markets
July, 01 2020
Global - The deal, part of IFC’s emergency response to the pandemic, promises to support the flow of commodities in countries where businesses face financing challenges and the disruption of cash flows due to the outbreak of the virus ...
India: RBI Outlines Norms for Special Liquidity Scheme for NBFCs, HFCs
July, 01 2020
India - Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday said the government has approved a scheme to improve the liquidity position of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to avoid any potential systemic risks to the financial sector ...
India: World Bank Approves $750mn to Aid MSMEs
July, 01 2020
India - The $750-million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will be used to improve the funding capacity of key market-oriented channels of credit, such as the NBFCs and SFBs to help them respond to the urgent and varied needs of the MSMEs. ...

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