Gabby Logan presents the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the MicroLoan Foundation. The MicroLoan Foundation is a specialist ‘not for profit’ UK microfinance charity that provides microfinance (small loans of on average £70), business education and ongoing mentoring support to impoverished women in sub-Saharan Africa. This provides them with a “hand-up not a hand-out” so they can develop self-sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families, and work their own way out of poverty. 99% of the loans are repaid and then recycled in full to help more women year after year.

Women account for 75 percent of the agricultural producers in sub-Saharan Africa, but the majority of women farmers are living on only $1.25 per day, according to researchers from the Worldwatch Institute. Despite the challenging circumstances that women in developing countries face, important innovations in communications and organizing are helping women play a key role in the fight against hunger and poverty. "Access to credit, which provides women farmers with productive inputs and improved technologies, can be an effective tool in improving livelihoods in Africa and beyond," said Worldwatch Institute's executive director Robert Engelman.

Competition among financial institutions is intensifying in Africa as more governments relax barriers to entry and open their countries' banking sectors to new players. The flurry of fresh entrants in some countries is credited with helping to drive down banking charges, improve access to banking services and spark off a wave of new products and services.

Visa Europe in cooperation with Visa Inc. today issued a set of mobile acceptance security best practices for software and hardware providers, retailers and their acquirers. These best practices form part of Visa Europe’s ongoing strategy to advance security measures to help protect cardholder and account data when using consumer mobile devices such as smart phones to facilitate the acceptance of card payments.

A day after U.S. assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs Robert Blake appealed to the Bangladeshi government to reconsider its dismissal of 70-year-old microfinance guru Muhammad Yunus from the Grameen Bank, IPS spoke with the president and CEO of Women's World Banking (WWB), currently the most comprehensive network of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the world. She dismissed the notion, which is swiftly gaining momentum in many quarters, that microcredit is ineffective as a sustainable method of poverty alleviation and must be replaced.

Breakthrough: Mastercard has created a card that can display your balance and even talk to you, while also doubling as a reward card.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will soon launch the £10 million Financial Innovation Challenge Fund as stated by the Deputy Governor of SBP, Yaseen Anwar on Saturday.

Operators of Microfinance Banks (MFBs) in Lagos state have concluded arrangement to establish a trust fund aimed at protecting them from liquidity shocks as well as to also help manage their liquidity position. The Chairman, National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), Lagos State Chapter, Mr. Olufemi Babajide, disclosed this.

The United Nations recently announced a $90 million loan for strengthening access to rural financial services and markets, and promoting private sector development in Tanzania. More than 500,000 vulnerable rural households, including smallholder farmers, livestock keepers, fishers, small-scale rural entrepreneurs, traders and artisans, grass-roots microfinance institutions, processing and marketing groups, poor rural women and rural youth are expected to get benefit from this programme.

Financial inclusion is a generic problem that affects most developing countries, where the proportion of unbanked is very high. It is, therefore, unsurprising that inclusion models have been deployed in various forms in many countries. Some, of course, have done better than others and we shall also subsequently explore a few models abroad to learn from what they have done right. India has had a fair number of initiatives in the Financial Inclusion space, and we cover a select few of them that are involved in m-banking and cards-issuance.

Microfinance was once a darling of international economics. Small loans between $50 and $500 to low-income individuals and small businesses were believed by many to offer a ladder out of poverty. But recently, microcredit has come under heat, often for inaccurate reasons. Here are five myths we need to overcome.

Microfinance has taken a beating lately for shifting far afield from its humanitarian origins, originally funding tiny businesses run by poor women in developing countries to feed their families. It's become a good idea gone bad, a charitable enterprise spoiled as profit surpassed people as the rationale for investment. It sickens the soul. But all is not lost. A new concept in which the interest charged on a microloan isn't a percentage, but rather an improvement to a community, has seen early success in Haiti. Although small in scale, this model might be just the thing to help microfinance rebound as an effective, credible and responsible method of funding small businesses lacking capital that don't qualify for loans from traditional banks. The concept comes from Zafèn, an online microfinance initiative approaching its first anniversary on April 1.

The backlash against microcredit questions the myth that the poor can easily climb out of poverty with some credit; or that microcredit can be financially self-sustaining. Microcredit is supposed to be a lifeline for borrowers, a winner for investors, and a self-funding route out of poverty for the world. The reality is far more complex. Thus, microcredit requires a delicate and ongoing balancing act between undesirable extremes. It's no wonder then that accusations fly when balance is lost.

Leading aid agency CARE International UK has launched www.lendwithcare.org - an innovative micro-finance website aimed at transforming the way people give. Lendwithcare.org enables people in the UK to invest in entrepreneurs in the developing world. Investors can lend from just £15 directly to a chosen individual to help them start or improve a small business.

World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) is the leading international trade association and development agency for credit unions. WOCCU promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. WOCCU advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.

Credit unions, a small part of Britain's financial landscape which has grown as banks cut back on loans after the credit crisis, aim to raise their profile further after an increase in business last year. "People are increasingly seeing credit unions as a safe and convenient place to save," Mark Lyonette, chief executive of the Association of British Credit Unions, told Reuters on Friday.

Nigeria is frequently cited as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, but its central banker has won two international banking awards. Mallam Lamido Aminu Sanusi has been named as the Central Bank Governor of 2010 for both the African continent and the entire world, by the prestigious Banker Magazine.

More than 1.5mn loans worth $831mn have been given out in the past seven years, said the Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA), which was set up by the government in 2003 to coordinate the sector. Thirty years of conflict have shattered Afghanistan’s economy and infrastructure, leaving two-thirds of the roughly 30mn population illiterate and at least a third in dire poverty.

One of the most popular programs for helping the world's poor has gone sour in India. Microcredit, the practice of making small loans to very poor people, grew into a multibillion-dollar business. But microfinance companies have been accused of predatory lending and collection practices so harsh that they drove some borrowers to suicide. One state government in India has enacted legislation that will, in effect, put the microlenders out of business.

Shanti Microfinance, a not-for-profit organization, is raising a $772,000 (£500,000) fund backed by UK and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The firm has already disbursed £10k (USD) and plans to start its operations in Gujarat before moving to Mumbai next year.

Wokai is an organization that allows people to contribute directly to microfinance institutions in China, which in turn lend the money to entrepreneurs in rural China. It is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, with core operations in Beijing, supported by individual donors, corporate sponsors, fundraising events and grants.

Microfinance has come under attack in south Asia. Politicians have lined up to attack the industry – whose practitioners make small loans, generally to impecunious rural borrowers – as a racket that preys on poor people. Microfinance brings a crucial service to poor people. Rather than being attacked, it should be helped to do an even better job of assisting them to assert their financial autonomy.

The Board of directors of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) has approved a Microfinance Risk Participation Programme, marking ADB’s first large scale private sector microfinance initiative.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus is under pressure after critics accused him of misusing development aid. The father of microfinance told SPIEGEL ONLINE the allegations are "a total fabrication."

Capping microfinance interest rates will hurt the poor. There are better ways to regulate the industry.

Participants gathered at Deutsche Bank’s Wall Street office for the second day of the Microfinance Impact and Innovation Conference. Panelists included both academics and practitioners, sharing research and experiences from the field. They attempted to tackle the daunting question: how do you design credit products that work for the poor, not against them?

A group of India's largest microfinance institutions filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block strict new regulations laid down by the state of Andhra Pradesh — a crucial market for small loans — after reports that high interest and coercive loan collection by microfinance groups had led to some 30 suicides.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a development finance institution headquartered in London, has loaned Export and Credit Bank (ECB), a commercial bank in Macedonia, EUR 6 million (USD 8.3 million) for on-lending to local businesses undertaking sustainable energy investmets or investments aimed at improving their competitiveness in local and European markets. EBRD holds a 25 percent stake in ECB.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will work with Bank Constanta to improve its risk management practices, which will help the bank increase lending to smaller businesses in Georgia. This initiative is part of a broader IFC strategy to strengthen local banks in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Thirty-five bankers and trainers from 15 institutions in Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam yesterday participated in a training programme on building sustainable small and medium-sized banking operations in HCM City.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) Provides Microfinance Institution (MFI) Inecobank Support to Expand Access to Trade Finance in Armenia

He would have been a hardcore banker had he not branched out to microfinance. And that was because “it is a business with a social mission offering double bottom line satisfaction to all stakeholders”. Udaia Kumar, MD Share Microfin Limited Interviewed by Pranab Ghosh, Hindustan Times.

Matthias Omeh, president, National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), on Monday advised microfinance banks to partner with credit bureaux to ascertain the status of their customers.

Rwanda's leasing industry is expected to grow from $30 million (Rwf17.5 billion) in 2010 to $60 million (Rwf35.1 billion) next year, the President of Rwanda Leasing Association, Sanjeev Anand said during the closing ceremony of the IFC Rwanda Leasing programme.

Grassroots people identify easily with developmental banking, which is the reason they set money aside daily (Esusu) that would be used to grow their business as well as finance their families. So, it becomes a plus for them to have a private institution that provides funding for their business as well as refinance it in case there is misfortune that could prevent them from repaying their loans.

Ten years ago, it was not fashionable for social enterprises to take loans. Even if they wanted to, nobody would lend them money... Many small social investment firms have emerged recently.

Once upon a time, Sumitra used to roam the streets of the Indian city of Ahmedabad, collecting discarded caps which could be recycled and sold back to manufacturers such as Coca-Cola.

In reaction to the financial crisis, the U.S. banking industry and its regulators have been forced to seek new consumer protections that will put the industry on stronger ground. In marked contrast, one global subsector of the financial industry is moving proactively to ensure that client protection remains at the core of its business model. That subsector is microfinance, the provision of loans and other financial services to the poor worldwide.

Kiva President Premal Shah on the company's mission to fight poverty by lending to entrepreneurs. Video at Forbes.com

Ladi Smith, director, SIAO, in this interview with Daniel Obi, says Credit Awareness Nigeria Initiative is geared towards sensitising lenders on the need for credit information to avoid non-performing loans.

Khula Enterprise Finance (KEF) of South Africa provides funding to financial institutions to be channeled to socially-oriented causes.

Sites like Prosper and Lending Club must adjust to SEC oversight. For some people, the communities of small borrowers and lenders extend a credit lifeline. Just when it might have proved most useful, peer-to-peer lending has been severely hamstrung by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission's efforts to get a regulatory handle on the fledgling industry. With the credit crisis making it harder and harder for cash-strapped households and small businesses to get bank loans, the opportunity for creditworthy applicants to borrow up to $25,000 from strangers at slightly higher interest rates was seen as something of a godsend.

Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd. (FINO), a Mumbai-based biometric-enabled smartcard solutions provider, engaged in providing financial, non-financial products and services to the unbanked rural masses has enrolled 5 million customers to avail them basic banking and insurance services.

Those most in need of new renewable technologies are often least able to raise the finance necessary to fund such development. Now, a new commodities exchange scheme is bringing renewables to the South Pacific using a novel rural payment method. Binu Parthan explains how the scheme works.

Parliament adopted a legislative report on a proposal to support the growth of microcredit institutions in the EU. The report drafted by Zsolt Laszlo Becsey (EPP-ED, HU) was approved by 574 votes in favour, 23 against and 12 abstentions.

Cambodian microfinance institutions say economic crisis is taking its toll on the MFI sector and increasing the number of nonperforming loans to more than 1 percent. Microfinance lenders say the economic crisis is leading to higher rates of nonperforming loans in 2009. Last year, bad loans were just 0.67 percent of total lending.

Planet Finance President, Jacques Attali, on Monday, March 30, 2009, in Tunis, Tunisia, said that micro-finance could seriously help cushion the impact of the global financial crisis on Africa. Mr. Attali made the statement during a presentation chaired by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, Donald Kaberuka.

The problems associated with borrowing from microfinance banks (MFBs) by individuals and the cost of operations of the banks will soon be a thing of the past with the coming on board of credit bureaux in the Nigerian financial institutions. Since MFBs grant loan to financially active poor without collateral, it is possible for individuals who consider themselves smart to take loan from different banks with different information.

What if someone approached you and said, “Come up with four grand and I’ll let you spend your summer fighting athletes’ foot, near-death traffic experiences and the glorious state of having ass-rash?” It might sound like an abduction or ransom situation to some. But two UBC students have willingly signed up for this.

Non-profit Kiva.org plans to launch system of small loans in the U.S.

Islamic banks are generally doing better in today’s uncertain economic times than their Western colleagues. So our financial institutions have a lot to adopt from Islamic economic system.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh earlier this week made a valiant call for a bailout package for the world’s poor. At a recent meeting in Tokyo, the microfinance guru warned that the global economic crisis will hit the world’s poorest people the hardest and that “there is no bailout package for them.”

About half of all African enterprises are owned by women. “We are not waiting. We are moving,” says Pilda Modjadji, a founding member of the Pankop Women Farmers Forum in Mpumalanga, South Africa. “We mean business.”

Credit, according to Professor Muhammad Yunus, is a fundamental human right. However, if not handled with care, the magnification effect inherent in leverage can make it dangerous. One need only look at the current economic spiral to see the result of the provision of credit gone dangerously awry. Credit must be deployed to microfinance borrowers judiciously in order to minimize the risk of non-repayment, as this would cause lenders, themselves levered, to suffer magnified losses. Vinay Nair, an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan currently on sabbatical, explains that it is imperative to avoid over-leverage to avoid losing control.

Oikocredit, as a worldwide cooperative society, promotes global justice by challenging people, churches and others to share their resources through socially responsible investments and by empowering disadvantaged people with credit.Oikocredit believes that poor people can build themselves a better life, if only given the chance. If only given credit.

Microfinance in China is poised for a significant expansion as the government, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and commercial banks begin to explore ways to provide the country's most impoverished people with greater access to credit. According to Bai Chengyu, secretary general of the China Association of Microfinance, after 10 years of development, microcredit has entered a transition phase and is now moving "from experiment to large-scale commercial development."

More than 106 million of the world’s poorest families received a microloan in 2007, surpassing a goal set ten years earlier, according to a report released today by the Microcredit Summit Campaign. Microloans are used to help people living in extreme poverty start or expand a range of tiny businesses such as husking rice, selling tortillas, and delivering cell phone services to remote villages.

One of the major challenges confronting micro finance banks in Nigeria is the ability to maintain liquidity and give maximum satisfaction to customers. Managing Director of OPENGATE MFB Mr. Nureni Yusuf said that in order to break even, financial institutions must be willing to forecast their cash flow and manage a balanced treasury.

Like the consumer lenders before them, MFIs are also beginning to see the value of sharing information. Yet, credit information markets are generally in their infancy in most developing countries, and if developed, are generally quite fragmented.

Welcome to this blog about Microfinance, Innovations and Sustainable Development