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.

Launched in the fall of 2003, WAM was created to support women in the microfinance industry. The mission of Women Advancing Microfinance International is to advance and support women working in microfinance through education and training, by promoting leadership opportunities, and by increasing visibility of their participation and talent while maintaining a work/life balance.

Praseeda, honoured for her activism and microfinance work with India’s destitute women, won the award alongside a myriad of Indian film stars, doctors, corporate achievers, authors, artists and healthcare workers.

The Analysis of the World Statistics of Internet Users per continents shows huge differences that can be matched with the proverty level of the continents. Africa is far behind the others with les than 6% of the population that have access to the Internet when the Average for the World is at 23.5% and the developped countries have more than 50% of their people connected to Internet.

With more than half of the adult population unable to access retail banking services, the introduction of microfinance banking by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was welcomed by Nigeria’s development partners and the general populace.

Ethical banks have different policies that consider a different set of questions than conventional banks do with regard to what they will or will not invest in and to whom they will or will not lend to.

The bank will be the product of a fusion between NEF (France), Banca popolare etica (Italy) and Fiare (Spain). it will take the form of a European cooperative.

Microfinance is helping people escape poverty across the developing world. Are China’s would-be entrepreneurs getting the same help?

With the admittance of the microfinance subsidiary of United Bank for Africa Plc as a network partner of the WWB, UBA Microfinance Bank has joined the global network of partner microfinance institutions and banks including ASA, the number one and four others in the list of the top 10 Microfinance Finance Banks in the world.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it has concluded arrangement with 24 Nigerian banks to raise N200 billion funds as part of efforts to support agricultural sector and to ensure availability of food in the country.

The Federal Government is fine-tuning a multi sectoral arrangemments to create one million jobs capable of generating several thousands more employment opportunities this fiscal year, Youth Development Minister, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, has disclosed.

PlaNet finance launches a new programme. The programme, in collaboration with the Freie Universität Berlin, aims at promoting science and practice in the microfinance sector.

Microfinance refers to financial services provided to low-income people, usually to help support self-employment. By providing very poor families with small loans to invest in their microenterprises, Village Banking empowers them to create their own jobs.

Grameen Foundation support microfinance programs that enable the poor, mostly women, to lift themselves out of poverty and make better lives for their families. To do this, Grameen Foundation partner with a worldwide network of microfinance institutions.

Joe DiVanna writes on competitive strategies in Africa banking. To be successful, African banks must learn to think like customers, spend time with customers and ascertain how banking can be used to facilitate today’s changing African lifestyles. The key is to change our perspective on banking and payments. Where bankers see transactions, customers simply see payments.

Microfinance is often considered one of the most effective and flexible strategies in the fight against global poverty. It is sustainable and can be implemented on the massive scale necessary to respond to the urgent needs of those living on less than $1 a day, the World’s poorest.

The modern microfinance movement dates back to the 1970s when experimental programs in Bangladesh, Brazil, and a few other countries began to extend tiny loans to groups of poor women to invest in microenterprises. As a result, the microfinance institutions providing the services were able to develop business models that were sustainable, no longer needing subsidy. These institutions showed that the poor were "bankable".

Access to financial services is a fundamental tool for improving a family’s well-being and productive capacity. Access to financial services empowers the poor by reducing their vulnerability, and offering them opportunities to improve their lives.CGAP works toward a world in which poor people are considered valued clients of their country’s financial system. We aim to help build efficient and equitable local financial markets that serve all poor people with convenient and affordable financial services.

In economics, the bottom of the pyramid is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group. In global terms, this is the four billion people who live on less than $2 per day.

The 2008 Global Hunger Index (GHI) shows that the world has made slow progress in reducing food insecurity since 1990, with dramatic differences among regions and countries. In the nearly two decades since 1990, some regions — South and Southeast Asia, the Near East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean — have made significant headway in improving food security. Nevertheless, the GHI remains high in South Asia. The GHI is similarly high in Sub-Saharan Africa, where progress has been marginal since 1990.

In the fall of 2008, the US credit crunch ballooned into Wall Street’s biggest crisis since the Great Depression. In response, the US federal government adopted billion and trillion bailout plans meant to reassure the markets and get credit flowing again. But the crisis began to spread to Europe and to emerging markets, with governments scrambling to prop up banks, broaden guarantees for deposits and agree on a coordinated response.

Welcome to this blog about Microfinance, Innovations and Sustainable Development