An experiment – two SIBs to help Germany solve its migration crisis!? (1 of 2)

migrants-lesbos_3429322bIn my previous blog (Social Impact Bonds – Moving from outputs to outcomes…) I have introduced the concept of Social Impact bonds (SIBs) and described in another one, how these SIBs can morph into Development Impact Bonds (DIBs).
Their mechanics are fairly straight forward and even similar, however, the proof of the pudding is in the eating….

On my flights this weekend, I was thinking about a SIB to tackle migration flows to Europe. I guess that my current job and the continuing discussions on the Western Balkan Route, refugees of the Syrian civil war, and Germany`s migration act with Turkey, etc.  just let me think about potential solutions for the situation.

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After SIBs… now we talk DIBs!

Last week, I shared with you my “discovery” of Social Impact Bonds and provided you with a superficial overview of how they work, the structure they have, and what benefits they present.

However, by researching these bonds a little, I found something even more exciting, and even more relevant for my day to day work: Development Impact Bonds (or “DIBs”).

Development Impact Bonds are a variation on Social Impact Bonds (SIBs), which have been implemented to facilitate impact investment (investment intended to create a positive social or environmental impact as well as a financial return). Continue reading

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Social Impact Bonds! Moving from outputs to outcomes…

Last week I was fortunate enough to participate in Saïd Oxford Business School’s Impact Investing Programme. A part from interesting case studies and very inspiring discussions with fellow students, I was particularly struck by a new approach for government spending: Social Impact Bonds…  By focusing on performance-based payments, i.e., flipping around traditional government funding structures and rather than paying upfront for a proscribed set of services, these Social Impact Bonds (or “SIBs”) allow governments to focus funds on approaches that work—without paying a dime if agreed-upon outcomes are not achieved. Continue reading

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Making Africa work?! let’s look at the positive sides

Foto 2I have spent a big part of my career on Africa. Either working in the DRC for three years financing microentrepreneurs and small businesses, or working as a consultant on mobile  banking agent networks in Tanzania, DRC, Madagascar, and Senegal. I was many times disappointed by how many African countries “shoot themselves in the foot around five times a day” (many people who know me will have heard this expression many times when discussing Africa with me). Continue reading

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Procredit Bank Armenia, the next ProCredit Bank to be sold…..

Picture1The sales process of Procredit banks continues… after they exited Africa in May 2015 and in December 2014 a few affiliate banks in Latin america (nicaragua, etc.) were sold, the same process seems to continue in Eastern Europe, where Procredit always held the largest part of its portfolio and made the largest share of profit. For a long time already, Eastern European Procredit banks were SME banks, and had already left the microsegment.

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Fintech company Mybucks buying 6 African MFIs?

mybucks.jpgProbably also since MyBucks is a Luxembourg based company, I felt even more surprised about the article “Mybucks and Opportunity International Partner to Drive Financial Inclusion for 460 Million Unbanked Citizens of Africa” I found in the internet.

Opportunity International, in their press release mentions that the microfinance network we all know, has entered into a share purchase agreement to sell six of their banks serving sub-Saharan Africa to the MyBucks Group, a Luxembourg-based financial technology (fintech) company which holds the three brands GetBucks, GetSure and GetBanked. Continue reading

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Impact ?! – Bamboo just launched their new report on their funds` impact

Bamboo Impact reportWell, now at the EIB as Microfinance Impact Investment Officer”, evidently I am very keen to learn what other investors or funders mean when they say “impact investing” of “impact financing”. In my layman understanding it is about generating – a part from a financial return – also a socio-demographic, environmental impact.

Bamboo, the equity investor, recently launched its impact report “Maintaining Momentum and Building Partnerships“. Continue reading

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EIB`s support of microfinance outside Europe

 

EIB ReM reportI had a meeting five weeks ago at the EIB and was going through their publications while waiting for my contact. I found some publications on their work on microfinance and small and medium enterprise (SME) finance, and thought I tell you about it as well as about their ReM, their Results Measurement Framework.

A few interesting facts:

The EIB is active within and outside the European Union helping leading microfinance providers, investment fund managers, and other stakeholders to increase sustainable and responsible access to finance; Continue reading

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2015 MIV Survey – Same same but a little different

Symbiotics 2015 MIV surveyI still remember how a CGAP colleague and I wrote the first report on investment funds investing into microfinance. The task was not so easy since the real financial sector terminology and our donor-focused microfinance lingo was very much out of tune. We would ask for “committed” capital or “disbursed” and where only answered by blank eyes or silence. It was difficult to report on debt and equity going into microfinance since we were also not quite clear if we were looking for the overall portfolio or the amounts newly invested every year. Some of the resulting CGAP publications were “MIV Performance and Prospects” and “Microfinance Investment Vehicles.” The investment funds were coined “microfinance vehicles (MIVs)”, the CGAP MIV Disclosure Guidelines were published, and the exercise is now in its ninth edition which is now prepared annually by Symbiotics. Their latest report just came out on September 15 2015 which they announced in a press release on September 16 2015. Let me  tell you a little about its findings: Continue reading

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Indian Agent Networks – or how to open 10million accounts in a week

Helix Agent Network Accelerator - India

Helix Agent Network Accelerator – India

The Helix Institute launched another of their Agent Network Accelerator Surveys. This time on India.

For those who do not know them yet, The Helix Institute of Digital Finance, was founded in November 2013 as a partnership between MicroSave, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). In Addition to world-class Training, they also conduct cutting-edge Research  on digital financial service Providers and I suggest you should definitely check out their blog and the discussion it generates on LinkedIn. Continue reading

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