Oikocredit has announced its investment of $3.95 million in microfinance institutions in Central Asia. A loan of $1.8 million was given to IMON International in Tajikistan, a country north of Afghanistan. IMON International has been giving microloans since 1999 and is now the largest MFI in Tajikistan with 7 branches, 33 offices in a total [...]

CGAP and EDA Rural Systems released a report discussing possible reasons for defaults in southern India. The trend of defaults was noticed in 2009 in Kolar and continued to spread through cities nearby. Though many problems were identified, one suspected reason was the prevalence of Muslim clients. Some clients and citizens of the region felt [...]

Mibanco, the fifth largest bank in Peru, has announced that they are launching a program to help female microentrepreneurs.  The project will focus on finance and business training with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank and a loan of $6.5 million from Oikocredit.  The IDB helped Mibanco access funding that now allows the bank [...]

With the recent IPO from SKS which raised a lot of money for the Indian Microfinance company and attracted a lot of attention to the industry, many people are wondering what the true focus is; social or financial performance, and which is more effective. In a fifteen page study released by researcher Adrian Gonzalez of [...]

Oikocredit’s Project Partner in Azerbaijan, AccessBank, has won the “Best Bank of Azerbaijan” at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2010.  AccessBank provides financial services for the low and middle income citizens of Azerbaijan, a country located in Eurasia between Iran and Russia.  Earlier this year, the bank was also recognized by the International Fitch Rating [...]

Since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in early January 2010, all eyes have been on Haiti to see what will come from the rubble. Many celebrities and organizations have donated their money, time and physical efforts to helping the country recover from the devastating disaster but none have committed themselves as much as singer turned politician, [...]

A new focus in the microfinance industry is how to can help developing communities become more energy efficient and self sustainable. Oikocredit is part of this move toward energy efficiency in poor communities and focusing on ways that people can earn a living by protecting the resources they rely on. In order to help the [...]

SKS, the largest microfinance company in India, announced earlier this year that they would be making an Initial Public Offering in hopes of raising at least $225 million.  This announcement sparked a debate in the industry about the effects and outcome of a microfinance company raising funds in this way.  Compartamos participated in the same [...]

The World Bank and the Republic of Djibouti have signed an agreement to accelerate poverty reduction in the Northeast African nation. The World Bank has offered the government a grant of $8.9 million which will focus on two programs that Djibouti has started; the Power Access and Diversification Project and the Urban Poverty Reduction Project. [...]

Position: Admin/Outreach Fall Intern Location: 1701 K St. NW Suite 650, Washington, DC 20006 Organization: Oikocredit Areas of Focus: Microfinance and Non-profit Start Date: Flexible. General dates are early September to mid-December Last Day to Apply: August 6, 2010 Hours: Flexible. Part-Time preferred **This is an Unpaid Internship About the Organization: Oikocredit is one of [...]