In the impoverished central Chinese village of Xisheng, residents are establishing successful new businesses with help from Corning Inc. In its first four years of operation, the Fortune 500 company’s “microfinance” program has invested $48,000 to help hundreds of village residents launch small-scale agricultural ventures. The program... 

17th and 18th March, 2010- Ashok Hotel, New Delhi This is to update you that frills have been added especially for your participation in the Annual National Micro Finance Conference. The last date for early bird registration (20% discount) has been extended to 28th February 2010. Kindly register at the earliest and ensure you participation for this... 

From Socialfunds.com - by Robert Kropp, Following an SEC clarification of peer lending products as securities, People Capital hopes that social investors will use its lending platform to execute their missions. SocialFunds.com — Last month, SocialFunds.com spoke with Tom Shelton, CEO and founder of People Capital, about the company’s beta... 

Traditional banks are based on the principle that the more you have, the more you can have. Those with little qualify for little. This didn’t make sense to Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, whose banking model varies vastly from convention. Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and recipient of the Presidential Medal... 

Vanguard – The increasing rate at which microfinance banks (MFBs) are becoming distressed, coupled with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s insistence of not bailing out any MFB have compelled the Lagos State chapter of the National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB) to set up a Fund to cater for MFBs’ financial needs. In this interview... 

From Medicalnewstoday.com - The BBC examines the recent efforts by microfinance institutions (MFIs) to “provide a credit lifeline to millions of deprived people in some of the poorest countries of the world,” especially women. The piece describes the work of the non-profit Women’s World Banking (WWB), which, together with several... 

Posted by Kaitlin Walter, Fellow – Gurrion and Veltah, the Project’s microloan Recipients, are both enrolled in SEDA’s pilot Mentoring Programme. They will be mentored by a business adviser from a private company that is contracted by SEDA for two months. They will meet with Themba Manzini, the business adviser, this coming Wednesday to... 

IslamicFinance.de - CGAP, Deutsche Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and Grameen-Jameel announced the Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010: Innovating Sustainable, Scalable, and Market-Driven Models. The contest is a joint initiative to promote the innovative design of Shariah-compliant products for Islamic microfinance clients. The organizers are seeking... 

By Adam Kemmis Betty, KF10 Bolivia Since Evo Morales and the Movement Towards Socialism came to power in 2006, Bolivian microfinance institutions (MFIs) have worried that the government will intervene in the industry, to the detriment of private sector providers. Indeed such concerns have become a common theme across the region, with increased government... 

By Caroline Allen, International Investment – Alquity Group, which was formed in November 2009 through the inclusion of Smoothed Growth Investment Management and Alquity Investment Management, is to launch a new fund which aims to support microfinance projects in Africa, as well as providing a normal return to investors. UK regulated Alquity...