About sixteen Peruvian Micro-Entrepreneurs (if that’s the correct term to call them) from various sectors will travel to Guangzhou, China to participate in the 106^th Guangzhou Import and Export fair.  With a total of 209 countries in attendance, and thousands of exhibitors, this is a big deal for these small Peruvian businesses.

I question if these business are truly worthy of being called the products of micro-finance.  I hope that they are, but my gut is telling me it’s quite possible corruption and classic South American favoritism probably led the Peruvian government to carefully handpick a few to send to China.

Ministra de la Producción, Mercedes Aráoz, inauguró Feria de Beneficios y Oportunidades de Foncopés en IPAE. Foto: ANDINA/Norman Córdova.

On the other hand, if they are truly small micro-enterprises which earned this trip to China through participating in a micro-finance program of some sort, this would be a case and point example of the potential of micro-finance institutions to empower the poor with the tools they need to succeed.

If you can read Spanish please click here to access the article which served the basis for this post.

I have a included a excerpt of the article I feel is especially relavant and worthy of your attention. If you would like, you can click here to access the greater article from Livemint.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Microfinance calls for active, participating clients as well as skilled and efficient work force. Its main challenge remains recovering timely repayments, considering the unstable nature of the clients’ cash flows, making efficient risk management critical to the success of an MFI.

There is also a need for constructive collaboration between the formal sector finance institutions and MFIs, in which the former provides funds and the latter extends savings and loan facilities to the urban poor.?On?the?demand?side, focus must be to organize and make clients more participative. They must be made accountable to the use of the credit given. Savings must be encouraged. On the supply side, the concentration must be to transform MFIs into professionally managed, externally regulated entities. There must be uninterrupted supply of services to clients. The profitability and viability of the service must be given importance. All MFI credit models lack an appropriate legal and financial structure and so there must be a more formal environment to regulate and coordinate the activities of MFIs. Government should provide an enabling legal and regulatory framework which encourages the development of a range of institutions and allow them to operate as recognized financial intermediaries subject to simple supervisory and reporting requirements.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The website That Pioneered Online Microloans to Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries Now Brings Same Opportunity to U.S. Entrepreneurs in Partnership With Maria Shriver, First Lady of California

Kiva.org — the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website — has launched a pilot expansion in the United States, allowing individuals anywhere to make small loans to U.S. entrepreneurs through the Kiva.org website.

Kiva.org brings its global, online micro-lending platform to the United States at a financial tipping-point for many small businesses. Small businesses represent more than 87 percent of all businesses in the United States, and, on average, these microenterprises are responsible for 900,000 new jobs created per year.(1) Despite these statistics, more than 10 million business owners faced difficulty obtaining business capital — even before the credit crisis and economic slowdown.

Beginning today on Kiva.org, through partnerships with local microfinance institutions ACCION USA and Opportunity Fund, individuals will be able to browse and lend to small businesses across the United States. Through Kiva’s website (www.kiva.org), a loan of $25 can be made to support an entrepreneur, and the specific progress of the loan can be tracked, from initial funding to repayment. Upon receiving repayment, lenders can withdraw their funds or relend to another entrepreneur, thereby continuing the lending cycle.

“Most people think of microfinance as something that helps people in the developing world alone, but the impact of microfinance can be felt in any community that supports creative, industrious entrepreneurs,” said Premal Shah, President of Kiva.org. “Kiva’s micro-loan model is extremely relevant to low-to-moderate income, U.S. based entrepreneurs, especially given the current economic conditions which makes access to credit a very real problem. The Internet could become a significant source of community driven, low-cost capital for the everyday small business owner in the U.S., and Kiva.org is excited to expand its platform to the U.S. at a time when the need for such capital is greatest.”

[Source] — Marketwire

Micro-Insurance always took a back seat in my personal interests in the world economic development theories and tools. However, as this article highlights, the sector is growing and innovative ways to offer insurance to poor people are being tested. If a individual is able to grow his/her business from the ground up on monthly loans of a mere $60-120, why too should not they experience the economic benefit of having a life insurance plan if they pay for it. Surely, life insurance will be cheaper developing countries.

Microfinance has exceeded the expectations of most skeptics. Why can’t Micro-Insurance do this too?

PlaNet Finance to launch micro-insurance schemes

The UAE-based PlaNet Finance Group plans to introduce micro-insurance schemes in the region to reduce the impact of the crisis on micro entrepreneurs who have outstanding loans.

While the organised banking system has been severely hit by the financial crisis as individual and corporate customers fail to repay huge amounts of loans, the micro finance sector has been relatively unaffected. Even big insurance companies such as Allianz are interested in providing insurance to the poorest members of society.

Speaking to Emirates Business, Sawsen Ayari, Microfinance Expert and Programme Manager, PlaNet Finance UAE, said the agency is planning to expand its micro-insurance schemes across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).

Through PlaNet Guarantee, a company specialised in the distribution of micro-insurance products, the group intends to spread micro-insurance facilities in several Mena countries. The company has a tie up with the global insurance company Allianz and successfully implemented a micro-insurance scheme in Egypt.

The current global financial crisis has created a situation to expand microfinance to other institutions in the region, Ayari said. The group is also working closely with leading pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer.

Under PlaNet Finance’s tie up with Allianz, it is providing micro insurance schemes for the first time in Middle East in Egypt, where premium rates are as low as $1 and cover loans of $1,500 (Dh5,509) to $2,000 availed by micro entrepreneurs, Ayari said.

“The global financial crisis has not directly affected microfinance institutions because they operate in areas not directly linked to global finance. Some entrepreneurs in travel and tourism may be hit, but it will take some time before micro entrepreneurs in the region can be affected. Such insurance schemes will insure their loan repayment capacity.”

The group has microfinance institutions in Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria, Oman and Jordan.

Another company in the field, First Microfinance Foundation (FMF), successfully tested the first micro insurance scheme in the Mena region in Egypt, where it introduced credit life insurance to micro entrepreneurs. The FMF currently provides death and disability insurance to its clients.

Allianz Life Insurance covers the entire loan portfolio of the microfinance firm against a premium, which is paid upfront at each new loan disbursement.

Each new client is insured against death and disability, in case of which, the FMF gets 110 per cent of the initial loan amount and keeps the outstanding amounts to pay back the unpaid installments. The remaining balance is paid to the client’s family in case of death due to disease or accident or to the client in case of permanent total disability.

About 100 loan officers of FMF are trained on death and disability insurance for the benefit of the company’s 14,000 clients.

PlaNet Guarantee is targeted at people who do not have access to traditional insurance. Such clients also are not beneficiaries of social protection mechanisms to protect themselves against different risks such as health and natural catastrophes.

It works closely with the microfinance institutions that have strong presence on the ground. The company also works closely with insurance and reinsurance groups, health professionals and development agencies.

PlaNet Guarantee, which also acts as an insurance broker, works for the promotion of micro-insurance schemes around the world, with schemes running in 10 countries. It also provides consultancy service to microfinance institutions.

[Source] – Emirates Business 24/7

One example is the way that microfinance agencies build databases and other back-end systems to manage their work. Some microfinance institutions are running on manual systems or spreadsheets, said Peter Bladin, founding director of the Grameen Foundation’s technology center. “Given how transaction intensive this is, it’s amazing they don’t have more sophisticated technology,” he said.

Microfinance organizations sometimes try to buy a system that has been developed for a similar business but find it doesn’t quite fit. Or they may try employing software developed for banks but also find they don’t work quite right. Customization of such software is too expensive and unrealistic for most microfinance institutions, Bladin said.

So Grameen helped drive the effort to create Mifos, an open-source management information system designed for microfinance. “The beauty is anybody with technical skills can have access to the source code and enhance it,” he said. “We have people writing code around the world and feeding it back.”

NetHope is also developing programs to support members. For instance, it is setting up an IT help desk that Accenture is helping with that will offer 24-hour technical support to employees of member companies.

Click here to read the full article from PC World

By Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva

This week I will have the honor to be the first Brazilian President to officially travel to Saudi Arabia. I retain fond memories of the visit in 2000 of the then Crown Prince to Brazil. Since then, numerous high level visits have further strengthened the ties between our two countries and peoples.

Brazil prides itself on having roots in the rich cultural heritage of Arab civilization. Successive waves of immigrants from the Middle East have made their way to Brazil in search of a new horizons and a better life. Over the years they have contributed to forging present-day Brazil and to its diverse human landscape. Arab values, tastes and sensibilities are today an integral part of what it means to be Brazilian.

My trip to Saudi Arabia aims to explore and enhance these many-faceted affinities and the opportunities for cooperation that they offer. Much has been achieved over recent years, but much remains to be done if we are to fully realize the potential of two thriving economies that are making their mark on the global scene.

[China - Bahrain] – Bahrain reviews construction ties with China
Co-operation between Bahrain and China in the construction sector was discussed at a key meeting.

Minster of State for Foreign Affairs and Tamkeen chairman Dr Nazar Al Baharna met a Chinese business delegation and discussed various issues of mutual interest.

Development of programmes that can reduce the dependency of construction companies on unskilled labour by introducing machinery and technological solutions was also highlighted.

[India - Kenya] – Kenya, India to beef up ties in small industry sector
In yet another indication of India’s growing interest in the East African region, the country’s National Small Industries Corp (NSIC) has signed an agreement with Kenya Industrial Estates (KIE) to strengthen cooperation in the small scale industry sector.

KIE is a state-run agency of Kenya to promote indigenous entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises (SME).

According to media reports here, the partnership involves technology transfer, and marks a major step towards improving Kenya’s quality standards in manufacturing, production and human resources.

“The government is keen to forge a viable partnership with friendly countries, particularly in the spirit of south-south cooperation,” Kenyan Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey was quoted as saying.

[Asia - Africa] – Asian Foreign Direct Investment in Africa
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa by developing Asian economies is growing and has the potential to reach much higher levels. The present report notes that Africa-bound FDI is still a small percentage of the rapidly climbing foreign investments being made by Asian transnational corporations.

The rapid economic growth in Asia can be expected to lead to increased Asian investments in Africa, in both natural resources and manufacturing. In particular, the rapid industrial upgrading taking place in Asia provides ample opportunities for Africa to attract efficiency-seeking and export-oriented FDI from Asian economies.