In addition to having its microfinance platform, MF Resolve, ranked as the best in India by ING-Oikocredit earlier this month, Gradatim, a leader in the microfinance industry has launched yet another platform. India PRWire recently announced that Gradatim launched India’s first MicroInsurance Platform – MF-Insure. Gradatim’s increasing impact in India’s microfinance and microinsurance sector is growing at an amazing pace; hopefully we will see this growth worldwide.

There’s an interesting article over on Yahoo Finance that details the debate of for-profit microfinance vs the traditional non profit approach.

MicroPlace is looking for a superstar intern/consultant to spend 2-3 months writing a business plan detailing MicroPlace’s expansion into Europe.  The position requires experience writing business plans and knowledge of brokerage businesses, not to mention a passion for microfinance.

Since anyone reading this blog likely has a strong passion for microfinance, I thought it was a job worth posting about. If you are or interested or know someone who might be, leave a comment and I’ll put you in touch with the right person at MicroPlace.

Companies are making loans as well. Check out this profile for Vault Mortgage on Kiva with 115 loans thus far!! Seeing a company that truly understands lending (I’m assuming they understand lending since it’s their core business) giving loans to entrepreneurs around the world says a lot about the concept of microfinance. I’m not looking for a loan right now, but if I was, Vault Mortgage would certainly be a company I looked at as a result of their activity on Kiva.

• Web 2.0 Microfinance Roundup
• Microfinance: Govt not doing enough!
• IFC and Grameen-Jameel Recommend Ways to Improve Access to Finance for Micro and Small Enterprises in Lebanon
• The Expectation of Innovation

I think it’s safe to say Unitus is one of the leaders in the microfinance space. Last week, they announced that they raised $5.5 million for their new Unitus Capital group. According to the press release on Thursday:

Unitus, Inc., today announced the launch of Unitus Capital, one of the first financial advisory firms designed to meet the investment needs of social entrepreneurs serving the bottom of the economic pyramid. Unitus Capital is the transformation of the capital markets group of Unitus, Inc., which has secured debt and equity financing for 14 Unitus microfinance institution (MFI) partners across six countries since 2001. With $5.5 million in initial seed funding from private investors including WEGA Support GmbH, Robert Gay, co-founder and CEO of H&G Capital Partners and former managing director of Bain Capital, and William S. Price III, Founding Partner of Texas Pacific Group, Unitus Capital will operate as an independent for-profit organization, and remain a strategic affiliate of Unitus, Inc. Unitus Capital will serve as a conduit between capital market investors and social entrepreneurs focused on creating social and financial value for investors, MFIs, social enterprises, and the communities they serve. With more than 60 years of combined investment banking, financial services, and microfinance experience, the Unitus Capital team targets a rapidly growing social investment sector.

It’s always exciting to see additional funding being devoted to social entrepreneurship around the globe — I fully expect to see some great innovation within the next few years as a result of Unitus Capital.

Rotary International is a worldwide service organization that has over 32,000 clubs across the world. For the past century, Rotary clubs have been heavily involved in their local communities, providing humanitarian services, building goodwill and spreading peace. Recently I came across a headline at Microcapital discussing Rotary’s new push toward microcredit. In 2007, Rotary International created the Rotary Action Group for Microcredit (RAGM), whose purpose is to help Rotary Clubs worldwide get more involved with microcredit projects. I really thought this was a great thing that Rotary is doing. Here you have an organization that is already involved with humanitarian efforts, so it’s members are willing to put in the time to help others, and now they are shifting their focus to help spread the good to microcredit programs. Rotary clubs are known worldwide for their integrety, so by having them participate in microcredit programs they can help influence other people to join microcredit. I am interested to see how far Rotary’s reach will go in the world of microfinance. I am hoping that some of the other service clubs, such as Free Masons, Lions Clubs International, and B’nai B’rith follow the Rotary example. By getting service organizations involved on top of all the for-profit companies that are making a push towards microfinance, we will hopefully see a lot of progress in microfinance within the next few years.

• Microfinance Fever
• Lire Microfinance Institution Closed Due To Public Outcry
• Microfinance Misses Its Mark
• HSBC enters Islamic microfinance market
• Microfinance and Economic Justice in Haiti

I recently came across some interesting articles related to Morgan Stanley and microfinance. Last year, Morgan Stanley announced that it was creating a group dedicated to serving MFIs with financial needs, which at the time, sounded like a great breakthrough in the banking world. Morgan Stanely boasts on their website:

We are the leading investment bank in this field, having executed two groundbreaking transactions in the capital markets. We are also the first investment bank to establish a dedicated Microfinance Institutions Group, based in London and New York. This group covers microfinance in the same ways Morgan Stanley covers any other financial market, providing institutional services that range from corporate advice to debt and equity products, derivatives, and foreign exchange.

However, I was recently reading an article by Megan Barnett and Daniel Sorid in Portfolio.com – Morgan Stanley’s Incredibly Shrinking Microfinance Group which really caught my interest. Now that some banks are not doing well, they are cutting costs, which is understandable. But where to cut costs? The article talks about how Morgan Stanley’s microfinance group went from a 20 person team to just a few people — and the two executives are no longer with the firm. Does this mean the end of the microfinance group and Morgan Stanley? Shortly after the article was posted, Morgan Stanley added:

Morgan Stanley remains committed to Microfinance and continues to pursue opportunities in the space. We are constantly evaluating business conditions to ensure we are right-sized for the current market environment and we continue to utilize employees across the Firm for this initiative.

The Morgan Stanley comment caught me by suprise, so I searched around a bit, and I couldn’t really find anything about Morgan Stanley and microfinance within the last few months and, even before that, the news was sparse. I think that ultimately this leads back to Drew’s post from week ago on who is benefiting from microfinance. I agree with Drew that we definitely need both kinds of donors, people looking for a profit, and people with a passion to help others. In Morgan Stanley’s case, I don’t think they should turn their backs on microfinance so quickly. Although the financial markets are going through tough times, there is plenty of benefit to be had for a big company that sticks with microfinance.

I am really interested to see if Morgan Stanley backs up their argument and brings something innovative and unique to the table. If they can bounce back and make things happen, it could really open the gates for others major companies to do the same.

Asasah:

Founded in Pakistan in 2003 by Ms Tabinda Jaffrey, Asasah’s promise is to “eradicate poverty by enhancing micro-productivity of poor households.” With 29 branches and over 41,000 cumulative active clients, Asasah believes that if executed properly, microfinance can create a lasting impact on households. Although Asasah makes women the primary credit recipient, they target the entire household, requiring both spouses to be jointly responsible to uphold the organization’s terms. In addition to the household lending method, Asasah follows Grameen Bank’s group lending methodology to ensure that the right people are receiving the credit and training that they need. Asasah has proven their success by having 0% portfolios at risk, doubling their number of active clients every year, being rated with 5 stars by the Mix Market and being a partner of Kiva.

Highlights:
-Portfolio at Risk: Asasah has maintained its portfolio quality and has zero delinquency.
-Partnerships: Asasah is the first NGO-MFI in Pakistan to partner with commercial financial institutions and has to date formed several partnerships with commercial institutions, donor agencies, international NGOs and network organizations.
-Joint Credit Rating: Asasah is the first microfinance organization in Pakistan to be jointly rated by JCR-VIS and Microfinanza.
-Governance: As Asasah’s strategic partner, Save the Children US has two seats on Asasah’s board and bottom-up planning approach.