NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

7.5 Lakh Families to Benefit from Cemex?s Housing Microfinance Program

Patrimonio Hoy, the housing microfinance program of CEMEX, is expanding its lending program to low-income families in Mexico and four other Latin American countries with a partial credit guarantee of up to $10 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). As many as 750,000 families are expected to benefit over the next five years through this project. Patrimonio Hoy is one of Latin America’s social enterprises that provide low-income families earning of less than four tim...

Source

Microfinance Focus (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Uncategorized

Region

Latin America

Rio Reborn: The Favela Where Cosmetics Reps Have Replaced Drug Gangs

Miriam Pereira da Lima, 29, sheds tears as she watches her daughter dancing in the square while children ride past on bikes and fly kites. "Until a few months ago kids didn’t play out on the streets," she says, still adjusting to life after the pacificação, when the Brazilian army and police moved into the Complexo do Alemão, one of Rio de Janeiro’s infamous favelas, and drove out the drug gangs. With peace on the streets, business opportunities are on the r...

Source

Guardian.co.uk (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

IDB Offers $25 Million Loan to Raise Farmer?s Productivity in Peru

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) recently offered a $25 million loan to increase productivity and exports of farmers in Peru. The program will directly benefit about 14,000 producers participating in the Program of Compensation for Competitiveness, over the next four years, of which an estimated 42 percent are women. The program aims to raise farmers’ productivity by 10 percent and increase the value of their products in domestic and foreign markets by 20 percent by the end...

Source

Microfinance Focus (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

ACCION Brings Microfinance to Manaus, Brazil

ACCION International inaugurated on Tuesday a new microfinance institution, ACCION Microfinancas in Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas in Brazil’s northern region which is a largely underserved microfinance market. ACCION Microfinancas, which launched unofficially when it began lending operations on February 1st of this year, has Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) among its co-investors....

Source

Microfinance Focus (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Former U-M Students Help Honduran Farming Community Make Coffee More ’Local’

After several service trips to the mountainous villages of La Union, Honduras, former University of Michigan student Andrew Boyd was inspired. He wanted to do more, but wasn’t sure how he could make an impact. His passion led to a microfinance organization that focused on something the people of La Union already knew - coffee. And now thanks to his efforts, the Honduran farming community gets a rebirth, and Ann Arbor is d...

Source

AnnArbor.com (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Brazil Launches Drive to Lift 16 Mln from Poverty

BRASILIA, June 2 (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff launched an ambitious plan on Thursday to eliminate dire poverty in Brazil within four years by lifting more than 16 million people from conditions of "misery." The "Brazil Without Misery" program is the signature policy of the former leftist guerrilla’s first term, her advisers said, fulfilling one of the key promises she made in her campaign for ...

Source

Reuters (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

Major Microlaboratory Against Poverty

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 31, 2011 (IPS) - Microcredit in Brazil still has huge potential for expansion, even though microloans have already grown much more than traditional credit in the last eight years. Microcredit has formed a successful part of anti-poverty programmes since left-wing former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in January 2003 and immediately launched the National Productive Microcredit Programme, targeting low-income households. ...

Source

IPSnews.net (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America

IDB Creates SME Lending Facility

The Inter-American Development Bank has set up a $100 million facility to strengthen lending to small and medium-sized enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean. In a May 19 press release, IDB called its SME Financing Facility as the first of its kind. The facility will channel resources through financial institutions in IDB borrowi...

Source

Devex News (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America