Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN) is a 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit organization with headquarters in Madison, WI, whose mission is to create opportunities for access to microfinance, services and markets to improve the lives and communities of the working poor in Latin America. WCCN works with partner Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and Fair Trade Cooperatives in Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru.
Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings and checking accounts; microinsurance; and payment systems, among other services. Microfinance services are designed to reach excluded customers, usually poorer population segments, possibly socially marginalized, or geographically more isolated, and to help them become self-sufficient.
Mercy Corps is a global non-governmental, humanitarian aid organization operating in transitional contexts that have undergone, or have been undergoing, various forms of economic, environmental, social and political instabilities. The organization claims to have assisted more than 220 million people survive humanitarian conflicts, seek improvements in livelihoods, and deliver durable development to their communities. In 2019, senior staff resigned following public disclosure of the organization's longtime inaction over its co-founder's sexual abuse of his daughter.
A public–private partnership is a cooperative arrangement between two or more public and private sectors, typically of a long-term nature. In other words, it involves government(s) and business(es) that work together to complete a project and/or to provide services to the population. They are an example of multistakeholder governance. Public–private partnerships have been implemented in multiple countries, are primarily used for infrastructure projects, such as the building and equipping of schools, hospitals, transport systems, and water and sewerage systems.
Fidelity Investments Inc., commonly referred to as Fidelity, earlier as Fidelity Management & Research or FMR, is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts.
The World Council of Credit Unions is the leading international trade association and development agency for credit unions and cooperative financial institutions. World Council promotes the self-sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. World Council advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations, and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.
A mine clearance organization, or demining organization, is an organization involved in removal of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) for military, humanitarian, or commercial reasons. Demining includes mine clearance, as well as surveying, mapping and marking of hazardous areas.
Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM) is a microfinancing agency of the Aga Khan Development Network.
LAPO is a Nigerian organisation with a microfinance bank dedicated to self-employment through microfinance and an NGO, a non-governmental, non-profit community development organization focused on the empowerment of the poor and the vulnerable.
Micro financing in Tanzania started in 1995 with SACCOS and NGOs. It has since then contributed to the increasing success of international micro financing. Microfinance stills remains a relatively new in Tanzania since it has not penetrated yet. Since 1995, microfinance has been linked to poverty alleviation programs and women. The government made efforts to ensure commercial banks have continued to provide financial support to the small entrepreneurial business. However a microfinance National Policy was implemented in 2002 to encourage and support microfinances in the country. Since the implementation, micro financing was officially launched and recognized as a poverty alleviation tool. Due to its increase exposure and use in the nation, commercial banks have developed interests in to offer microfinance. There are various microfinance banks that functions as supporting institutions in the country that usually provide microfinance services. These may include the CRDB, National Microfinance Bank, and AKIBA. However there are also other few banks that are concerned with micro financing in Tanzania such as the PRIDE and SEDA, Tanzania Postal Bank and FINCA. Community and small banks have also expressed interest in the same including the NGOs and other non-profit organizations.
FINCA Afghanistan is a nonprofit microfinance organization and an affiliate of FINCA International. Its headquarters is in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development SA is a Swiss for-profit entity and international development finance institution which invests in countries of East Africa, West Africa, Central Asia, and South Asia. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) is an independent fund administered by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), created in 1993 to support private sector development in Latin America and the Caribbean. In partnership with business organizations, governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), MIF's stated goal is to provide technical assistance and investments to support micro and small business growth, build worker skills, and to improve markets and access to finance.
A Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) is a company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 of India, engaged in the business of loans and advances, acquisition of shares, stock, bonds, hire-purchase insurance business or chit-fund business, but does not include any institution whose principal business is that of agriculture, industrial activity, purchase or sale of any goods or providing any services and sale/purchase/construction of immovable property.
Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". Impact investments provide capital to address social and/or environmental issues.
Wokai was an organization that allowed people to contribute directly to microfinance institutions in China, which in turn lend the money to entrepreneurs in rural China. It was a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Oakland, California, with core operations in Beijing, supported by individual donors, corporate sponsors, fundraising events and grants. As of May 2012, Wokai concluded operations due to funding roadblocks and the need for a new CEO.
The Portland Trust is a British non-profit ‘action tank’ whose mission is to promote peace and stability between Israelis and Palestinians through economic development. They work with a range of partners to help develop the Palestinian private sector and relieve poverty through entrepreneurship in Israel.
The MicroDreams Foundation is a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Gregory Casagrande in 2002 as a microfinance accelerator that helps small, growing micro-enterprise development organizations reach financial self-sufficiency. Over the past nine years, MicroDreams has provided substantial support to the SPBD microfinance network in all four of its branches in and has helped to scale up other young emerging partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. MicroDreams uses loans, loan guarantees, and technical assistance to help provide meaningful economic opportunity to the poorest members of society.
Gray Matters Capital is an impact investing foundation founded by Bob Pattillo. Its mission is to achieve "An education leading to a purpose filled life for 100, Million Women by 2036." GMC is based in Atlanta, Georgia with global offices in Nairobi, Kenya and Bangalore, India. The scale and the use of business practices with social enterprises makes it one of the leaders in impact investing.
Initiative Development Ghana is a Ghanaian MicroFinance Institution (MFI) based in the Dansoman neighborhood of Accra, Ghana. Founded in 1998, ID Ghana offers loans, voluntary savings, and a host of business support services and financial literacy training to people living in the Greater Accra region. ID Ghana is registered as a Financial NGO (FNGO) in Ghana.
