The May Bangalore group researched the feasibility of individualized loans on behalf of Grameen Koota.  The August Trichy group (1) worked with Intellecap to value operations and (2) provided on-site feedback and suggestions for operational improvement. More updates are soon to follow, including the May group’s final research report.

We also realized that some posts’ links were not working. They are all fixed now. If you have any questions, please email me at antonber at gmail dot com.

This lesson approaches the idea of leveraging the pre-existing infrastructures in commercial banking institutions and leveraging them to tackle poverty through microfinance.  This lesson is focused around the Kazakhstan Small Business Programme.

Lesson Resources

• Primary File: Down Scaling Commercial Banks into MFIs (.ppt)
• Secondary File: Case Studies in Microfinance: Scaling Up Poverty Reduction (.pdf)

This lesson discusses MFI financing excluding securitization (unlike the earlier lesson).  It covers the basics regarding evaluation (see the lesson on MFI evaluation to learn more), an overview of currently operating investors, and a few current events updates.

Lesson Resources

• Primary File: Microfinance Funding: Evaluation, Investors and Updates (.ppt)
• Primary File: Microfinance Funding: Appendix to Lesson 6B (.ppt)
• Secondary File: Planet Rating Corporate Presentation (.pdf)

This lesson discusses how MFIs finance their portfolios — with the two prime instruments being deposits (savings mobilization) and securitization of portfolio cash flows.  Oftentimes countries have managed to borrow at relatively low rates from foreign capital markets by securitizing cash flows from less risky debtors.  How can this be applied to microfinance and the institutions that practice it?

Lesson Resources

• Primary File: Microfinance Funding with Emphasis on Securitization (.ppt)
• Secondary File: USAID microNote #9 MFI Financing Strategies (.pdf)
• Secondary File: USAID microReport #32 MFI Financing Strategies and the Transition to Private Capital (.pdf)
• Secondary File: KfW Bankengruppe: Securitisation: A funding alternative for Microfinance Institutions? (.pdf)
• Secondary File: IFMR Working Paper Series: Securitization and the Challenges Faced in Microfinance (.pdf)
• Secondary File: Evaluation of Profund (2002) (.doc)

This lesson provides some insight into how ACCION measures the social success of its institutions through local and global poverty assessment.  Discusses the CGAP model, AMIS method, poverty lines and the beginning of data analysis.

Lesson Resources

• Primary File: ACCION’s Poverty Assessment Framework (.ppt)

This lesson covers aspects of the term “double bottome line” — the profit line and the social impact line. We see both as necessary for a successful and sustainable microfinance initiative, but focus on the social impact bottom line in this particular lesson.

Lesson Resources

• Primary File: Double Bottom Line: Measuring Social Impact (.ppt)
• Secondary File: responsAbility: The Social Impact of Microfinance and How to Measure It (.pdf)
• Secondary File: Rockefeller/GS Foundations: Social Impact Assessment (.pdf)
• Secondary File: Imp-Act: Improving the Impact of Microfinance on Poverty (.doc)

This lesson provides a perspective on how microfinance institutions evaluate productivity, progress and financial performance, including delinquency and portfolio quality, as well as financial sustainability (profitability, sustainability and cost-efficiency, ROA, ROE, operational sufficiency, and so forth). We also discuss skill acquisition, including the use of programs and inputs, key measures and outputs/predictions. In this case, we’ll be looking at Microfin and Symbanc, both of which are Excel based.

Lesson Resources

• Primary File: Financial and Social Impact KPIs (.ppt)
• Secondary File: ERISE Social Performance Indicators Initiative Part 2 (.pdf)
• Secondary File: Core Performance Indicators for Microfinance (.pdf)

In Lesson 4A, we elaborate on a model that ACCION adopted for internal microfinance assessment. The methodology, known as CAMEL, was “adopted by North American bank regulators to evaluate the financial and managerial soundness of U.S. commercial lending institutions.” This lesson covers necessary accounting adjustments, the 21 key indicators that define the CAMEL rating (rated 0 to 5, 5 being highest) and a short blurb on four other assessment tools, including MicroRate and WOCCU PEARLS.

Attachments are below. Please feel free to discuss this course.

Lesson Resources

• Primary File: Wharton Lesson 4A Risk and MFI Evaluation (.ppt)
• Primary File: Additional Detailed Info (.doc)
• Secondary File: The ACCION CAMEL Technical Note [From ACCION International] (.pdf)

This lesson covers the basics, but in detail.  What is an institution?  What’s the difference between formal and informal institutions?  Who generally owns these institutions and how does management function?  How do these institutions get funded?

Lesson Resources

• Primary File: Microfinance Institutions: What are they? (.ppt)

This lesson deals solely with staff incentives — how can microfinance institutions best incentivize staff on all levels, from management to extensionist? This module deals with the philosophy of incentives, types of schemes and several cases.

Lesson Resources

• Primary File: Staff Incentive Schemes (.ppt)
• Secondary File: Human Resources Case (.pdf)
• Secondary File: Designing of Staff Incentive Schemes (.pdf)
• Secondary File: MicroBanking Bulletin: Focus on Productivity (.pdf)