Let's Talk Microfinance

Guy Rodwell

Aimed at anyone interested in microfinance and inclusive fintech, with content tilted towards financing of MFIs. Brought to you by Financial Due Diligence Associates (https://www.linkedin.com/company/fdda/), a multilingual consulting partnership founded by Guy Rodwell and Zinaida Vasilenko, specialised in holistic, relevant and concise analysis of financially inclusive companies. FDDA also helps asset managers in accessing French institutions through an alliance with Oxondo, a leading Paris-based third party marketer. You can reach FDDA by contacting Guy Rodwell on LinkedIn, or by emailing us at info@fdda-consulting.com.

  1. Michael Kortenbusch from Business and Finance Consulting on Agricultural Value Chain Finance

    20/12/2022

    Michael Kortenbusch from Business and Finance Consulting on Agricultural Value Chain Finance

    Michael Kortenbusch is a Senior MSME Lending Expert, Team Leader, and the Managing Director of Business & Finance Consulting (BFC). With 30 years of overall professional experience, of which 24 years in banking and development finance, and 16 years in agriculture lending, he has led, supervised and provided expertise in over 55 projects implemented by BFC, primarily focused on MSME finance and access to finance, agrilending, rural & value chain finance, due diligence, institutional development, operational efficiency, turnaround management, and strategy & business development.  In the last 7 years, Michael has provided expertise in 8 long-term projects in MSME finance & agrifinance in Armenia (KfW), Azerbaijan (EBRD), Georgia (SDC), Kyrgyzstan (KfW), Nepal (KfW) and Serbia (KfW), being involved in improvement of credit technologies, procedures, strategies and tools for MSME & agrilending, capacity building to FIs for sustainable extension of loans, and improving access to finance (specifically for agribusinesses, MSMEs, farmers, rural enterprises, etc.). Michael holds a Master Degree in Slavic Languages. He is native in German and fluent in English and Russian.  In this episode Michael discusses the drivers of and outlook for Agricultural Value Chain Finance.  Michael can be reached on LinkedIn or on via BFC's website (https://bfconsulting.com/)  This podcast is brought to you by Financial Due Diligence Associates, a multilingual consulting partnership founded by Guy Rodwell, specialised in holistic, relevant and concise analysis of financially inclusive companies.  FDDA also works with financial inclusive institutions to improve their corporate governance and reporting, besides helping asset managers access French institutions through an alliance with Oxondo, a leading Paris-based third party marketer.  You can reach FDDA by contacting Guy Rodwell on LinkedIn, or by emailing us at info@fdda-consulting.com.

    51 min
  2. ASA International on COVID, current operating conditions and digital financial services

    15/11/2022

    ASA International on COVID, current operating conditions and digital financial services

    This week we welcome ASA International. It is one of the world’s largest international microfinance institutions providing small, socially responsible loans, averaging about $166, to 2.4m low-income entrepreneurs, most of whom are women, across 13 countries in Asia and Africa. Listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker “ASAI” it has a market capitalization of about $108m. "ASA" stands for the "Association for Social Advancement". ASA NGO was founded in 1978 in Bangladesh by a microfinance pioneer, Mr Shafiqul Haque Chowdhury, who died in February 2021. ASA NGO was the driving force behind the establishment of ASA International. The "ASA model" has been described by some as the "Henry Ford Motor model of microfinance", which is to say that it runs an extremely low-cost and highly efficient credit delivery model with a simple, but very effective credit assessment process. ASA International adopted the "ASA Model" as developed by ASA the NGO, and greenfielded 13 microfinance institutions across 13 countries in Asia and Africa. The majority of these institutions are regulated as "microfinance banks" or "microfinance institutions" in their home markets. From ASA International we are delighted to welcome Martijn Bollen, General counsel of ASA International, a position he has held since 2007, and Karin Kersten, Executive director of the Board and Director of Corporate Development, who joined in October 2021. Martijn and Karin can be reached on LinkedIn or via the website at https://www.asa-international.com/.  This podcast is brought to you by Financial Due Diligence Associates, a multilingual consulting partnership founded by Guy Rodwell, specialised in holistic, relevant and concise analysis of financially inclusive companies.  FDDA also works with financial inclusive institutions to improve their corporate governance and reporting, besides helping asset managers access French institutions through an alliance with Oxondo, a leading Paris-based third party marketer.  You can reach FDDA by contacting Guy Rodwell on LinkedIn, or by emailing us at info@fdda-consulting.com.

    46 min
  3. Jonas Enrico Luini from TCX on currency hedging for MFIs

    01/04/2022

    Jonas Enrico Luini from TCX on currency hedging for MFIs

    Jonas Enrico Luini started his career at Credit Access Grameen, and after roles at various other institutions, for the last five and a half years he has been a vice president at The Currency Exchange Fund (‘TCX’), founded in 2007 by a group of development finance institutions (DFIs), specialised microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) and donors. TCX offers solutions to manage currency risk in developing and frontier markets. These solutions consist of financial instruments – swaps & forward contracts – that enable TCX’s investors and clients to provide their borrowers with financing in their own currency, while shifting the currency risk to TCX. They are therefore protected from any currency volatility. In this episode, Jonas describes clearly and simply how hedging for MFIs works, what TCX does, and discusses market conditions. Further descriptions of cross currency hedges can be found in TCX’s last annual report (https://www.tcxfund.com/reports/). Jonas can be contacted via LinkedIn or at TCX’s website (https://www.tcxfund.com/). This podcast is brought to you by Financial Due Diligence Associates, a multilingual consulting partnership founded by Guy Rodwell and Zinaida Vasilenko, specialised in holistic, relevant and concise analysis of financially inclusive companies. FDDA also helps impactful asset managers access French institutions through an alliance with Oxondo, a leading Paris-based third party marketer. You can reach FDDA by contacting Guy Rodwell or Zinaida Vasilenko on LinkedIn, or by emailing us at info@fdda-consulting.com.

    34 min

About

Aimed at anyone interested in microfinance and inclusive fintech, with content tilted towards financing of MFIs. Brought to you by Financial Due Diligence Associates (https://www.linkedin.com/company/fdda/), a multilingual consulting partnership founded by Guy Rodwell and Zinaida Vasilenko, specialised in holistic, relevant and concise analysis of financially inclusive companies. FDDA also helps asset managers in accessing French institutions through an alliance with Oxondo, a leading Paris-based third party marketer. You can reach FDDA by contacting Guy Rodwell on LinkedIn, or by emailing us at info@fdda-consulting.com.