Thursday, May 30, 2013

Re: [MFP] Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa's Success in India

Vodaphone is a late mover in India in this space.  Mobile Wallet have been introduced by a number of players - from banking, Telecom and other sectors.  Airtel Money, Oxi-cash, Money-on-mobile, Mobicash, Zipcash, etc have been in the market.  Some run with a link to the bank account of the customer and can be used to take cash out from a bank branch - others are semi closed and can be used for making payments or transfers but not take cash out.  Regulations had opened up the mobile space about two years back.  The roll out has taken time. 
Srinivasan


From: Malcolm Harper <malcolm.harper@btinternet.com>
To: MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, 31 May 2013 12:41 AM
Subject: Re: [MFP] Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa's Success in India

 
Thank you Anuj, this is indeed interesting. I was under the impression that the main constraint to the adoption of mobile money in India was the RBI. Does this Vodaphone initiative suggest that this is no longer the case, or that it never was, or is the Indian Mpesa perhaps a different animal, without the mobile wallet feature ?
 
Malcolm
----- Original Message -----
From: Anuj Jain
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013 3:35 PM
Subject: [MFP] Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa's Success in India

 
Interesting development..
In Kenya, and in other parts of East Africa where mobile money services have become available,  a number of Banks, MFIs and SACCOs are now beginning to use mobile platform to expand their  BoP segments. It will be interesting to watch how this pans out for MF sector in India.
Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa's Success in India
M-Pesa, the mobile-based money transfer and payment service that has been highly successful in Kenya since its launch in 2007, is now available in India by Vodafone, working through its fully-owned subsidiary Mobile Commerce Solutions Ltd (MCSL), and ICICI bank, the country's largest private sector bank.
"To begin with, we have launched [M-Pesa] in the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand," says Suresh Sethi, business head for M-Pesa at Vodafone India. "A significant part of the population [of these states] migrates in search of livelihood and is still underbanked or unbanked. Our idea is to study their usage pattern, look at how customers adopt [M-Pesa], make it a success here, and then launch the service pan-India."
anuj
Anuj K. Jain
Sr. Coady Fellow| Microfinance and Development| COADY International Institute
St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5
"You can't solve the problems created by current pattern of thought using current pattern of thought."


RE: [MFP] Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa's Success in India

 

Hi Malcolm,

 

I am still trying to understand it myself; but this is what the media has reported.

 

http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/article/212817/OxiCash-Money-Transfer-launches-as-India-s-1st-RBI-approved-mobile-wallet-for-unbanked

 

OxiCash Money Transfer launches as India's 1st RBI-approved mobile wallet for unbanked

May 8, 2013

 

Yesterday, India's payments solutions provider Oxigen unveiled its instant money transfer service, OxiCash. This "mobile wallet" enables India's unbanked population to transfer money with ease to any bank account and receive money into their wallet at any time. Vijay Chugh, chief general manager for the department of payment and settlement systems at the Reserve Bank of India, officially launched the service at a press event.

 

And this is what Vodafone site says..

http://www.vodafone.com/content/index/media/news/m-pesa_india.html

 

so, maybe, times are changing after all..

 

anuj

 

From: MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com [mailto:MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Malcolm Harper
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2013 4:11 PM
To: MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MFP] Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa's Success in India

 

 

Thank you Anuj, this is indeed interesting. I was under the impression that the main constraint to the adoption of mobile money in India was the RBI. Does this Vodaphone initiative suggest that this is no longer the case, or that it never was, or is the Indian Mpesa perhaps a different animal, without the mobile wallet feature ?

 

Malcolm

----- Original Message -----

From: Anuj Jain

Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013 3:35 PM

Subject: [MFP] Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa's Success in India

 

 

Interesting development..

In Kenya, and in other parts of East Africa where mobile money services have become available,  a number of Banks, MFIs and SACCOs are now beginning to use mobile platform to expand their  BoP segments. It will be interesting to watch how this pans out for MF sector in India.

Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa’s Success in India

M-Pesa, the mobile-based money transfer and payment service that has been highly successful in Kenya since its launch in 2007, is now available in India by Vodafone, working through its fully-owned subsidiary Mobile Commerce Solutions Ltd (MCSL), and ICICI bank, the country’s largest private sector bank.

“To begin with, we have launched [M-Pesa] in the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand,” says Suresh Sethi, business head for M-Pesa at Vodafone India. “A significant part of the population [of these states] migrates in search of livelihood and is still underbanked or unbanked. Our idea is to study their usage pattern, look at how customers adopt [M-Pesa], make it a success here, and then launch the service pan-India.”

http://www.cgdev.org/blog/new-findings-seasonal-foreign-agricultural-workers-create-american-jobs?utm_&&&

anuj

Anuj K. Jain

Sr. Coady Fellow| Microfinance and Development| COADY International Institute

St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5

"You can't solve the problems created by current pattern of thought using current pattern of thought."

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[MFP] MFX Press Release for posting

 

Risk Management Initiative in Microfinance (RIM)

 

May 31, 2013 (Washington, DC) - MFX Solutions has announced the launch of the Risk management Initiative in Microfinance (RIM).  As a co-founder, MFX is excited to promote the issue of risk management in microfinance through a program jointly developed with founding members Appui au Développement Autonome (ADA), Calmeadow, Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI), Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), Microfinanzas Srl, Oikocredit, and Triple Jump B.V.  The goal of RIM is to elevate the awareness, best practices, and appropriate standards for risk management in microfinance globally. 

“As a leading advocate on currency risk and asset/liability management in microfinance, MFX is excited to see industry players coming together in a concerted effort to create accepted risk management standards and actively promoting industry collaboration and partnership,” says Kevin Fryatt, MFX’s Director of Technical Assistance.

 

RIM seeks to contribute to a socially-focused microfinance sector, where microfinance clients are protected from internal and external risks inherent to the delivery of inclusive financial services, including liquidity risk, currency risk, interest rate risk, regulatory risk and credit risk). Currently, many microfinance institutions (MFIs) lack a comprehensive risk approach.  Such institutions often struggle to adapt their systems, structures, and policies to their local business environments, adequately protect customers, and bring their operation to scale. 

 

RIM aims to mitigate these challenges by helping MFIs build robust risk management strategies through an array of activities: developing advocacy and visibility efforts; creating industry-wide standards; encouraging information and idea sharing between technical experts; and developing the capacity of risk management consultants in the field.  RIM will develop a graduation model for risk management practices in microfinance institutions as well as create an industry mapping of risk and promote partnerships between risk management service providers.

 

###

 

About MFX Solutions: MFX Solutions is a socially-oriented company that supports lending to entrepreneurs in low-income countries with affordable hedging products and risk management education.  MFX believes that when currency and market risks are managed effectively, development lending can reach more entrepreneurs at the bottom of the pyramid, more sustainably, at a lower cost. Better access to foreign exchange hedging tools and financial education can therefore have a profound effect on global poverty. 

For more information, visit www.mfxsolutions.com or contact Kevin Fryatt at kevin@mfxsolutions.com.

 

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Re: [MFP] Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa's Success in India

 

Thank you Anuj, this is indeed interesting. I was under the impression that the main constraint to the adoption of mobile money in India was the RBI. Does this Vodaphone initiative suggest that this is no longer the case, or that it never was, or is the Indian Mpesa perhaps a different animal, without the mobile wallet feature ?
 
Malcolm
----- Original Message -----
From: Anuj Jain
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013 3:35 PM
Subject: [MFP] Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa's Success in India

 

Interesting development..

In Kenya, and in other parts of East Africa where mobile money services have become available,  a number of Banks, MFIs and SACCOs are now beginning to use mobile platform to expand their  BoP segments. It will be interesting to watch how this pans out for MF sector in India.

Vodafone Aims to Replicate M-Pesa's Success in India

M-Pesa, the mobile-based money transfer and payment service that has been highly successful in Kenya since its launch in 2007, is now available in India by Vodafone, working through its fully-owned subsidiary Mobile Commerce Solutions Ltd (MCSL), and ICICI bank, the country's largest private sector bank.

"To begin with, we have launched [M-Pesa] in the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand," says Suresh Sethi, business head for M-Pesa at Vodafone India. "A significant part of the population [of these states] migrates in search of livelihood and is still underbanked or unbanked. Our idea is to study their usage pattern, look at how customers adopt [M-Pesa], make it a success here, and then launch the service pan-India."

http://www.cgdev.org/blog/new-findings-seasonal-foreign-agricultural-workers-create-american-jobs?utm_&&&

anuj

Anuj K. Jain

Sr. Coady Fellow| Microfinance and Development| COADY International Institute

St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, B2G 2W5

"You can't solve the problems created by current pattern of thought using current pattern of thought."

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[MFP] AN ACCENT ON SOCIAL RETURNS FROM MICROFINANCE: THE STORY OF DEUTSCHE BANK

 

Asad Mahmood, the Managing Director of Global Social Investment Funds at Deutsche Bank, discussed Deutsche bank's initiatives to promote microfinance and social entrepreneurship to Microfinance Focus on the sidelines of the 9th Annual Zell Center Chicago Microfinance Conference. 

Read the full Interview: http://www.microfinancefocus.com/an-accent-on-social-returns-from-microfinance-the-story-of-deutsche-bank/

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[MFP] Re: Pointless and misleading microcredit impact evaluations.

 

 
Some of you might be interested in my guest blog posting just out on Dr Phil Mader's excellent 'Governance across Borders' microfinance blog, in which I briefly comment on a number of recently released microcredit impact evaluations. Go to:
Milford Bateman

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[MFP] Re: New article on Latin America and the impact of microfinance

 

Some of you might be interested in a new article just out in the Mexican journal Ola Financiera, entitled:
 
'La Era de las Microfinanzas: Destruyendo las economías desde abajo'
You can access the article here:
If you prefer to read the original English language version, entitled
'The Age of Microfinance: Destroying Latin American economies from below'
 
then this has been very kindly published as a Working Paper by the Austrian Research Foundation for International Development (OFSE) and it can be accessed here:
Milford Bateman
 

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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

[MFP] TOMORROW - Release Event for the report "Integrated Health and Microfinance" (Lima, Peru)

 

Clic aquí para la traducción al español

 

For more information:

Cassie Chandler

+1 (530) 758-6200 ext 1080

cchandler@freedomfromhunger.org

 

LIMA- Freedom from Hunger will present a new report titled Integrated Health and Microfinance:  Harnessing the Strength of Two Sectors to Improve Health and Alleviate Poverty in the Andes at an event organized in collaboration with Oikocredit, a worldwide cooperative and social investor, providing funding to the microfinance and other sectors. The report was produced in collaboration by Freedom from Hunger, the Microcredit Summit Campaign, and the Center for Health Market Innovations with support from the Rockefeller Foundation.

 

Experts in the field from Freedom from Hunger and Oikocredit will present an overview of the report, looking at the current landscape and lay out a case for the expansion of integrated health improvement and financial protection programs. Participants will be invited to join in an informal discussion about the potential for integrated microfinance in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru as a strategy to alleviate poverty and provide access to health services for the poor of the Andes region.

 

The report outlines findings from a new study that provides valuable insights into the ways that microfinance institutions in the Andean region (Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru) are using their existing infrastructures to deliver effective and sustainable health protection services to their clients. The potential in the Andes is considerable, and currently MFIs reach some 630,000 families. The microfinance sector is strong and many service providers have been globally recognized for including financial services as part of a cohesive approach to development and poverty reduction.

 

The release is part of an ongoing effort in the Andes region facilitated by Freedom from Hunger, Microcredit Summit Campaign, and the Center for Health Market Innovations to promote dialogue and encourage further exploration of and support for multi-sector approaches that integrate microfinance and health. Research indicates that this low-cost, sustainable strategy shows tremendous potential for improving both the health and financial status of marginalized populations.

 

To download the report in English, visit http://bit.ly/AndesReport2012

 

WHO:  

·         Iris Lanao Flores, Executive Director—Finca Perú

·         Frank Rubio, Regional Director South America—Oikocredit

·         Indira Melgar, Executive Director, Microfinance—ADRA

·         Cassie Chandler, Manager, Microfinance and Health Protection—Freedom from Hunger

 

WHEN: Thursday, May 30, 2013 – from 5:00 to 7:00 PM

 

WHERE:

Hotel Meliá

Av. Salaverry, 2599

San Isidro, Lima

Peru

 

Español (traducido por Google)

 

Para obtener más información:

Cassie Chandler

+1 (530) 758-6200 ext 1080

cchandler@freedomfromhunger.org

 

MAÑANA -- Evento de lanzamiento para el Informe Integrado de Salud y Microfinanzas: El aprovechamiento de la fuerza de ambos sectores para mejorar la salud y reducir la pobreza en los Andes

 

LIMA- Freedom from Hunger presentará un nuevo informe titulado Integrado de Salud y Microfinanzas: El aprovechamiento de la fuerza de ambos sectores para mejorar la salud y reducir la pobreza en los Andes, en un evento organizado con la colaboración de Oikocredit, un inversionista cooperativa y social en todo el mundo, proporcionando financiamiento para las microfinanzas y otros sectores. El informe fue elaborado en colaboración por Freedom from Hunger, la Campaña de la Cumbre de Microcrédito, y el Center for Health Market Innovations  (“Centro de Innovaciones del Mercado de Salud”) con el apoyo de la Fundación Rockefeller.

 

Expertos en el campo de Freedom from Hunger y Oikocredit presentarán un resumen del informe, mirando el paisaje actual y exponer un caso para la expansión de los programas de protección financiera y la mejora de la salud integral. Los participantes serán invitados a participar en un debate informal sobre el potencial de las microfinanzas integrado en Bolivia, Ecuador y Perú, como una estrategia para reducir la pobreza y facilitar el acceso a servicios de salud para los pobres de la región de los Andes.

 

El informe describe los resultados de un nuevo estudio que proporciona información valiosa sobre la forma en que las instituciones de microfinanzas en la región andina (Bolivia, Ecuador y Perú) están utilizando sus infraestructuras existentes para prestar servicios eficaces y sostenibles de protección de la salud de sus clientes. El potencial de los Andes es considerable, y en la actualidad IMF alcance algunos 630.000 familias. El sector de las microfinanzas es fuerte y muchos proveedores de servicios han sido reconocidos a nivel mundial para la inclusión de los servicios financieros en el marco de un enfoque coherente para el desarrollo y la reducción de la pobreza.

 

El lanzamiento es parte de un esfuerzo continuo en la región Andes facilitado por Freedom from Hunger, la Campaña de la Cumbre de Microcrédito, y el Center for Health Market Innovations para promover el diálogo y fomentar la exploración y el apoyo a los enfoques multisectoriales que integren las microfinanzas y salud. La investigación indica que esto, la estrategia sostenible de bajo coste muestra un enorme potencial para mejorar tanto la salud y la situación financiera de las poblaciones marginadas.

 

Para descargar el informe en español, visite http://bit.ly/InformeAndes2012

 

QUIENES:

·         Iris Lanao Flores, Directora ejecutiva, Finca Perú

·         Frank Rubio, Director regional de América del Sur, Oikocredit

·         Indira Melgar, Directora ejecutiva de Microfinanzas, ADRA

·         Cassie Chandler, Gerente, Microfinanzas y Protección de la Salud, Freedom from Hunger

 

CUÁNDO: Jueves, 30 de mayo 2013 - 5:00-19:00

 

DONDE:

Hotel Meliá

Av. Salaverry, 2599

San Isidro, Lima

Perú

 

Sabina ROGERS | Communications and Relationships Manager

MICROCREDIT SUMMIT CAMPAIGN | A Project of RESULTS Educational Fund

P: +1.202.637.9600 x 128 | F: +1.202.466.1396 | S: jayaichyou | E: rogers@microcreditsummit.org

1730 Rhode Island Ave., NW | Suite 400 | Washington, DC 20036 | http://www.microcreditsummit.org/

Follow the Campaign on

 

     

 

We invite you to join us at the 2013 Partnerships against Poverty Summit

October 9-11, 2013 - Manila, Philippines

Register today!

 

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[MFP] Knowledge Flash May 2013 from the ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility

 

The ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility has released the second Knowledge Flash of our 5-year celebration focusing on technology.

 

May Knowledge Flash from the ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility highlights

  • Join us throughout June as we explore five years' experience of pushing the frontier of technology in microinsurance.
  • Sign-up for a webinar on "Technology: Improving the enrolment experience" on the 4th June 2013 from 14:00-15:15 GMT. Reserve your webinar seat now at: http://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/798271878
  • Case Brief: IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance Co.
  • CGAP blog on m-insurance: Ensuring take-off while doing no harm
  • Technology contributes to trust and viability for WRMS

See more at: http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=6e44e7d9ff174776d0f2af089&id=5983fb9d40&e

 

Please feel free to share the newsletter with your others.

 

 

Best regards,

ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility

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