SKS Microfinance Ltd, one of the founding and largest microfinance institution based out of India has files its preliminary paperwork on the Indian Capital Market where it aims to raise about $250 million.  If they go IPO, this would make SKS the very first microfinance institution to go public.  Personally, I think this is great.  I’m sure there are pros and cons to this, and there will be people scrutinizing this decision, but I think it is a great idea to help raise money with an initial public offering.  When microfinance platforms first started, people loaned money without any incentives of making money.  Then microfinance platforms such as Microplace came along and gave investors and opening into microfinance.  The next step was donating to MFIs.  First it started with simple donations, but then Microfinance platforms like Dvelo.org came along that allow lenders to give to MFIs as well as entrepreneurs. I think that by SKS offering an IPO, it is the first step to the next level of the natural microfinance progression to gaining more access to capital.  It is going to be interesting to see what kind of reception this gets.
Read the entire Wall Street Journal article for for more details about SKS’s IPO preliminery prospectus.

With the success of the 2009 summit in London, the Hanson Wade Microinsurance Summit 2010 is going to be going on May 26-27 in Miami, Florida.
At this years summit, you’ll be able to:

• Understand the shape and direction this market is heading towards, and what you must do to capitilize on MI business opportunities in developing economies
• Learn about innovative distribution practices to lower your costs and increase outreach
• Educate low income clients on risk management to improve your market penetration rate
• Devise demand driven and affordable products to best meet your clients’ needs and expectations
• Comprehend the role of regulation and supervision in creating, enabling and facilitating the development of MI, and what you must do to be compliant
• Establish how to strengthen your IT infrastructure and specialized service providers for the microinsurance market

With the Microinsurance market still under-served, there is an opportunity to reach a large number of customers in developing markets.  This years challenge is to determine how to “Scale up and distribute more products to more people while maintaining profitability.” Attend this years summit to discuss relevant topics in microinsurance with experts from leading global insurers and reinsurers, MFIs, aid agencies, NGO, development banks, and international and regional regulatory bodies.  This years speakers include:

• Peter Braumüller, Chair, Executive Committee, International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS); Managing Director, Insurance and Pensions, Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA)
• Brandon Mathews, Head of Emerging Consumer MicroInsurance, Zurich Financial
• António Cássio dos Santos, President and CEO, Mapfre Brasil
• Nikhil da Victoria Lobo, Vice President – Public Sector Business, Swiss RE
• Alesia Rodriguez Pardo, Member of the Working Group, FIDES-BID-FOMIN Project, Executive President, CAMARASEG-Cámara de Aseguradores de Venezuela
• José Cucalón De Ycaza, Executive President, Seguros Porvenir; President, Camara de Compañias de Seguros del Ecuador
• Felipe Botero, VP Technology & Operations, Metlife
• Pompy Sridhar, Product Head, Financial Inclusion Solution Group, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company
• Eugenio Velasques, Executive Director and Head of Microinsurance Programs, Bradesco Seguros e Previdencia BSP Affinity
• Rodolfo Francisco Ern, Head of New Business Technology, Bradesco Auto/Re Cia. de Seguros
• Mahmood Sultan, Senior General Manager, Adamjee Insurance
• Bradley Williams, Chief Operating Officer, MicroEnsure
• Aidan Pope, Chief Executive Officer, Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Operations, Guy Carpenter & Company LLC
• Iddo Dror, Director of Operations, Micro Insurance Academy (MIA)
• Maria Victoria Saenz-Samper, Senior Operations Specialist, FOMIN-Fondo Multilateral de Inversiones, IDB-Inter-American Development Bank
• Mariana Torres de Urquidi, Head of Microinsurance Business, Banco Compartamos
• Anna Gincherman, Director of Formalization & New Product Development, Women’s World Banking
• David Piesse, Chairman of Asia Pacific Operations, Unirisx
• Shivon A. Zilis, IBM Corporate Financial Inclusion Initiative, IBM Global Business Services
• Weimin Dong, Founder and Chief Risk Officer, RMS-Risk Management Solutions

The Grameen Foundation recently announced that it is expanding its technology for microfinance initiative, Mifos Platform, and Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) from $1.23 million of funding from the Mastercard Foundation and $500,000 from Cisco.  The donation from the Mastercard foundation will help form the Mifos Consortium which will help develop a benchmark  for successful technology that is part of Grameen’s 10 year plan of reaching 100 million new people in unserved regions. Cisco’s grant of nearly $500k will enable Grameen Foundation to integrate cost-effective avenues into Mifos, and bridge the gap between microfinance supply and demand which will help drive transformative increases in scale, innovation, sustainability, and social impact of MFIs around the world.
Read the full press release at Grameen

For those in the Bay Area, the next Silicon Valley Microfinance Network (SVMN) meeting is Tuesday, March 30th and will feature Rick Parras, CEO & Co-Founder of Apoyo Financiero, Haydeé Moreno, Micro Branch Director & Vice President of Self-Help and Devin McAlpine, Business Advisor for Opportunity Fund.

During this evening, you’ll hear three unique domestic microfinance initiatives and a borrower speak about the successes, challenges and the current and future environment of domestic lending in the Bay Area. Here are the details:

What: Silican Valley Microfinance Event — Our Backyard: Serving the Un-banked Communities in the Bay Area
When: Tuesday, March 30th from 6:00 – 8:30
Where: 425 Market Street, 26th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105 (directions)
Cost (includes dinner + drinks): in advance: $20 regular attendee | $10 students & non-profits (w/ ID)
at the door: $30 regular attendee | $20 students & non-profits (w/ ID)

You can register here!!

Here is a job for those looking for a social media position for an organization focused on alleviating poverty (and in the Bay Area or willing to move), this may be for you. The position is full time at EARN, which is based in San Francisco. For those not familiar with EARN, they are focused on breaking the cycle of poverty by matching the savings of low-wage workers and helping them invest in assets that build wealth, creating a cycle of prosperity across generations. This isn’t EXACTLY microfinance, but it’s related and I thought it was worth posting. Here are more details on the social media fellow position:

SOCIAL MEDIA FELLOW – Updated 3/10 – now full-time!
This is a full-time, paid fellowship with excellent benefits; the fellowship period runs for 12 months. There may be the possibility of renewal for a second fellowship period.

The ideal Fellow will have a significant professional track record in social media and a strong interest in EARN’s mission. EARN takes a unique approach to changing the lives of low-income families across the Bay Area, California, and the nation. We work directly with thousands of low-wage workers, and we leverage our on-the-ground experience to publish our applied research, build grassroots constituencies, and educate policy leaders. The Social Media Fellow will increase our ability to communicate with all of these key audiences and to involve them in our work – as policy champions, voters, donors, and even potential clients. Working closely with other members of the EARN team, the Fellow will craft and share EARN’s messaging using social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Idealist, and Change.org.

Here is the link to the job posting – http://www.earn.org/site/downpage.php?NodeID=131

[via Sloane]

Throughout the month of March, Vittana has been running their first — but not their last – March Microfinance Madness campaign with the goal of getting friends, family, and co-workers coming together to raise money to send kids to school. For those of you not familiar with Vittana,they are enabling students from around the globe to get access to higher education for the first time through student loans. They’ve gotten a fair amount of interest for their campaign, including TechCrunch, Redfin, Buddy.tv, and TeachStreet, but are running into the home stretch with only 6 days left in March and want to put the after burners on.

If you’d like to loan to a student in Paraguay, Vietnam, or Nicaragua, I just created a “myKRO.org” group on Vittana – just sign up, find a student such as Huyen Thi Hoang in Vietnam, and lend! Remember, every little bit helps!

For those in the Los Angeles area and interested in microfinance, there is an event in late April worth going to. Its being put on by The Association of Yale Alumni, UCLA Net Impact Undergrad, The Los Angeles Microfinance Network, and UCLA Net Impact Anderson and includes some great speakers including Jessica Jackley from Kiva, Eric Weaver from Opportunity Fund, and Bhalchander Vishwanath of United Prosperity.

Here are the details:

What: Co-hosts The Association of Yale Alumni, UCLA Net Impact Undergrad, The Los Angeles Microfinance Network, and UCLA Net Impact Anderson welcome distinguished speakers to discuss the importance of microfinance and its effects on women and international development.

When: April 28th @ 7pm

Where: Korn Hall, UCLA Anderson School of Management

Cost: $18 (Register here)

Further details can be found on their website — http://www.losangelesmicrofinance2010.webs.com/