The Pledge to Protect Microfinance Institutions and Their Clients From the Economic Effects of COVID-19

Brian DoeFoundation News, Microcredit, Microfinance Partners

Whole Planet Foundation has recently signed onto the Key Principles to Protect Microfinance Institutions and their Clients in the COVID-19 Crisis, supporting dialogue and collective action to help microfinance institutions support their clients in this difficult period. Similarly WPF has been following and is supportive of other similar efforts including …

Reaching Entrepreneurs in Ukraine with Anisia

Brian DoeEastern Europe, Field Team Blogs, Travel

In Ukraine, Whole Planet Foundation is helping local Credit Union Anisia to better serve very small rural enterprises with financing that adapts the successful group loan methodology used internationally, but rarely in Central and Eastern Europe. Anisia launched this new outreach strategy to Ukrainian entrepreneurs by partnering with an innovative …

New Mobile Phone Services Empower Rural Businesses in Cote D’Ivoire

Brian DoeField Team Blogs, Sub-Saharan Africa, Travel

Last month I went Cote D’Ivoire to visit WPF long-time microfinance partner PAMF, who administers group microloans to rural entrepreneurs and farmers. This visit allowed me to observe the initial roll-out of a new mobile phone-based platform that WPF provided grant funding to help build. The platform will allow anyone …

Babban Gona Partnership Funds Farmers in Rural Nigeria

Brian DoeField Team Blogs, Microcredit, Microfinance Partners, Sub-Saharan Africa

In Nigeria, where Whole Foods Market sources ginger, Whole Planet Foundation offers scale capital to the agriculture social enterprise Babban Gona. Babban Gona is working to make rural farming profitable for smallholder farmers in northern Nigeria. Their founder, Kola Masha, started the business to engage young Nigerians that have increasingly …

L’importance de l’épargne au Burkina Faso

Brian DoeField Team Blogs, Microcredit

View the original English version of this blog post. Madeleine, la présidente d’un des groupes de microfinance de Yikri, au Burkina Faso, a souscrit avec succès un prêt pour financer une activité d’élevage. Cependant, en expliquant le changement que le programme Yikri a apporté à sa vie, elle se rappelle …

The Importance of Savings in Burkina Faso

Brian DoeField Team Blogs, Microfinance Partners, Sub-Saharan Africa

View a French translation of this blog post. Madeleine, the President of one of Yikri Burkina Faso’s microfinance groups, has successfully taken business loans to support livestock rearing activities. However, when explaining the difference the Yikri program had made in her life, she first recounted not the impact of credit on …

global fund for widows

WPF Funds New Partner in Egypt: Global Fund for Widows

Brian DoeMicrofinance Partners, The Middle East and North Africa

Whole Planet Foundation’s Board of Directors has approved a grant to support the growth of an innovative business loan program in Egypt supporting widows and other female heads of households (FHHs) in rural communities of Upper Egypt. The program is designed to economically empower widows and FHHs by increasing their …