MicroLoan Foundation Australia receives the majority of its funding from B1G1, whose members give to multiple worthwhile projects. B1G1's Operating System for Good is an innovative digital giving platform which enables businesses to create, measure and track their impacts across global projects that are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). B1G1 members are able to select projects and integrate their giving directly into their day-to-day operations, as well as offer their own team members and customers the opportunity to participate in the creation of global social impacts. B1G1 is uniquely funded by a Business Membership Program, which sets B1G1 apart from other giving initiatives that rely on donations to sustain them. This way, B1G1 can provide businesses with greater giving opportunities as well as fantastic tools and resources that add significant value to them. The membership fees cover the operational costs of B1G1 so that 100% of all giving is passed onto the carefully vetted high-impact projects in a transparent manner. Today, the B1G1 initiative brings together approximately 3,000 businesses from around the world, each making significant impacts in their own ways.
Visit WebsiteWhole Planet Foundation, a Whole Foods Market foundation dedicated to poverty alleviation around the world, has partnered with MicroLoan Foundation in Malawi and Zambia since 2010, and more recently in Zimbabwe, by providing several multi-year grants to grow our loan book. They also awarded us with a multi-year grant for the purchase of tablet computers for our field staff as part of the rollout of our new Management Information System.
Visit WebsiteSymbiotics is the leading market access platform for impact investing. Its mission is to foster sustainable development in emerging and frontier economies by connecting investors to local financial intermediaries, enterprises and projects. In 2023, Symbiotics approved a local currency loan facility equivalent to $1 million over 3 years. The credit facility will be used to expand the loan portfolio in Zambia.
Visit WebsiteGlobal Partnerships is an impact-first investment fund manager dedicated to expanding opportunity for people living in poverty. Global Partnerships makes loans and early stage investments to social enterprises that serve people living in poverty throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa. MicroLoan Malawi has recently secured a local currency loan equivalent to US$750,000 (spread across two disbursements) from Global Partnerships. The loan is for a period of 2.5 years. MicroLoan Zambia has also recently secured a loan for US$700,000 payable over 3.5 years. The loans from Global Partnerships will enable both MicroLoan Malawi and MicroLoan Zambia to grow their loan books and expand their reach to more clients.
Visit WebsiteKiva supported MicroLoan Malawi with a COVID Crisis Support Loan to provide liquidity support. MicroLoan Malawi were able to use the facility to offset expenses that were due whilst revenue suffered a dramatic fall. As a result, MicroLoan Malawi did not have to lay off any staff and were able to continue providing ongoing support to clients whilst ensuring that the management of portfolio at risk continued largely unaffected.
Visit WebsiteGrameen Credit Agricole contributes to the fight against poverty and exclusion through microcredit and equity investments in companies with high social impact in developing countries. Grameen provides debt funding for MicroLoan in both Zambia and Malawi to grow and improve operations. In 2023, MicroLoan Malawi also secured a grant from Grameen Credit Agricole Foundation under their Swiss funded Smallholder Safety Net Up-scaling Programme. In 2021, they provided a Technical Assistance grant for the design, development and pilot of the new savings platform in Zambia.
Visit WebsiteWildHearts Group is a portfolio of companies that, through their activities and profits, create global social change. These profits are spent on funding the work of the WildHearts Foundation. Since 2011 they have harnessed the power of ‘compassionate entrepreneurship’ to fund microfinance in the developing world. They are a strategic partner for MicroLoan Foundation and have supported us since 2015. With their support and social investment we have been able to continue growing and developing our operations.
Visit WebsiteLend with Care partners with MicroLoan Zambia and MicroLoan Malawi. They are a microfinance organisation that solicits individual or group loans for people across the world from the general public through their online fundraising platforms. They give MicroLoan access to loan capital which helps us to expand our reach.
Visit WebsiteADA is a Luxembourgish NGO supporting microfinance institutions with access to technical assistance and funding opportunities. In 2021 they supported MicroLoan Foundation Malawi with Technical Assistance funding for two projects to strengthen internal processes and digitalisation. In 2021 they also provided a two-year loan facility of EUR 230,000 to MicroLoan Foundation Zambia, through the Luxembourg Microfinance Development Fund (LMDF).
Visit WebsiteOikocredit is a social impact investor and worldwide cooperative with over four decades of experience in promoting sustainable development through investment in financial inclusion, agriculture and renewable energy. Oikocredit is guided by the principle of empowering low-income people to improve their livelihoods. MicroLoan Zambia has secured a local currency loan equivalent to USD 700,000 (spread across two disbursements) from Oikocredit.
Visit WebsiteThe Financial Inclusion and Entrepreneurship Scaling (FInES) Project is a multi-year World Bank funded initiative which provides affordable wholesale financing to financial intermediaries (banks, MFIs, SACCOs, and MAIIC) in Malawi. This funding is then channelled to MSMEs at concessionary rates thereby increasing their access to financial services. Administered through the Reserve Bank of Malawi, the project is expected to generate significant benefits for Malawi’s economy in the long run while providing liquidity support for small businesses to weather the COVID-19-induced economic shock in the short term.
Visit WebsiteWE4F is a joint international initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union (EU), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands, Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). WE4F aims to support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the water, energy and food sectors. WE4F and MicroLoan are embarking on an innovative project to design and develop an ESG compliant loan product for female small-holder farmers in Malawi.
Visit WebsiteRUFEP is a joint initiative of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of the Republic of Zambia under the Ministry of Finance aimed to increase access to and the use of sustainable financial services by poor rural men, women and youth in Zambia. They are supporting MicroLoan’s efforts to pilot and roll-out an innovative mobile money project in Zambia. The technology is being rolled out in all of our existing branches in Zambia, and will be integrated into our future branches.
Visit WebsiteThe Swiss Capacity Building Facility (SCBF) is an innovative public-private platform to enhance inclusive finance for low-income clients, especially women, smallholder farmers and MSMEs, in emerging contexts. SCBF enables, with funding, financial service providers to access the expertise required to develop, tailor and scale innovative solutions that address the unique challenges these low income populations face.
Visit WebsiteThe Brisbane-based women’s shoe shop, which specialises in longer sizes, donates anywhere from 25c to $2.50 every time a pair of shoes is sold in-store or online. A donation is made each month based on the previous month’s sales and recorded on the shop’s website for full transparency.
Proudly supporting MicroLoan Foundation Australia since 2015 and has raised more than 55,000 AUD to date.
The Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion Advocacy Hub, led by Women’s World Banking and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is a catalyst for collective action unifying local, regional, and global stakeholders with the common objective of accelerating progress in Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion.
Visit WebsiteMicroLoan is benefitting from Deutsche Geschellenschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ)’s GP AgFin Project in both Malawi and Zambia. The aim is to improve access to financial services tailored to the needs of agricultural businesses and enterprises in rural areas. GIZ is also providing technical assistance funding for MicroLoan to develop an ESG compliant loan product under Water and Energy for Food (WE4F).
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