MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Lends $9m to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) PRIDE Tanzania; LAPO of Nigeria; Sinapi Aba Trust, FASL of Ghana

Incofin Investment Management, a private Belgian company that invests in microfinance institutions (MFIs) through six investment funds, has recently made debt investments totalling the equivalent of USD 8.75 million in four African MFIs: Promotion of Rural Initiative and Development Enterprises Limited (PRIDE Tanzania); Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) of Nigeria; Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT) of Ghana; and First Allied Savings and Loans Limited (FASL), also of Ghana. All of the investments have been made through Incofin's Rural Impulse Fund II, which invests in MFIs that primarily serve rural areas and are deemed commercially viable. Incofin invested TZS 4.5 billion (USD 2.75 million) in PRIDE Tanzania. As of December 31, 2009, PRIDE reported to the US-based nonprofit Microfinance Information Exchange (

) total assets of USD 38.9 million, a gross loan portfolio of USD 26.9 million, return on assets (ROA) of 3.12 percent, return on equity (ROE) of 24.2 percent and approximately 73,000 active borrowers. In Nigeria, Incofin invested...

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