PlaNet Finance

PlaNet Finance is an international non profit organization, which aims to alleviate poverty by contributing to the development of the microfinance sector. By providing access to financial services to the poorest populations, the financial intermediaries, including banks, cooperatives, Non Governmental Organizations (NGO), and the Microfinance Institutions, have showed for thirty years that microfinance is one of the most efficient tool to create economic opportunities for the poor.Planet Finance was founded by Jacques Attali on October 13th, 1998.

Goals

PlaNet Finance’s aim is to support these efforts by federating these Financial Intermediaries, and providing them with operational services. PlaNet Finance also works with the private sector (banks and financial institutions), international agencies and government to facilitate the creation of an efficient microfinance sector.Based in Paris, France, PlaNet Finance has developed operations in more than 60 countries and has established an international network of affiliated offices in developing countries including Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina), Asia (India, China, Japan), Africa (Senegal, Benin, Madagascar) and the Middle East North Africa (Morocco, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Palestine). The network is supported by offices in Europe (United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Portugal) and the United States of America.Since its creation, PlaNet Finance implemented many microfinance programmes in partnership with local organizations. Emphasis is placed on the strengthening of existing microfinance activities, the use of microfinance networks in order to work on wider development issues (education, health, environment, access to water and electricity) and the launching of new activities to support underprivileged people.

Activities

PlaNet Finance’s activities to develop the microfinance sector includes :

*CONSULTING AND TRAINING
*PLANET RATING
Planet Rating is an independent rating company, spin-off of PlaNet Finance in 2005. PlaNet Rating carries out independent evaluation and rating missions of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), disseminates the results of these missions, provides customized evaluation and training sessions. These services are based on the GIRAFE methodology, a comprehensive evaluation and rating methodology designed to meet MFIs' characteristics.

*FINANCING OF MFIS IN DEBT BY MEANS OF:- PlaNet MicrofundPlaNet MicroFund has been assigned the very specific objective to focus on the financing of young start-up microfinance institutions (MFIs) presenting a high potential. These institutions have no access to commercial funding sources and the PlaNet MicroFund helps them to build their own credit history in order to be able to borrow from commercial sources in a second step. They are selected according to commercial, ethical, and financial criteria. The PlaNet MicroFund aims at encouraging and assisting the development of the most promising institutions.

- PlaNet responsAbilityFor mature MFIs, Planet Finance, as an investment partner to responsAbility, a social investment adviser offering investments in a large microfinance investment fund, arranges funding of higher amounts and larger maturities.

* [MICROCRED] Created by PlaNet Finance, MicroCred is an equity company that aims to create a group of microfinance banks able to offer access to financial services to low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries. A first microfinance bank has been launched in Veracruz, Mexico.

Consulting and training

*Consulting services are provided to:

-Microfinance InstitutionsPlanet Finance has been supporting Microfinance institutions in their development and capacity building since inception. Consulting services are provided to a broad range of MFIs (savings and loans, cooperatives, regulated MFIs, NGO-type MFIs, banks, etc).

-Microfinance Institutions networksPlanet Finance supports national networks of microfinance in the frame of partnerships programs aiming at providing them with training and technical support, enabling them to diversify their offer to better serve their clients’ needs, increasing transparency and the diffusion of information and best practices, helping them to define proper regulatory frameworks or national strategies, providing them with ad hoc awareness campaign for their members.

-APEX institutions and development banksPlaNet Finance provides consulting services to APEX institutions and development Banks particularly to help them identify microfinance institutions to support, to help them monitor microfinance portfolio, to improve their staff capacity in microfinance evaluation and monitoring, to improve their global knowledge and exposure to the field, to define specific products.

-Commercial banks and financial institutionsPlaNet Finance provides technical and advisory support to banks and financial institutions in order to enable them to directly serve microentrepreneurs through “downscaling” services, help them refinance MFIs by enabling them to identify effective microfinance partners and by strengthening these partners, help them create refinancing tools for the sector (microfinance investment fund, etc), train their credit managers about microfinance specificities to enable them to proper evaluate theirs engagements on MFIs.

-Government and central banksPlaNet Finance’s experts support governments in the implementation of poverty alleviating policies by developing microfinance and by helping them to define a national strategic microfinance development, providing technical support to implement appropriate regulations, support to Central Banks in training to supervise microfinance operations, helping some ministry to use microfinance in their programs

-MicroentrepreneursPlaNet Finance organizes many training sessions to microentrepreneurs about various topics: basics microfinance, management of human resources, good governance, microinsurance, financial analysis, internal control, evaluation and follow-up on credits. These trainings help microentrepreneurs to develop their professional activities.

-Microfinance plusPlaNet Finance's “Microfinance Plus” programs are based on the use of microfinance as a tool to bring more than financial services to the neediest populations. “Microfinance Plus” programs are currently developed under the following lines of actions: microfinance & Health, microfinance & Natural disasters, microfinance and tourism.

*Sector strengtheningPlaNet Finance develops several type of actions beneficiating the sector as a whole, and consisting of credit bureaus implementation, microfinance web portals creation, professional magazine publication, professional events organization, IT support, international microfinance platform coordination.

*TrainingPlaNet Finance’s training activities are based on a specifically designed curriculum, used in the frame of face to face training programs, University curricula, E-learning activities, conferences and seminars

*Impact evaluation & market researchImpact-Knowledge-Market (IKM) is a training and action-research program aimed at microfinance institutions, federations, donors and international organizations.Its primary objective is to provide information and to make recommendations to strengthen the viability of MFIs, to help them achieve their social objectives and to assist the design of microfinance and micro-enterprise development policies.IKM uses qualitative and quantitative methods as part of a participative and multidisciplinary approach. IKM consists of three main components: client knowledge, market research and impact assessment.

External links

* [http://www.planetfinance.org Planet Finance web site]