Wed, Jul 1, 2026
A A A
Welcome Guest
Free Trial RSS pod
Get FREE trial access to our award winning publications
Alternative Market Briefing

What you need to know about micro finance, views from an investment banker who is getting involved

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque London: Microfinance is a term which encompasses the various forms of financial services promoted and provided to the poor regions of the world by Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). London-based Sphere Capital Partners, a group of investment banking specialists, has just launched its very own micro finance business. Nish Kotecha, senior partner and founder, told Opalesque what it all comes down to.

Micro finance is gaining ground fast. Bill Gates, for example, traded Microsoft for micro finance as he stepped down from Microsoft last week to focus on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Mobile phone maker Nokia is currently looking at micro finance as a major initiative to increase mobile penetration in India from the current 26%. There are thousands of small organisations around the third-world countries operating profitable micro-finance businesses. And institutional investors, private equity funds and hedge funds are also getting involved.

The entrepreneur Nish Kotecha left Lehman Brothers in 2002 and started his own corporate finance business called Sphere Partners which has done so far various corporate finance deals, predominantly with the Asian diaspora who wants to access the financial markets. Of Indian descent, he has been involved with India for the last 18 years where he was an advisor to Barclays Bank. He also writes for Indian magazines and journals and he is the UK p......................

To view our full article Click here

Previous Opalesque Exclusives                                  
Previous Other Voices                                               
Access Alternative Market Briefing

 



  • Top Forwarded
  • Top Tracked
  • Top Searched
  1. Other Voices: Nvidia extraordinary growth and the challenge of sustaining demanding valuations over time[more]

    Antonio Di Giacomo, Senior Market Analyst at XS.com, writes: Nvidia has established itself as one of the most extraordinary growth companies in the global technology sector. Over the past two fiscal years, its revenues have risen from levels close to $60 billion annually to well above $120 billi

  2. Secondaries take center stage: What the 2026 PE landscape means for GPs and investors[more]

    Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: The 2026 edition of Dechert's Global Private Equity Outlook - "Signs of a Gradual Thaw" - marks a notable shift in industry sentiment. After years of compr

  3. And, finally: Time to share it with the people[more]

    From Newsoftheweird: Leavenworth, Washington, has become a tourist destination because of the Bavarian theme businesses have adopted there, NPR reported. One shop, the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum, houses the world's largest nutcracker collection, thanks to 101-year-old Arlene Wagner. Wagner sta

  4. Opalesque Exclusive: Private Markets Evergreen Funds - An Insider's View[more]

    Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: Private Markets Evergreen Funds: What Investors Need to Know Before They Dive In The democratization of private markets is well underway. Structural barriers t

  5. Opalesque Exclusive: Governance, Scale, and Boutique Resilience in a Consolidating Hedge Fund Industry[more]

    Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: The hedge fund industry has undergone significant consolidation in recent years, with capital increasingly concentrated among large multi-strategy platforms. Yet boutique m