The second FinteQC conference will focus on how the financial industry is transforming in the “digital age,” with speakers sharing their research and experience relating to innovations within the fintech (financial technology) and banking industries. Although the 2019 program has not been released yet, the 2018 event program included topics such as Cryptocurrencies and Disruptive Technologies, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and the Impact of the Fintech Industry.
Category: Events
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Global SME Finance Forum: The Convergence of the Real and Financial Sectors in SME Finance; October 7 – 9, 2019; Amsterdam, the Netherlands
The Global SME Finance Forum offers opportunities to learn about how the “real sector,” including technology companies and consumer product distributors, have been participating in the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The forum will also cover how traditional financial institutions are responding to this increased competition within SME finance, which the organizers deem vital to the “economic and social development of emerging markets.”
SPECIAL REPORT: HPS Poised to Digitize Network of MFIs in Benin After Participation in SAM Innovation Fair, Successful Rollout to 3 Network Members
During 
the “Innovation Fair” of the most recent SAM, Mohamed Asri of Morocco-based payment solutions provider HPS spoke about his firm’s microfinance strategy, including its suite of PowerCARD tools. Mr Asri called SAM “a great opportunity for us to meet dozens of MFIs in Africa and present to them our activity and our products.” These meetings led to HPS signing a memorandum of understanding with Consortium Alafia, a network of 44 MFIs in Benin. To date, three Alafia members have tested PowerCARD Microfinance, which offers pay-as-you-go pricing to manage functions such as client transactions, internal finances, services provided via agents, Shariah-compliant products, field staff using mobile devices and
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Second Subsistence Marketplaces Bottom-up Immersion Conference; May 24 – 28, 2019; Arusha, Tanzania
This event will allow attendees “to engage directly with urban and rural subsistence marketplaces, through conversations and observations…in rural, semi-urban and urban settings.” Small groups will interact on the following topics: Entrepreneurship, Marketplace Access, Marketplace
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Financial Inclusion Summit; May 28 – 29, 2019; Johannesburg, South Africa
This “thought leadership event,” held by the UK-based Microfinance Association, focuses on the current status and future expectations for financial inclusion. While the previous summit in April 2018 targeted
SPECIAL REPORT: Christoph Pausch on Why You Should Complete a (Simplified!) Application for the $112k European Microfinance Award 2019: Resilience to Climate Change
MicroCapital: 
Why did you choose “Strengthening Resilience to Climate Change” as the theme of the 2019 European Microfinance Award?
Christoph 
Pausch: Climate change is the biggest issue we face as a society today. At the mitigation level, action is slowly (too slowly) being taken to reduce global emissions. However, a sensible response must include adaptation too. How do we live – and more importantly, help the most vulnerable to survive – in a world with a very different climate than we’ve been used to?
We have chosen “Strengthening Resilience to Climate Change” as the theme of the Award this year because resilience to the consequences of climate change is critical for the groups who will be most affected by these consequences. These groups are largely financially excluded, and they overwhelmingly live in places that will be most affected by worsening flooding, drought, storms, erosion or pests. Climate change also disproportionately affects those who make their livelihoods from agriculture, forestry, livestock husbandry and fishing.
While this is an immense challenge, we recognize the
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Investor Forum: “Responsible Finance for Digital Inclusion: Investing for Impact;” April 3 – 4, 2019; Washington DC, USA
This forum is intended to bring together a wide range of investors to share insights on “social performance and impact management,” particularly as related to digital financial services (DFS). This will include discussions of the Guidelines for Investing in Responsible Digital Financial Services, which were established in 2018. These 10 guidelines cover
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit: “The Opportunity Puzzle: Piecing It Together to Help Youth Learn, Earn and Thrive;” October 1 – 4, 2019; Washington, DC, USA
The thirteenth annual iteration of the Global Youth Economic Opportunities (YEO) Summit will focus on
MICROFINANCE EVENT: 15th Consultative Forum on Inclusive Insurance; May 7, 2019; Panama City, Panama
This event will address causes and potential solutions to the exposure that poor and other vulnerable people face to climate change and natural disasters. This includes the potential roles of insurers and policymakers in eliminating the protection gap as well as improving individuals’ resilience in general. The forum will take place
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Global Money Transfer Summit (GMTS); March 26 – 27, 2019; Cape Town, South Africa
This summit is meant to “promote innovative opportunities between the international cross-border remittance services and local payment systems in Africa.” Its themes include fintech (financial technology), regulation and the impact of cryptocurrency. Panel sessions will address topics such as barriers to mobile money transfers, various case studies, and potential synergies between postal systems and digital financial services. The International Association of Money Transfer Networks (IAMTN) plans
SPECIAL REPORT: Microfinance Institutions in Africa Boost Social Performance with Connections Made at SAM
Nadège 
Djatty, the assistant director of FIDRA, an MFI in Côte d’Ivoire, attended the most recent SAM in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. While there, she was one of about 100 people at the full-day training on the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management, which was delivered by Amelia Greenberg and Katie Hoffmann of the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF). After the training, Ms Djatty told Ms Greenberg that the “training had caused her to think more deeply about who they were excluding as clients because the products are not quite right for their needs and how they might adapt their products to be more inclusive.”
Ms Greenberg also met several leaders of institutions that subsequently applied for co-funding from the SPTF-run Responsible Microfinance Facility to help them “put clients at the center of every decision.” Among these were Arsène
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Mondato Summit Africa 2019; April 9, 2019; Johannesburg, South Africa
The 2019 Mondato Summit Africa, which will be held at Summer Place in Johannesburg, is themed “Scaling Digital Finance & Commerce (DFC) Innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Discussions are slated to cover the evolution of the digital economy, the transformation of telecommunication companies, investment opportunities and policy considerations.
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Africa Insurance and Reinsurance Conference: Innovations Disrupting the Insurance Industry; June 25 – 26, 2019; Nairobi, Kenya
This ninth iteration of this conference focuses on the development of the insurance and reinsurance industry in Africa from the perspectives of investment, technology and regulation. The agenda topics include: distribution, talent management, connecting with capital markets, climate change, agricultural insurance, Islamic
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Cracking the Nut: Leveraging Systems for Improved Food Security; October 14 – 15, 2019; Dakar, Senegal
This ninth iteration of this conference focuses on market-oriented solutions to boosting access to safe food in developing countries. The themes are Reducing Systemic Risks; Improving Nutrition, Health and Access to Clean Water; and Increasing
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Skoll World Forum; April 9-12, 2019; Oxford, England
The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship is intended to advance entrepreneurial solutions to social problems. Although this year’s agenda has not been released, sessions from recent years covered topics such as public-private financing initiatives for investing in underserved markets, financial innovation for inclusive business, and funding impact at scale through market segmentation.
SPECIAL REPORT: SAM (African Microfinance Week) Scheduled for October 21-25, 2019, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Luxembourgish NGO ADA recently announced that the next SAM (Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance) will be held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from October 21 to 25, 2019. The themes for this fourth SAM include Agricultural Finance; Macro-Level Alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals; Digital Finance and Fintech; Cash Transfers; Gender Inequality; and Small & Medium Enterprise Development and Youth Employment. In addition to the conference sessions on October 22 and October 23, there will be an Investor’s Fair, an Innovator’s Fair, “Research Meets Africa” discussions and 20 free
SPECIAL REPORT: RCPB of Burkina Faso Improves Youth Training, Links with Solar Provider at SAM
Réseau à la Faîtière des Caisses Populaires du Burkina, a savings and credit cooperative with 180 locations in Burkina Faso, has sent several staff members to all three SAM conferences. In 
Dakar in 2015, they made contact with a provider of solar light kits that hold a charge for four days. RCPB now lends to women to purchase these kits, which can have a wide range of benefits, such as increased student study time and reduced indoor air pollution from burning kerosene.
Azaratou Sondo-Nignan (pictured), the deputy director of RCPB, was part of a delegation that presented at SAM on the institution’s youth loans. In addition to sharing its expertise with other organizations, the delegation brought back ideas that helped improve the training that RCPB’s young borrowers receive in support of their loans.
RCPB staff also heard from a representative of a firm in Niger that offers a system to control irrigation canals remotely. Ms Sondo feels this would
SPECIAL REPORT: European Microfinance Week; November 20 – 22, 2019: Save the Date
The European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) will hold the next European Microfinance Week from November 20 through November 22, 2019, at the Abbaye de Neumunster in Luxembourg. This will include the presentation of the European Microfinance Award. Details on how to participate