Individuals as well as organizations from Arab countries are invited to apply for the Arab Financial Inclusion Innovation Prize (AFIIP), which includes a cash grant of up to USD 50,000, technical support for developing the idea, and the chance to secure additional funding of USD 50,000 through Village Capital, a venture capital firm based in the US city of Atlanta, Georgia. Winners also gain access to opportunities for
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MICROFINANCE EVENT: MFC Annual Conference: “Demystifying Digital in Microfinance;” May 30 – 31, 2019; Istanbul, Turkey
The 22nd annual conference of the Poland-based nonprofit Microfinance Center (MFC) will focus on challenges and trends relating to digitalization in financial inclusion. In addition to traditional conference sessions, the event will include a Social Investors Fair and a Fintech Marketplace. Sample workshop topics include Responsible Digital Financial Services; Fintechs [Financial Technology Firms] and Financial Inclusion in Turkey and Beyond; and EU Funding for Microfinance. Pre- and post-conference events include
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.”
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Investing in Responsible Finance and Innovation for Africa’s Digital Economies; October 2, 2018; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Summary of Event: The Ninth Annual Responsible Finance Forum brings together investors, policymakers, practitioners, and innovators to discuss opportunities for growth as well as risks of abuse relating to digital financial services in Africa. Participants will learn about technology solutions and business models for accelerating
MICROFINANCE EVENT: 14th International Microinsurance Conference: “Inclusive Insurance for Emerging Markets;” November 6 – 8, 2018; Lusaka, Zambia
Speakers at this year’s event will explore strategies to expand the growth and the accessibility of microinsurance services in emerging economies. Although the details of this year’s agenda are still under development, last year’s edition covered topics such as the role of microinsurance in economic development and digital technologies for microinsurance.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Investors Participate in Launch of Guidelines for Investing in Responsible Digital Financial Services
Fifty fund managers, investment funds, development finance institutions and NGOs from four continents recently launched the Guidelines for Investing in Responsible Digital Financial Services, a set of voluntary standards supported by the G20 group of large economies. CGAP (the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), one of the
MICROFINANCE PAPER ROUND-UP: Microfinance for Housing; Female Smallholders in Mozambique, Tanzania; Client Protection for Savings Groups That Go Digital
“Microfinance for Housing: Building New Foundations in Housing Microfinance;” by Sam Mendelson, Katarzyna Pawlak, Ewa Bankowska, Gabriela Erice and Daniel Rozas; published by the European Microfinance Platform; April 2018; 40 pages; available at http://www.e-mfp.eu/sites/default/files/resources/2018/04/European%20Dialogue%20no_12_web_0.pdf
This report presents the status, trends and potential of the housing portion of the microfinance sector, including case studies of the 10 semi-finalists for the 2017 European Microfinance Award. In addition to content specific to the eight past European Microfinance Awards, the authors outline the status of low-income housing globally and discuss why housing microfinance has been slow to develop.
To help service providers address the lack of affordable housing worldwide, they identify the following
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: “Microinsurance Master” Program Offers 10 Weeks of Immersion, Coaching on Scaling Up Insurance Services for Poor People
A new program called Microinsurance Master is offering two weeks of training at Pioneer Microinsurance, a Philippines-based firm with 18 million customers, followed by eight weeks of remote coaching intended to help participants “focus on client-centric solutions that reduce the vulnerability of low-income people and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Milliman Acquires MicroInsurance Centre in Effort to Boost Services Benefiting Poor People
Milliman Inc., an international consulting and actuarial firm headquartered in the US city of Seattle, recently acquired the MicroInsurance Centre (MIC), a for-profit consulting firm based in the US state of Wisconsin that provides “product development, research, and advocacy” services relating to insurance services to poor people. The terms of the agreement have
SPECIAL REPORT: Innovations in Fintech, Human Resources Development at SAM (Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance)
At 
the SAM (Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance) conference in Addis Ababa, a wide variety of vendors presented their wares. Among these were several core banking system providers. Antonio Separovic of Oradian previously had set the stage for the conversation at the fintech (financial technology) session organized by Dutch development bank FMO. He argued that microfinance institutions (MFIs) shouldn’t start by thinking about whether to buy a new system, but about where the MFI wants to go and how to get there. “Fintech may be able to reduce the friction to do these things,” he said.
Cameron Goldie-Scot of Musoni agreed: “It’s about what are the challenges in your organization? Is it too expensive to handle cash in rural areas? Do you have trouble getting
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: Offshore Financial Centers for Impact Investing; Financial Inclusion in 2025; Microfinance in India
“Offshore Financial Centers for Financial Inclusion: A Marriage of Convenience;” by Sam Mendelson and Daniel Rozas; published by the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) at Accion; June 2017; 14 pages; available at:
http://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/publications-a-resources/browse-publications/865-offshore-financial-centers-for-financial-inclusion
This paper explores the use of offshore financial centers (OFCs) based on interviews with 13 equity impact investors.
SPECIAL REPORT: ADA’s Laura Foschi on Creating Value for SMEs at SAM in Ethiopia, October 2017
MicroCapital: How has SAM (Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance) evolved since its launch four years ago?
Laura Foschi: We held the first edition of SAM in 2013 in Arusha, Tanzania. Our goal was to align the annual meetings of three networks of African microfinance institutions: the Africa Microfinance Network (AFMIN), African Microfinance Transparency (AMT) and the Microfinance African Institutions Network (MAIN). We had conference sessions on the first day, the networks’ general assemblies on the second day and an Investor’s Fair on the third day. During the week, we realized the potential of SAM to become a major African inclusive finance event.
We decided to move the location each time with the aim of engaging both French-speaking and English-speaking regions and organizations. In 2015, we held the conference in Senegal, expanding it to include two days of conference sessions and a broader range of parallel events. We were pleasantly surprised to have our registrations double to over 500 people! Perhaps for the fourth edition we will move to North Africa or Southern Africa.
MC: How did you select Ethiopia for the 2017 SAM?
LF: In order to maintain Ethiopia’s strong economic growth, its large young population will need to achieve what we call “economic inclusion.” In order to address this challenge, the government of Ethiopia has prioritized both microfinance and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Women’s Financial Inclusion Community of Practice Launches Website
As part of its launch, the Women’s Financial Inclusion Community of Practice (COP) recently released its website, https://www.microfinancegateway.org/organization/womens-financial-inclusion-community-practice, which is intended to facilitate discussions on best practices and solving shared challenges relating to delivering financial services to women with low incomes.
SPECIAL REPORT: Who Is Responsible in a Microfinance Equity Exit?
Now that three years have passed since CGAP and the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) at Accion published “The Art of the Responsible Exit in Microfinance Equity Sales,” this subject deserves a re-visit and perhaps expansion of the paper’s general principles into industry guidelines.
As the financial inclusion and impact investment industries mature and grow, so does the issue of how investors committed to advancing financial inclusion can “exit responsibly” from
MICROFINANCE BRIEF: Ford Foundation to Invest $1b Over 10 Years in Mission-related Investments Such as Financial Services in Developing Countries, Affordable Housing in the US
The US-based Ford Foundation recently announced plans to disburse USD 1 billion in “mission-related investments” with initial foci on access to financial services in developing countries and affordable housing in the US.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: GIIN Impact Investor Survey; Financial Inclusion in Humanitarian Emergencies; Green Index 2.0
“Annual Impact Investor Survey 2017, The Seventh Edition;” by Abhilash Mudaliar, Hannah Schiff, Rachel Bass, Hannah Dithrich; published by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), May 2017, 84 pages, available at https://thegiin.org/knowledge/publication/annualsurvey2017
The authors of this paper discuss the results of primary and secondary research on the latest trends and challenges of the impact investment sector, which they define as investments that “target social and / or environmental impact objectives”[1].
SPECIAL REPORT: African Microfinance Week (SAM) Registration Open for Sessions Starting October 9, 2017, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Registration opened today for African Microfinance Week, also known as Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance (SAM), which will focus on “Creating Value for SMEs.” The event, which will begin on October 9, 2017, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will include research presentations, an Innovation Fair and an Investor’s Fair. Several initiatives will hold events in conjunction with SAM, including ADA, the Africa Board Fellowship, CGAP (the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), Connexus, Microfact, the Risk Management Initiative in Microfinance, the Social Performance Task Force and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. More details on the agenda will be forthcoming soon.
Although the standard fee to attend is EUR 550, MicroCapital readers may enjoy a rate of
MICROFINANCE EVENT: Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) Annual Meeting; June 6 – 8, 2017, Mexico City, Mexico
Event Name: Social Performance Task Force 2017 Annual Meeting
Event Date: June 6 – June 8, 2017
Event Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Summary of Event: This meeting will include plenary speeches, working group meetings and networking sessions relating to financial inclusion regulation, social outcomes data collection, and analysis and advances in “client-centric” technology [2]. The event will begin with an introductory session on the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management (SPM) and the resources available to financial service providers for measuring and improving their social performance. This is the first time this event is taking place in Latin America since 2013.