Events & Presentations

October 3-5, 2013, Mexico City, Mexico

Hosted by the Center for Financial Inclusion, Calmeadow, and the Boulder Institute, Governance Leadership in a Competitive World is the first of an ongoing seminar series. The seminar will engage board members and CEOs in an active dialogue about the challenges they face in governance and risk, and their roles and responsibilities in setting and monitoring the MFI’s mission and strategy. Across two and a half days, the seminar will provide participants with the opportunity to interact with other players within their geographical context and facilitate greater understanding of the industry trends and regional challenges. 

June 11, 2013, Online

CFI and MasterCard Worldwide are hosting a webinar on June 11 (10:00am EST – 11:00am EST) to discuss findings from the Center’s soon to be released publication Growing Income, Growing Inclusion: How Rising Incomes at the Base of the Pyramid Will Shape Financial Inclusion. Led by the Center’s Elisabeth Rhyne (Managing Director) and Sonja Kelly (Fellow), and MasterCard’s Tara Nathan (Executive Director, Public Private Partnerships), the webinar will look at trends in income growth around the world with a special focus on the BOP and what implications this holds for both providers and regulators. The report is the second from the Financial Inclusion 2020 campaign’s Mapping the Invisible Market project. Click here to RSVP to this free, live, interactive webinar.

June 3-4, 2013, Panama City, Panama

The purpose of the Latin American Forum of Social Performance is to present the theory and the practice of the implementation of the Universal Standards for Social Performance Management, which are a set of management standards and practices that apply to all microfinance institutions pursuing a double bottom line. Meeting the standards signifies that an institution has “strong” social performance management practices. The forum includes six panel discussions, including one on the responsible treatment of clients, hosted by Sergio Guzmán of the Smart Campaign.

May 28-30, 2013, Budva, Montenegro

This year is the 16th MFC Annual Conference and it has a theme of “Microfinance 2.0: Charting New Waters.” The goal of the event is to discuss the identity, role, and future of the microfinance sector in Europe and beyond. In doing so, participants will explore the changing role of the microfinance industry within the broader global financial landscape, and discuss important lessons that microfinance innovators have to learn from other industries. Each conference workshop will address new and challenging issues such as using technology to balance quality and scale. It’s expected that 450 microfinance practitioners, investors, policymakers, and private sector representatives will be in attendance. CFI’s Sergio Guzman will be leading a pre-conference Smart Campaign Assessor Training, and delivering a presentation as well as moderating a panel on Client Protection Certification. The Microfinance Centre is a regional microfinance resource center and a network of 103 members, including 78 MFIs across 27 countries.

May 3, 2013, New York City, USA

This year’s Microlumbia Microfinance Conference features Accion International CEO Michael Schlein as its keynote speaker. Three expert panels will address the topics of Microfinance and Technology, the Politics of Microfinance, and Microfinance’s Lessons for Impact Investing. CFI’s Adriana Magdas is among the experts in the Microfinance and Technology panel. A non-profit and staffed by Columbia Business School students, Microlumbia provides growing microfinance institutions with pro-bono consulting services and debt capital while stimulating interest in the field among a new generation of future business leaders.