On the 29th and 30th of June 2022, the Microfinance Centre (MFC) held its 24th Annual Conference to explore the microfinance investment landscape and opportunities, important sector updates, and the latest approaches to gender, green finance, technological challenges and financial inclusion of refugees and migrants. The event welcomed more than 400 microfinance practitioners, policy makers, experts, investors, IT providers, donors, social finance enthusiasts from 40 countries, with biggest attendance from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kazakhstan and Georgia.
The conference, with more than 30 speakers in keynote speech, 4 plenary sessions, 9 spotlights and talks, was the biggest event in the microfinance sector this year. Apart from the discussions about investment trends and opportunities at the time of political and economic uncertainty, it was a great networking opportunity for professionals from around the world. New connections and deals were made and existing partnerships were strengthened. Institutions offering digital solutions gave delegates hands-on experience with their services, and created a space to discuss what effective future partnerships might look like.
As noted by Bruno Robino, Deputy Head of Climate and Social Finance Advisory Division, at the European Investment Bank (EIB): “This well-organised event by MFC, not only enabled me to present the recently launched “Social Inclusive Finance Technical Assistance” programme under the InvestEU Advisory Hub, but also – after several on-line events – gave me the opportunity me to meet again with market practitioners and exchange, face-to-face, with the majority of them.“ In the words of Tatiana Müller (Account Manager at Mastercard Direct Services Europe): “ I would like to express my gratitude and big bravo for your most successful conference held in Istanbul. We took home with us a lot of new knowledge, interesting discussions, amazing new contacts, great atmosphere and a bunch of promising opportunities. Thank you for letting us be a part of your great MFC family at such a great event”.
Conference participant form Georgia stated in the conference evaluation form that: “The conference was a great possibility for networking and exchanging information between microfinance practitioners from different parts of the world. I gained better knowledge and understanding of the sector. Need to underline that the plenary sessions were very informative, to-the-point, and reflective of reality. Also, it was a very well-selected venue and location!”.
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