Harnessing Student Potential In Microfinance

MFI Connect and The Microcredit Summit Campaign, Nairobi 2010

This year MFI Connect is working with The Campaign to bring a student delegation to the 2010 Africa/Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit. (For more information click here.) We would love for hear your questions, comments, and ideas regarding the student delegation.

Trade tips with each other about how to access funding. Share travel tips regarding Nairobi. Ask questions about the Summit or MFI Connect's involvement. All discussion is welcome.

Sincerely,
The MFI Connect Team

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Permalink Reply by chris macrae on November 28, 2009 at 3:06pm

Microcreditsummit's greatest project to accelerate 2010s back to millennium goals will likely relay from kenya to madrid, but I think we can start some spadework now if anyone wishes

I have been at several events including a meeting dr yunus hosted inviting people to launch global grameen as a whole new network for the 2010s which connects about 10 partner types - one being microcredits, another being global corporates, another universities, another place leaders who want to create jobs with micro methods eg governor of caldas state in columbia, foundation leaders who will open social business funds eg Prince Albert of Monaco

Microcreditsummits greatest project appears to be : to survey 50 countries for their 2 most impactful benchmarks as end-poverty microcredits noting whether these have the original bangladeshi social business system design or not. The main SB criteria being 100% owned by or in trust for poorest. It is very clear that Bangladeshi leaders of microcredit want to lessen their time spent in conferences etc on non-social business microF discussions. Indeed, there is a large segment of non-sB microfinance that are compouding poverty not ending it.

It is my understanding that Queen Sofia, who is patron of world microcreditsummit in spain 2011 will officially celebrate this micro 100. And that sam aims to spend a lot of time between april 2010, and 2011 refining the list

How do we start/help map who they are likely to be? The 5 microcredits I know well enough to bet anyone they will be benchmarks in the 100 are Grameen (bangladesh), BRAC (bangladesh), Jamii Bora (kenya), Fonkoze in Haiti, and microloanfoundation in malawi. I believe all are social business microcredits. I guess in the case of the first 2 I can think of about 5 international replicates each that I expect to definitely be on the list; I also expect to see some FINCA and wholeplanetfoundation

which cases do you expect to see on list?

where SB microcredit started it was never just about banking as much as establishing a local market and knowledge space in every village owned by the poorest members so they could be sure that there were matches in production and demand to make all who worked hard income generating, communaly improve health, invest in their kids over long periods, making it clear what inventions they would see as important to locally ending poverty; if you want to follow the detailed system model used I believe this is an accurate map