A MAJOR forum on microfinance in the Caribbean and Latin America is being planned by the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund (FOMIN/MIF) for October 6 to 8 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The 13th Inter-American Microenterprise Forum (XIII Foromic 2010), is the premier annual event on microfinance and microenterprise development in the Caribbean and Latin America where there are about 65 million of these businesses which generate about half of the region’s jobs.
Over the past three decades, the IDB has been a pioneer in promoting microfinance. Through FOMIN/MIF, the bank has supported the expansion of the region’s leading microfinance networks and encouraged innovations that have accelerated this industry’s development.
The fund has spearheaded work converting non-governmental organisations into regulated financial institutions, and supported actions to build a network of rating agencies and credit bureaus.
Every year, Foromic draws more than 1 000 delegates from financial institutions, consulting firms, government agencies and international organisations interested in microenterprise development.
The Foromic’s programme will discuss economic perspectives for the microfinance industry and how the global economic and financial crisis has impacted the microenterprise industry in the Caribbean and Latin America where about 600 institutions serve nearly nine million clients.
Plenary sessions and panel discussions will cover topics such as financial and social performance in microfinance, and technologies that allow microfinance institutions to reduce costs and reach remote clients.
A new edition of the Microscope, an annual report which ranks the microfinance climate in 55 countries worldwide, including 21 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America, will be presented at the meeting.
The report is prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit with support from the Multilateral Investment Fund, CAF, and the Netherlands Technical Assistance Trust Fund at the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The 2010 edition of Microfinance Americas: The Top 100 will also be released during the event. The publication will feature the best microfinance institutions in the Caribbean and Latin America, using a ranking that combines multiple measures of microfinance performance such as outreach, efficiency and transparency. (AB)
