Archive for the 'Technology' Category
December 17th, 2011 by Tom Minney
The Securities Commission of Zimbabwe (www.seczim.co.zw) has declined to grant the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (www.zse.co.zw – under maintenance), an operating licence, according to local media, and is challenging the exchange to provide a business plan. The Financial Gazette reports that the ZSE failed to provide critical information demanded by the regulator. ZSE CEO, Emmanuel Munyukwi, reportedly dismissed the SECZ claims, saying the exchange had complied with all requirements in terms of the law: “There is nothing like that. As far as I know we have confirmed and verified that all the required information is with the regulator,” he said.
According to a report in Zimbabwe Independent SECZ CEO Tafadzwa Chinamo summoned all members of the ZSE to attend a meeting. The Commission is reported to be concerned that the exchange has not automated and done away with the current paper-based trading system, despite suggesting that could happen by the end of 2011. However, the call-over meetings in Zimbabwe are often more active and lively than the screens of some of the less liquid African exchanges, which may even only record a few deals a day.
SECZ also said only 3 out of 20 stock-broking firms had been registered by the commission as having sufficient capitalization to continue and would issue their licences by circular. The regulator said there was concern that the exchange and most stock-broking companies did not get enough income to cover their expenses and remain viable, due to falling trading volumes. The Commission charges a yearly fee of US$3,000 for stock-broking firms and US$1,500 for individual stockbrokers.
According to the reports, the SECZ accused members of abandoning the exchange, given its current state of affairs, saying they needed to be proactive in the development and running of the exchange. It issued a circular to stockbrokers saying the ZSE had to comply with its licencing requirements and had to provide SECZ with information specified in Section 30 of the Securities Act, like other capital market intermediaries and “given that it operates as a Self Regulatory Organisation”.
The capital markets regulator reportedly wrote: “It is worrying therefore that the commission has not yet issued the ZSE an operating license due to the failure by the ZSE to provide the required information. Of particular concern to the commission is the non-submission of the 2010 financial statements which would enable the commission to verify the exchange’s capital adequacy. Also of concern is the lack of a business plan to satisfy the commission that the ZSE is working towards specific goals in developing the market.
“The exchange is owned by the members and as such it is the responsibility of members to ensure its smooth running. Members have a responsibility to resource the ZSE and see to it that the necessary management structures are established and supervised for the day- to-day operations of the exchange,” said Chinamo. “As the Commission we have reason to conclude that members have abandoned this responsibility and we seek to establish members’ position.”
The meeting was adjourned after brokers failed to reach consensus and they have nominated a 5-member committee, working under acting ZSE board chairperson Eve Gadzikwa, to sort out several issues affecting the viability and integrity of the exchange and report within a week. The committee includes veteran stockbrokers, Tediuos Matsaira, Bart Mswaka, Jeff Mhlanga, Edward Mapokotera and Rufaro Zengeni.
Chinamo reportedly added: “Given the important role members play in operating the exchange the Commission is concerned by the non-transparent manner in which new members are admitted. Several applications are awaiting approval months after submission resulting, in a number of firms operating without two brokers as stipulated in the SEC rules.” One broker was reported as saying that only having 30 stockbrokers was a limitation: “I believe that if the membership grows the bigger the pool of ideas we have and this can increase the pace of transformation of the market,” a leading broker indicated.
December 6th, 2011 by Tom Minney
Africa is using much less than its share of global financing available for carbon reduction projects, but the process to apply is complicated and a special facility has been set up to help. The African Carbon Asset Development facility has funded successful projects to reduce carbon emissions in Africa. A workshop was held last weekend for sharing practical lessons, attended by about 30 developers, investors, and local experts and bringing together African carbon asset development partners and financiers and beneficiaries including entrepreneurs on how to make carbon finance work for Africa.
The workshop highlighted successful carbon investment projects in Africa supported by the African Carbon Asset Development facility (www.acadfacility.org), formed by the United Nations Environment Programme (www.unep.org) in cooperation with Standard Bank Group (www.standardbank.co.za) and funded by the German Federal Environment Ministry (www.bmu.du/english). The ACAD partnership addresses key barriers that have stopped more people in Africa benefitting from carbon financing on projects as it provides technical assistance, seed capital, and specialized advisory services to both green entrepreneurs and to banks across Africa.
Although carbon financing is growing in importance worldwide, Africa’s share remains very low. According to ACAD facility’s website, in 2009 around $84 billion was invested in 684 emission reduction projects in emerging markets, but African nations got only 2% of the global total. The aim of ACAD is to help increase Africa’s carbon markets.
The workshop was held (somewhere) in Durban as part of a Conference of Parties (COP 17/CMP7) to discuss the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (at sometime) over the weekend 3-4 December. It was organized by Standard Bank and UNEP.
Two examples of successful projects were cited. Johannesburg-based AAP Carbon (www.aapcarbon.com) has developed a technology that can generate heat and electric power from furnace waste gases emitted during ferrochrome smelting. The development was piloted with a financing plan which included carbon credit revenue.
A plant near Rustenberg, South Africa is already operational for London-listed International Ferro Metals (www.ifml.com) and is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 200,000 tons a year. Alex Berger, Director of AAP Carbon, explained how the project benefited from UNEP support so that it could tackle challenges in registering for a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which is a global framework allowing industrialized countries to fund carbon emissions in places where this can be done more cheaply. The AAP Carbon project is now in the final stages of registration and has apparently been certified with the premium Gold Standard. Several investors are interested in using the climate-friendly technology for other plants, after IFM and AAP Carbon showed that it works.
Kevin Fruin, a South African small business owner, said there is scope to make bricks in a way that is more efficient with energy. He said that construction accounts for almost 30% of South Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions and 200 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa make clay bricks. He is one of the small businesses piloting a cleaner production technology called “Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln”. This can save manufacturers at least 50% of coal use and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and air pollutants such as soot and black carbon. ACAD is supporting the development of a national programme using the CDM to scale up these demonstration projects so that other businesses can use the technology. It is giving financial advisory, legal due diligence, and a customized carbon-auditing tool for participating SMEs.
The session also provided some 30 participants an opportunity to learn more about how to benefit from grants from ACAD and training.
November 11th, 2011 by Tom Minney
The International Finance Corporation (www.ifc.org) plans to invest heavily in new African telecommunications projects, with spending plans for up to $300 million in the financial year to June and another $400m the following year. According to a story on Reuters, the private-sector financing arm of the World Bank group is aiming for projects that are not commercially attractive to traditional financiers.
Kent Lupberger, IFC’s global head for Technology, Media and Telecom, told Reuters at an industry conference on 9 Nov: “We would very much be looking to do $200-$400 million a year for our own account in Africa and ideally helping mobilise funding from other sources — commercial banks, other development institutions — to double or triple that.” The IFC is to focus on new telecoms opportunities such as data centres, tower sharing, IT services and “last mile” broadband connectivity, reaching to end users, among others.
The IFC has previously gave considerable finance to cellular companies but it is cutting back on this because the telcos are now established and have easier access to financing.
October 28th, 2011 by Tom Minney
The next step for Africa’s securities exchanges is critical for the continent’s development. There is a huge demand for capital to be put to productive use in what could be the world’s fastest-growing continent, with a dire need for fast growth to drive out poverty. There is also a tide of international risk capital, looking to fund that growth and share in the profits. Between the two are the capital markets, challenged to move fast to become liquid, transparent and effective.
Lots of these topics are on the agenda for The 15th Annual African Securities Exchange Association conference (www.aseaconference2011.ma) (in Marrakesh, Morocco), which looks to have an excellent agenda. Casablanca Stock Exchange is the host, the theme is “Africa, alive with opportunities!”
Top speakers include key opinion leaders such as Thomas Friedman, Mark Mobius and maybe Christine Lagarde of the IMF. Expect speeches from Sunil Benimadhu (Stock Exchange of Mauritius and chair of ASEA), Karim Hajji of the Casablanca bourse, leaders of African securities markets and top speakers from several world bourses including BM&F Bovespa, Istanbul, NASDAQ OMX and the London Stock Exchange, with India’s National Stock Exchange and NYSE Euronext to confirm. They will be joined by finance ministers, bankers, analysts, traders, investors and many more.
Topics on day 1 include
• “The financial crisis: Is there a pilot in the plane?” Top analysts, bankers and traders, possibly joined by a European Commissioner from the heart of the crisis
• The economic implications of the “Arab Spring” for the continent, featuring key Ministers who are rebuilding post-crisis countries, a strategist and others
• Capital markets and BRICS (see previous story on stock exchange link-ups) – hear from CEOs and Executive Directors of key BRICS stock exchanges and Emergent Asset Management
• Nursing Africa’s future IPOs: heads of top African stock exchanges from Mauritius to Morocco, via Ghana and maybe Nigeria, plus PAI Partners, a leading French private equity firm
• A new FTSE-ASEA African index.
Day 2 tackles
• Regulation for cross-border development: Regulators from Morocco and the central African stock exchange, plus long-term Africa bull stockbroker Jonathan Auerbach
• Cost-effective and scalable technology options for emerging markets exchanges – featuring Tony Weeresinghe of the LSE, Anne Ewing of NASDAQ and maybe Joseph Mecane of NYSE Euronext, 3 top suppliers of securities markets systems to the continent who hold many of the keys to the next stage of evolution.
• “What’s hot in Africa today?” with a host of top speakers from politics, consulting, banking, mining, economics and development finance covering energy, infrastructure, mining, industry, agribusiness and others.
OPINION: Please note the Day 2 morning topics address critical and urgent issues of how African stock exchanges can work across (colonial) borders to build liquid and effective markets, part of the grand process of African integration and building viable economies.
Expect participants from over 100 countries. The ASEA AGM and committee are on 11 Dec and the conference starts on 12 Dec. The official language is English with Arabic and French translations.
Unmissable! Book the conference here via the ASEA website (www.africansea.org).
Warning!! You may not want to come home. The conference is in Hotel Palmeraie Golf Palace & Spa. The conference website says: “As a backdrop, the majestic, silvery, sentry-like summits of the High Atlas stand out. At the foot of the mountain lies a beautiful city, built in red and surrounded by age-old palm trees. Monuments defying time form a string of pearls for her. An enticing labaryinth, created centuries ago, of old ramparts meanders along its slender “body”. In this fairy-tale decor, lies Marrakesh the legendary; Marrakesh the imperial, the pearl of the south, bathed by an invigorating sun all year round.”
September 8th, 2011 by Tom Minney
[SPONSORED STORY] Banking is changing fast and nowhere more than in the African markets, where growth opportunities are huge with some 250 million households still unbanked, but only for banks with the skills and technology to chase them. Banks are expanding fast across Africa, heralding new competition. Innovative banks are seizing opportunities served up by technology to reach out to millions of new customers and find ways to offer financial services that will help them increase bank revenues, through agency or branchless banking, microfinance, SMME lending, or mobile money, e-wallets and biometrics.
Banking strategies for the future revolve around “base of the pyramid”, “technology convergence”, “cloud” and “inclusive banking”. In order to grow against competitors, banks are moving into technology, from core banking systems, adding a range of user interfaces, including Internet, mobile phones, call centres. In 2011 banking leaders are moving to agency banking and branchless lending. Lessons can be learnt and the future charted for emerging markets, including India, South Africa, Kenya and Malaysia.
Speakers at a top conference “Technology Innovation for Banks in Growth Economies” set for London from 28-30 November include global banking leaders in development, SMME and micro-finance institutions such as Anil Kumar, (CEO of IFMR Rural Finance, India), Yolanda van Wyk (CEO Smart Services at First National Bank, South Africa), Sandeep Indurkar (Head Mobile Payments – Internet Banking and Mobile Banking, ICICI Bank, India). Technology and finance expert speakers include Gerhard Romen (Director Mobile Financial Services Nokia), Dr Tim Kelly (Lead ICT Policy Specialist, The World Bank) and Menno van Doorn (Director VINT Research Institute for the Analysis of New Technology). The agenda covers software-banking partnerships, the impact of broadband, government pressures towards financial inclusion, biometrics including fingerprinting, cloud-based technology for banking, e-wallets and banking in growth economies and technologies for scale.
The conference is aimed at banks across the emerging and frontier markets, particularly where their growth will be linked to new customers with growing incomes, also technology experts and banking system vendors, development finance experts, policy-makers and leading commentators.
Together they will discuss potential solutions to challenges such as:
• Poor connectivity – satellites, cable and changing national and regional regulation
• Central and development banks plans to upgrade current ICT infrastructure
• Infrastructure of tomorrow being prepared for the next stage of branchless banking
• Understanding infrastructure needed to support the alliance between telecoms and banking providers
• Can microfinance banks be a delivery channel hard-to-reach regions?
The first day, 28 November, consists of workshops: i) the fast-track on how ICT creates better delivery channels for financial products to reach the unbanked and ii) branchless banking – seize opportunities and mitigate risks.
The conference website http://technologyinnovation-banking.com gives details and bookings. Or call: +1 212 537 5898 or email: info@hansonwade.com. Early bird discount of up to GBP300 expires in 8 days.
September 5th, 2011 by Tom Minney
Interest in share offers is high in Rwanda, after shares of Bank of Kigali (BK) rose 52% to RWF190 in their first day of trading on 1 September. The Initial Public Offer (IPO), which opened on 30 June and ran for a month, offered the shares at RWF125. According to today’s market report (5 September) total trading today was 5 deals in BK shares which ended at RWF172 (it closed on Friday at RWF 191) and in brewer BRALIRWA which was unchanged at RWF246.
The BK shares offered included a sale by the Government of its 20% stake and the bank offered a further 25%, making a total offer of 300.3 million shares for a total value of RWF37.5 billion ($63.6 m). This was 274% oversubscribed with Rwandan investors making up 75% of the shareholding. The retail investors’ pool was oversubscribed by 291%, institutional investors from Rwanda 165%, institutional investors from the region 221%, international investors 330% and BK employees and management 135%, according to a report in the East African newspaper.
The bank plans to use the IPO funds to expand its network including opening 44 branches in 2011, increase the loan portfolio and consolidate its leadership position in the increasingly competitive banking industry. The listing should also boost activity on the young RSE, Africa’s newest stock exchange which was launched on 31 January
Lado Gurgenidze, chairman of the BK board, is reported in New Times newspaper saying: “The transaction and new capital comes at the right time when the bank is focusing on building a great bank and retaining the leading position in the market. Through great service and 45% of the shares being in the hands of the public, we have all the reasons to be optimistic that it will be very liquid on the secondary market.”
Investors waitng for more offers
It is the fourth listing on the RSE. When it launched in January it immediately started trading the shares of the first domestic IPO, brewer Brasseries et Limonaderies du Rwanda BRALIRWA (www.bralirwa.com). This had been offered at RWF136 and started trading at RWF220. The other two counters are cross-listings from Kenya: Kenya Commercial Bank and Nation Media Group.
Reuters reports that appetite for shares is likely to be strong, partly because of the favourable pricing. The BK shares were offered at a multiple of 1.4x book value, a 15% discount to Kenyan banks at the time of the sale. The article quotes Nkoregamba Mwebesa, managing director of CFC Stanbic Financial Services in Kenya, saying: “Being a government exit, the Government is able to offer a discount which will attract (investors). We should continue to see appetite for all that. Rwanda is also stable politically, and that encourages investors as well. When the Government is exiting they don’t care about dilution. They are not out to really make money. The agency reports that market players said the main aim of the government was to help kick-start the bourse.
Future share offerings are likely to attract sustained interest, including government plans to sell a 20% share in the country’s biggest insurer Sonarwa (Societe Nouvelle d’Assurance du Rwanda – Nigeria’s IGI owns 35%). It is also hoping to sell shares in what Reuters called “an unidentified cement firm”, although earlier this year Ciments du Rwanda Ltd was mentioned.
Government has also held talks about selling its 10% stake in telecom operator MTN Rwanda. MTN Group is majority shareholder and has the right of first refusal on any share sales. John Rwangombwa, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, reportedly said earlier this year: “We have two options; if MTN gives us (Government) the price we want, we will sell the shares to them directly while the other option is through an IPO depending on the other investor.” (as reported on this website)
The Minister had also said that Government would sell more of its stake in BK later. It owned 66.3% before the offer.
T+2 settlement here, electronic trading “by June”
On 3 August the RSE announced that it was adopting a T+2 settlement cycle for all securities with effect from 5 August. Sellers of securities receive money and transfer of ownership is effected on the third day. This replaced T+5 for equities and T+3 for bonds. The new system was made possible after the Central Bank of Rwanda (BNR) introduced a modern payment system, the Rwanda Integrated Payment and Processing System (RIPPS), which offers real-time gross settlement (RTGS), an automated clearing house (ACH), an automated transfer system (ATS) and a central securities depository (CSD).
Reuters reported that the next step would be electronic trading and other steps to attract more stock and debt issues. Robert Mathu, chief executive of Rwanda Stock Exchange, was reported as saying: “We are hoping to put in place an electronic trading platform by June next year.”
September 4th, 2011 by Tom Minney
A company has been engaged to supervise the transition of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange to electronic trading. A document on the change has been presented to Cabinet and issues around setting up a Central Securities Depository including the shareholding structure. According to a report in the Government’s Herald newspaper, Finance Minister Tendai Biti told a breakfast meeting organized by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe and the ZSE that the CSD could be in place by year-end.
The aim is to improve stakeholder relations and explore possibility for other capital or financial markets to be set up. Minister Biti said the CSD was a critical part of a modern capital market system as it reduced the payment cycle, enhanced transparency and helped monitor the shareholding thresholds of foreign investors participating on ZSE.
He said that the CSD would help prevent irregularities. Apparently the minister said that currently only about 20 investors accounted for most of the trading in the 79 listed counters. He claimed that the CSD will improve liquidity, promote market integrity and transparency while minimising market manipulation, fraud and financial crime.
According to a report in a South African newspaper called “Sunday Times Zimbabwe”, the Minister would also like to modernize the ZSE Act and the Securities Act and possibly introduce a “super regulator”, similar to the UK’s Financial Services Authority (in June 2010 the UK Government announced plans to abolish the FSA and split its functions). This report claims that 20 of the “shadowy players” were virtually controlled by the same individuals, and Renaissance Financial Holdings Limited was accused of wrongdoing because of insufficient measures to detect insider dealings.
According to the Herald, the Minister said: “The main issue being dealt with is the shareholding structure of this systematically important institution (CSD), which should reflect national ownership by both the public and private sector players.” He said that the National Social Security Authority, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe or the ZSE would own at least 51% of the CSD company. Another significant shareholder will be Chengetedzai, a local private firm which is overseeing the establishment of the electronic trading system (the website http://chengetedzai.com/) appears to be just a title page.
The government seeks to demutualise the bourse, which it believes will enhance accountability and speed modernisation. Currently the bourse is still an association of stakeholders while demutualization would mean turning the exchange into a company driven by the profit motive or other goal. Minister Biti said demutualisation was critical to prevent cartels of members from dictating the affairs of the bourse, which created credibility crises and could put off investors. There has long been tension between the ZSE and the SEC over jurisdiction and self-regulation.
ZSE trading is done in daily “call-over” sessions when brokers gather around a table and bid against each other. However, trading is more active than on many more automated neighbouring exchanges.
According to the report, the Minister said: “When you go to the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and see the way they trade it gives the impression that we are still stuck in 1950. It is as if someone pressed a pause button on the TV and everything stopped. We have to modernise and part of it is coming up with a CSD,” he said.
SECZ chairperson Mrs Willia Bonyongwe said the country wanted to set up more securities and capital markets and challenged innovative Zimbabweans to come forward with proposals. She suggested markets could assist in trading equities, bonds, quasi or hybrid financial instruments, asset securitisation and unitisation, hedging or risk commodity markets and private equity instruments, or even trade in agriculture and mining products. The ZSE is the only active capital market.
In early August the ZSE website (www.zse.co.zw) was hacked twice in early August and used phishing and has currently disappeared.
August 25th, 2011 by Tom Minney
Tunisia’s stock exchange, the Bourse des Valeurs Mobilières de Tunis (www.bvmt.com.tn), aims to play its role in faster economic growth in coming years. On 9 July, Mr. Mohamed fadhel Abdelkefi, President of the BVMT’s management committee, announced a 5-point development strategy for 2011-2013. This will include:
1. Develop the financial market culture and awareness through media and education outreach campaigns and open days
2. Deepen the capital market by making more companies eligible to list
3. Further develop the bond market including possibly a secondary mortgage market
4. Improve the IT platforms, including a new electronic trading and information platform in 2012
5. Develop BVMT staff and human resources through additional training programmes.
There are 58 companies listed for trading. According to CEO Mohamed Bichiou foreign participation makes up about 20% of the market capitalization, which was TND 13.2 billion ($9.6bn) on 30 June. At its 2011 peak on 7 January the TUNINDEX was at 5,217.41, before crashing 23% to a low of 4,033.43 on 25 February after the stock exchange closed during the revolution. It then gained, slipped back to 4,077.05 on 26 May but has since been climbing well and closed at 4,476.94 on 24 August, up 9.8% in 3 months. The construction and building materials index has been the best performing followed by industrial and basic materials companies, while banks have been the worse performing (many investors expected them to take hits on loans to people linked to the former regime of President Ben Ali), followed by insurers.
The first listing of 2011 was technology company Telnet Holding on 23 May at the new BVMT headquarters. The IPO for 2,070,000 shares at TND5.80 each had closed after attracting 3,950 applicants and being 3.2 times oversubscribed. The share started trading at 6.37 and closed on 24 Aug at 9.70. The BVMT is seeking to encourage more listings. During 2010 there were 5 listings, partly encouraged by the reintroduction of tax incentives for companies which list more than 30% of their capital before 2014 to benefit from a 5-year reduction in corporate tax rates, from 30-35% (depending on the sector) to 20%. They included Carthage Cement, one of the most active stocks this year, which raised TNB134.9mn ($98.7mn), and automobile distributor Ennakl which raised TND128.4mn ($93.7mn) as well as insurance company Assurances Salim, reinsurer Tunis Re and Modern Leasing.
Recently the World Bank, African Development Bank, European Union, and Agence Francaise de Développement said they would finance a programme of reforms covering administration, the financial sector, and social services. The World Bank has reportedly offered to lend $500mn for this. Tunisia is in a recession after 2 quarters of GDP shrinkage, including 3.3% in the first quarter. In June the World Bank said it expects GDP growth of 1.5% for 2011, and said Tunisian industrial output was down by more than 15% in the first part of 2011, while foreign tourists’ arrivals fell 45% in the first quarter of the year. The bank says “the pace of economic activity should pick up in Tunisia in 2012” although no rate was given and would be around 5% in 2013.Creating jobs is a key challenge.
August 10th, 2011 by Tom Minney
South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange (www.jse.co.za) says that a record number of trades were executed on the exchange today (10 August). The JSE is the biggest securities market in Africa and its new trading record is 230,797 trades, valued at more than R29 billion ($4 bn).
The JSE FTSE All Share index rose 267 points to close at 28,658. The volume of shares traded was 531.5 million shares), according to a press release.
Head of Equities Trade, Leanne Parsons, said: “The JSE’s equity market moved sharply today, after yesterday’s holiday and following big moves on world markets. Our new record, of 230,797 trades, marks a 12% increase on our previous record of 205,784 transactions. That is a significant jump.”
July 29th, 2011 by Tom Minney
[SPONSORED STORY] A top conference in October will be “Investment & Innovation in Microfinance: Africa” (www.microfinance-africa.com, date 17-19 October, at Hilton Nairobi Hotel, Kenya). This will cover new regulations, loan products, technologies and social performance tools that would make microfinance institutions (MFIs) more profitable.
Microfinance is financial services aimed at the “bottom of the pyramid”, representing more than 100 million low-income Africans. Services, including financial products, can help them work themselves and their families out of poverty. Effective microfinance can make a huge difference – if done right.
The conference is themed “Transform Your MFI: Comply with Regulation, Strengthen
Governance, Increase Funding, Adopt New Technology” and is the tenth global conference on this topic organized by Hanson Wade. It has a top line-up, including 24 expert speakers, workshops and side events, plus an Investor Fair featuring more than 40 microfinance investors active in Africa, from social investors to banks. Leading MFIs will come from across Africa including Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda to show participants how to transform their MFIs and their investment strategies.
The meeting is billed as a 3-day intensive learning experience, covering:
• Regulatory update: Recent changes to policy and regulation – Prof Njuguna Ndung’u, Governor, Central Bank of Kenya on enhanced financial inclusion.
• Get ready to become deposit-taking: PRIDE Tanzania and Opportunity Ghana showcase steps they took to keep costs down, maintain client confidence and fulfil the regulator’s expectations. Learn how to strengthen governance, build capacity and infrastructure and commit to social performance measurement to encourage increased funding.
• Who is investing in your country? Hear directly from investors what they are looking for and how you can ensure you benefit from their capital.
• Increase reach through new financial products: Jamii Bora, The Kuyasa Fund, Tujijenge Tanzania and MicroEnergy International showcase how they are increasing access to housing, health, agriculture, education and energy at the “base of the pyramid” (large numbers of poor borrowers and savers).
• Tackle over-indebtedness effectively through credit bureaus, social performance measurement and training. An in-depth working group will confront the challenge of competition and under-cutting and maintain the balance between commercial and social goals.
• Meet the technology providers of the future: From Management Information Systems to mobile, pinpoint which software is most user-friendly and least hassle to implement, and how tomorrow’s biggest service providers help you grow.
Participants at the 2011 conference will be senior directors from MFIs; commercial, social and development banks; local and national governments; non-governmental organizations and foundations; advisory firms; investors; companies which specialize in “base of pyramid” services and products; bankers’ associations; development finance institutions such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC); and bilateral aid agencies including the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).
The conference is organized by top international organizer, Hanson Wade. Stephanie Cohn Rupp (Principal: Investments at Omidyar Network) commented: “Hanson Wade are fast becoming the deliverers of content and networking in this space”.
The conference already has an excellent website, where you can get full details and make bookings www.microfinance-africa.com. Or call: +44 20 3141 8700 or email: info@hansonwade.com. For a 10% discount for readers of this blog, please quote the booking code: ACMN.