| Detailed
Agenda: October
15
Pre-Forum
Training Day (cost-share for participants)
- Financial
Education for the Poor (Trainers: Monique Cohen, Microfinance Opportunities and
Kathleen Stack, Freedom from Hunger)
- Building
An Investment-Ready Microfinance Institution: Securing Debt Financing (Trainers:
Deb Burand, Camilla Nestor, Jennifer Meehan; Grameen Foundation
- Applying
Process Modeling to Improve Business Performance (Trainer: Jerome Pelonquin, organizational
development consultant)
| October
15 | | 8:00-5:00 | Registration
open | | 9:00-5:30
| Optional
Training programs |
Day One, October 16
|
| 9:00-9:15am | Opening
Session: Alex Counts, President, Grameen Foundation
Janet Thompson, Board
Member, Grameen Foundation |
| 9:15-11:00am | Plenary
Session: "Identifying the Challenges to Breakthrough Growth"
Alex Counts, President, Grameen Foundation.
Udaia Kumar, Managing Director,
Share
Dipal Barua, Managing Director, Grameen Bank (invited) |
| 11:15am-12:30pm | Reflections
on the Customer Satisfaction Survey |
| Speaker: |
Deb Burand, Executive
Vice President of Programs, Grameen Foundation
Grameen Foundation staff
will reflect on findings from the customer satisfaction survey with our partners
and recommendations for the future of GF's relationship with its partners. |
| 12:30-2:00pm | Lunch |
| 1:30-3:00pm | Peer
Roundtables
Participants will be placed in small groups (approximately
10 people per group), where each group will be comprised of people holding roughly
the same job in each MFI (i.e., a group of CEOs, a group of CFOs…).
The first Roundtable session will be utilized to allow participants to get to
know one another, create a learning community, and brainstorm the most pressing
challenges being faced. The group will narrow their focus to one specific question
the group will seek to discuss.
Facilitators:
Bob Eichfeld,
Board Member, Grameen Foundation
Janet Thompson, Board Member, Grameen Foundation
Jennifer Meehan, Special Advisor, Grameen Foundation
Peter Bladin, Vice-President,
Grameen Foundation
Leslie Zucker, Vice-President, eChange |
| 3:00-3:30 | Coffee
Break and Networking | | 3:30-5:30pm |
Breakouts
| Mifos:
understanding Grameen Foundation's open source initiative
Moderator:
Peter Bladin, Director of Technology Center, Grameen Foundation
Speakers:
Suresh Krishna, Chief Operating Officer, Grameen
Koota
Essma Ben Hamida, Co-Director, ENDA
James Dailey, Technical Project
Manager, Grameen Foundation
Rahul Vipparthi, Founder, MFTech
Grameen
Foundation's Technology Center founded the Mifos Initiative to address the microfinance
industry's information management challenge. The Mifos Initiative aims to build
an industry software platform and a global community of technology and microfinance
specialists who will maintain, enhance and grow the software. In this session,
HG partners will have the opportunity to learn more about the Mifos initiative,
the open source model and to hear from Grameen Koota and ENDA about their experiences
as pioneering adopters of the software.
Reducing PAR and Understanding
Client Drop-Out
This two-hour session will feature a panel discussion
on effective ways partner MFIs have reduced their portfolio-at-risk, especially
tools to better understand client drop-out.
Moderator:
Janet Thompson, Board Member, Grameen Foundation
Speakers:
Elijah Osadebamwen, Operations Manager, LAPO
Carmen Velasco, Executive
Director, Pro Mujer
Rajesh Mishra, Regional Director, Cashpor
Integrating
Microinsurance
Moderator:
Monique Cohen,
President, Microfinance Opportunities
Speakers:
Aris Alip, Chief Executive Officer, Card
Arjun Muralidharan, Chief Executive
Officer, ASA
Representative from AIG (invited)
The core products
that MFIs traditionally provide their clients-credit and savings-enable them to
accumulate productive assets and to mitigate certain types of everyday risks like
hunger, common illness, etc. As MFIs look to expand the range of products and
services to meet their clients multi-faceted needs, there is a growing interest
in providing microinsurance services to address the other risks of low-income
families that are not adequately satisfied by traditional credit and savings.
In recent years, a number of successful microinsurance initiatives have emerged.
The two basic approaches being employed to do this are: (a) the MFI runs its microinsurance
program on its own, and (b) partnership with a commercial insurance company to
take advantage of the latter's expertise and minimize risk of failure. What has
been the experiences among MFIs in providing microinsurance services to their
clients and what can we learn from these? This session is designed to showcase
the two basic approaches to providing microinsurance services and to highlight
the why, how, cost and benefits, successes, challenges and opportunities in providing
microinsurance.
| | 7:00pm | Gala
Dinner |
Day Two, October 17
|
| 8:30-12:00 |
Workshops Workshop
1:
Market Research Tools.
Trainer: Monique
Cohen, President, Microfinance Opportunities
Workshop 2:
Human Resource Development: Building Capacity in Management and Minimizing
Staff Turnover
Trainer: Leslie Zucker, Vice President and
Co-Founder, eChange
Workshop 3:
Social Performance Management
Facilitator: Frances Sinha, Executive Director, EDA Rural
(invited)
Discussants: Corazon Henares, Deputy Director
of Operations, NWTF
Nigel Biggar, Program Manager, Social Performance Management,
Grameen Foundation
| | 12:00-1:30pm | Lunch
with Nokia & GF's Micro Village Phone
Key experts from Nokia and
its partners at GF will present its unique innovation in Micro Village Phone.
They will discuss the benefits of the program for both MFIs and their clients
as well as share what it takes develop this kind of partnership. |
| 1:30-3:00pm | Facing
Government Challenges to our Work: Sharing Experiences and Lessons Learned
Moderator:
Bob Eichfeld, Board Member, Grameen Foundation
Many of our partners
have recently faced government backlash against microfinance, and some governments
have returned to prior poor practices of getting involved in directed lending
to clients or placing interest rate caps. Two of the most recent stories comes
from Andhra Pradesh, a state in India, and from recent Philippines government
actions. This session will be a facilitated informal discussion on the types of
challenges currently being faced, and how MFIs and Grameen Foundation can successfully
influence government actions towards microfinance.
|
| 3:00-3:30pm | Coffee
Break and Networking | | 3:30-5:30pm |
Breakouts
| | Securing
Debt and Equity Financing Moderator:
Bob Eichfeld, Board Member, Grameen Foundation
Speakers: Jennifer
Leonard, CFO, SKS
David Gibbons, CEO, Cashpor
Representative from HDFC
Bank (invited)
One of the keys to effectively managing MFI growth is
attracting and negotiating commercial debt financing and equity investments. During
this session, MFIs will have the opportunity to hear from a senior banker experienced
in evaluating MFIs' debt financing proposals, as well as from two MFIs that have
successfully negotiated a range of equity investments and debt financings.
A senior banker from a leading Indian bank will discuss from a banker's perspective
how MFIs' financing proposals are assessed, including: - How
lenders perform credit analysis of the MFI and the key risk factors entailed in
lending to MFIs
- Key
requirements for banks to reduce the guarantee requirement and increase leverage
and financing amounts over time
- Advice
for MFIs presenting themselves to commercial investors in a way that investors
understand
- Logical
next steps for MFIs that are started to exhaust the local bank market, such as
convertible debt, structured capital markets transactions
MFIs that have
successfully attracted and negotiated both equity investments and debt financing
will address the following questions:
- How
to approach and pitch to potential equity and debt investors
- Factors
to look at in deciding among financing options - and key questions to ask of debt
or equity investors
- How
financing decisions have played into the MFI's overall capital structure goals
- Calculating
costs - valuing equity and developing an all-in price of debt financing
Understanding
transformation and working with a for-profit entity
Moderator:
Deb Burand, Executive Vice President of Programs, Grameen Foundation
Speakers:
Aris Alip, Chief Executive Officer, Card
Anne Hastings, Director, Fonkoze
Sitaram Rao, Consultant
Several organizations have transformed (or are
in the process of doing so) into a for-profit entity. Some other organizations
have chosen to spin off a separate for-profit entity to work with. This two-hour
session will feature the experiences of these organizations in maintaining their
social mission while also working in a for-profit setting.
Innovative
Product Development
Moderator: Alex Counts, President,
Grameen Foundation
Speakers: Zahirul Alam, Executive Director,
IDF
Zine el Abidine Othmani, Director, FONDEP
Elizabeth Venegas, Finance
Manager, CCT
This two-hour session will be a panel discussion on three
different types of innovative new products for MFIs, including credit plus services,
the use of solar panels, scholarship funds for clients, etc. |
| Evening | Cultural
program at India Habitat Center |
Day Three, October 18
|
| 9:00-12:00 | Peer
Roundtables
In the final roundtable, participants will reflect further
on learnings and begin to solidify the answers they want to give to the question
posed on Day One. Each participant should come up with concrete actions they want
to take as a result of this. Participants should also discuss the usefulness of
these peer learning groups and whether they want to continue virtually when they
return to their offices. |
| 12:00-2:00pm | Lunch
| | 2:00-4:00pm |
Breakouts |
Treasury/Cash
Management
Moderator: Jennifer Meehan, Special
Advisor, Grameen Foundation
Speakers: Sitaram Rao, Consultant
Erwin Mutuc, Consultant
Khalid Kabeer, Chief Financial Officer, Kashf
As a MFI matures, the financial landscape becomes more complicated;
managing cash and investment transactions requires skilled treasury management
skills to adequately balance competing demands for funds while optimizing the
use of funds to their greatest return at any point in time. Some of Grameen's
partner MFIs have made great strides in managing liquidity risk, credit risk,
interest rate risk, and capital adequacy in the course of creating strong treasury
units. This two-hour session will feature presentation from some of these organizations
and a discussion of lessons learned to carry forward.
MIS data
to effectively mobilize resources- what a quality data bank can facilitate
Moderator: James Dailey, Technical Project Manager, Grameen
Foundation
Speakers: Erwin Mutuc, Consultant
Zine al Abidine
Othman, Director, FONDEP
Representative from VISA (invited)
Management
information systems in microfinance institutions should do more than provide secure
transaction management, reports on loan officer productivity, and portfolio in
arears calculations, they should enable a greater knowledge of clients, of operational
issues, and of dynamic market conditions. There are missed opportunities to create
benchmark comparisons and mine data about client behavior and preferences, partly
stemming from difficulties in standardizing and sharing data within the industry.
In this session, HG partners can share examples of effective data correlation
or analysis such as product performance comparisons, client segmentation, and
associations of product terms with client behavior. Data analytic experts will
offer observations from financial services industry.
Building Good
Governance
Moderator: Janet Thompson, Board Member,
Grameen Foundation
Speakers: Ruben de Lara, Executive Director,
TSPI
Roshaneh Zafar, President, Kashf
Growing institutions require
transparency and oversight from an independent board of directors. Many MFIs,
as they grow, face difficulty in choosing the right board members, educating them
in microfinance best practice, delegating the right decisions to this board, and
managing it effectively. In this session, Grameen Foundation partners will share
their experiences in building good governance practices.
|
| 4:00-4:15pm | Coffee
Break and Networking | | 4:15-5:30pm | Closing
Ceremony
Summaries of the Forum's proceedings |
| Evening | Dinner
on your own | |
