‘Are you kidding me? This is unbelievable! A financial institution that is taking care of me and my budget? From the bottom of my heart, thank you and MFC for this kind of support!’ A MI-BOSPO client Throughout October, 24 different financial institutions took part in the MFC’s fifth annual Borrow Wisely Campaign. Borrowers from 16 countries in Europe and Central ...

European Microfinance Week, organised by the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) in Luxembourg on 14 – 16 November, hosts high level and in-depth discussions by all sectors of the financial inclusion community working worldwide, especially in the south. The unparalleled three day event attracts leading experts, opinion-leaders and policy-makers to its plenaries and workshop sessions tackling front line topics. You’re invited!  As part ...

Juncker Plan: new EUR 25 million fund benefits from first capacity building agreement in Europe to support microfinance providers 26th of Oct, 2018: Today, the European Microfinance Network and the Microfinance Centre have closed in Brussels the 4th European Microfinance Day, an initiative launched in 2015 to highlight the impact of the microfinance sector in Europe from a social and ...

Peer-mentoring for inquiring professionals Date: 27 November, 11 AM CET Facilitator: Ewa Bankowska, MFC On-the-job training is a regular feature in microfinance institutions. What is the value added of peer-mentoring then? When should it be used, and more importantly – not used? If you want to find out the pros and cons of peer mentoring, join us for a webinar ...

4th European Microfinance Day The sector calls for innovative funding sources to keep supporting entrepreneurship and employment European microfinance consolidates its capacity to support financial inclusion through the provision of financial and non-financial services The sector reached an outstanding gross microloan portfolio of €3.2 billion in 2017, serving almost one million active borrowers On the 20th October, the European microfinance ...

Publisher: Microfinance Centre Authors: Justyna Pytkowska, Piotr Koryński Year: 2018 Download “Between Needs and Availability: The External Financing Gap Indicator” This MFC’s research paper considers the (mis)match between the financing needs of European MSMEs and the perception of availability of external financing. Our question is: how do changes in the perceived need for external financing (and its availability) line up with the patterns ...

The Microfinance Centre (MFC) and the European Microfinance Network (EMN) organised their joint Annual Conference, in partnership with Seed Capital Bizkaia Micro, from 3-5 October 2018 in Bilbao, Spain. Focused on the implications of the digital revolution on financial and social inclusion, the event gathered about 650 participants – including representatives from European institutions, investors, microfinance institutions, NGOs and fintech ...

The Better Entrepreneurship Policy Tool is an online tool designed for policy-makers and other interested parties at local, regional and national level who wish to explore how public policy can support social entrepreneurship, as well as entrepreneurship by people from under-represented groups. Policy-makers and other stakeholders can take a short survey assessing their policy ecosystem. Its results will guide them ...

The MFC’s Partnership Programme for Country Associations is an initiative that is expected to move the cooperation with country level microfinance networks to a new, strategic level. The Microfinance Centre has signed strategic partnership with the Ukrainian association of financial companies (VAFK).  The Memorandum of Understanding was signed during MFC-EMN Annual Conference 2018 in Bilbao by Anna Zamazeeva VAFK’s Chairman of the Board and Grzegorz ...

This autumn, the MFC is heading back out on the road to convene country meetings to discuss with partners the latest in microfinance and financial inclusion. This includes: EaSI TA program, EaSI financial instruments, our new digitalization strategy, research on the sector, important events, communication with the European Commission. Upcoming meetings include: Poland: We’re talking to the Polish Union of Loan Funds ...