MFC 2016: News from Tirana

The 2016 MFC annual conference “Microfinance in the Cloud”, held in partnership with the Albanian Microfinance Association (AMA) brought over 380 participants from 41 countries to Tirana! The over-arching conference theme considered the space that microfinance could potentially occupy if it fully embraces new technology, or the detachment it will suffer if it does not.  It was an honor to welcome

Ms. Milva Ekonomi, Minister of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Albania, Mr. Edmond Panariti, Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water of Albania, Ms. Ann Branch, Head of Unit, DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion, European Commission,  at the conference opening.

One of the outstanding events of the program was a signing ceremony between the European Investment Fund (EIF) and MFC member Fondi Besa (BESA) that have signed the first guarantee agreement aimed at supporting micro-enterprises in Albania under the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI). We also held a diverse range of pre-conference events, including: a workshop on preventing over-indebtedness, an EaSI TA seminar on credit scoring in microfinance, a Mimosa workshop by ResponsAbility and site visits to Albanian MFIs.

Special thanks to our conference partners and sponsors!

Partners: Albanian Microfinance Association (AMA) and European Commission (EC)

Main Sponsors: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), European Investment Bank (EIB), European Investment Bank (EIB) Institute, European Investments Fund (EIF), fondiBESA, International Finance Corporation (IFC), NOA, responsAbility Social Investment AG, Symbiotics SA

Technological sponsor: Software Group

Promotional Sponsors: ASPEKT, Blue Orchard, Communication Progress, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (Frankfurt School), Softgenic Systems, Triodos Investment Management BV, Triple Jump, Vodafone.al

Other Sponsors: Business & Finance Consulting (BFC), CoopEst, Deutsche Bank, fi-compass EaSI TA