FinDev Guide to Upcoming Financial Inclusion Events

We are now one month into the new year and the 2020 conference season is starting to heat up. A multitude of opportunities await you for learning, networking and connecting with colleagues around the latest trends, issues and challenges in microfinance and financial inclusion. Here at FinDev we are looking forward to some great events coming up in the next few months, so we've compiled a list of key upcoming conferences and trainings that could help you connect with others in your field and contribute to your professional development.

You can find the full list of trainings and events on our Events page, and if your organization is hosting an event you'd like to be listed here, we invite you to submit the event to the Gateway!

FEBRUARY

FINTEX Africa 2020
Conference | 12-13 Feb | Kigali, Rwanda

Now in its 4th edition, FINTEX Africa (formerly known as Dot Finance Africa) is Africa’s flagship event on fintech and banking innovation. Bringing together more than 300 industry leaders from 25+ countries across Africa, this prestigious event presents the very latest in banking and fintech innovation – from API platforms to cloud computing; data analytics to artificial intelligence; cyber security to blockchain; and payments to biometrics.

Second International Interest-Free Banking and Takaful Forum
Conference | 18-20 Feb | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

This conference and workshops will focus on operational, technical and Shariah aspects of Islamic banking, finance and Takaful as financial stability is important for sustainable economic growth and development. The purpose of the conference is to gather industry professionals and researchers to share their ideas and research for the promotion of Interest-Free banking and finance. 

Digital Transformation Simulation Game for Financial Institutions | Demo
Online Training | 20 Feb 

FinConecta, a platform that integrates financial institutions' core banking systems with third-party fintech providers worldwide has developed a simulation game on digital transformation of financial institutions. The simulation game is designed to help executive teams understand what it takes to go digital, and test different courses of actions, regardless of the stage of their digital transformation journey. Spaces for this demo are limited.

Board Leadership for Impact (BLI): Nairobi 2020 Workshop
Training | 22-25 Feb | Nairobi, Kenya

This program, hosted by the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion, is dedicated to empowering corporate leaders in the social enterprise sector to achieve business growth and social impact. By focusing exclusively on executive leadership and reframing board effectiveness as a strategic imperative, BLI strengthens leadership and management to ensure these companies sustain business growth and drive social impact.

MARCH

FINCA Impact Finance International Women's Day Panel 2020
Event | 04 Mar | Washington, DC - United States

This session, moderated by Andrée Simon, will explore the rich and complicated relationship between women’s access to finance and the impact it has on women’s political empowerment.

Customer Centricity for Financial Inclusion: Creating and Delivering Value
Training | 09-13 Mar | Turin, Italy

This new course offered by the International Training Centre of the ILO invites financial and non-financial actors to adopt a customer-centric approach to addressing various challenges of financial inclusion. The course will examine the business case for customer centricity as well as the process through which organizations can become more customer-centric, generating value for themselves as well as the customers they aim to serve. During the course, participants will work together to design solutions to their financial inclusion challenges using resources from the Customer-Centric Guide designed and published by CGAP as a result of several years of research and experiments.

Sanabel's 2020 Conference: Client Centricity; The Road to Greater Financial Inclusion
Conference | 10-11 Mar | Hurghada, Egypt

This conference will shed light on the momentous consequences of “client-centricity” in the microfinance industry and the adequate adoption of this policy in order to maximize its value in the digital era by showcasing the experience of global FSPs in transforming into customer-centric institutions. The event will bring together Sanabel Network members and practitioners with regional and global investors, funders, regulators and new players to discuss the latest trends, innovations, and opportunities in the microfinance industry.

SG2020: The Future of Savings Groups
Conference | 10-12 Mar | Durban, South Africa

This event, organized by SEEP as part of the Global Savings Groups Conference Series, will offer a platform for attendees to connect, engage and learn from each other about the challenges and opportunities they face in supporting Savings Groups worldwide. This highly interactive and demand-driven event will bring together practitioners, private sector actors, donors, and public sector representatives from around the world.

16th Annual Global Microfinance Forum
Conference | 12-13 Mar | Lisbon, Portugal

Hosted by Uniglobal, this event will cover a wide range of topics for MFIs, investors and other industry players from all over the world. During multiple networking sessions the participants will discuss transformation of the industry, financial inclusion, management of FX risks, social and environmental impact investment, agro-finance and agro-insurance, client protection tools and strategies, challenges in corporate governance of MFIs, developments in Islamic microfinance products, and many other hot topics.

Financial Analysis and Risk Management for Microfinance Practitioners
Training | 13-19 Mar | Dhaka and Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh

This seven-day course is designed to help MFIs to develop and improve the quality of their own risk management processes. It covers the critical issues of financial analysis and risk management in a dynamic and interactive learning environment. The course will use the theory and practice of financial analysis and risk management in-line with standards and sector specific global best practices.

Mondato Summit Africa 2020
Conference | 30 Mar - 1 Apr | Maputo, Mozambique

Mondato Summit Africa offers a venue for industry leaders to learn from experts and peers in an intimate setting. Mondato lends its expertise with specialized content and adroit facilitation to encourage substantive conversations and collaborative problem solving. The intensity and interactivity of the proceedings foster the formation of natural, foundational relationships between participants. Held in partnership with Financial Sector Deepening Mozambique, the seventh annual Mondato Summit Africa, the region’s premier digital finance thought leadership event, will showcase new and exciting use cases across sectors, and address the need to innovate and collaborate in order to drive the next wave of financial.

APRIL

ICT4D
Conference | 21-23 Apr | Abuja, Nigeria

The 12th Information Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) Conference is leading the conversation in digital development to bring together hundreds of public, private and civil society organizations, eager to share practical insights on applying digital technology to development, humanitarian, and conservation challenges.

JUNE

Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development - Africa 2020
Conference | 24-26 Jun | Nairobi, Kenya

This three-day forum will focus on opportunities and challenges in the African remittance market, and the impact these flows can have on the sustainable development of migrants’ communities of origin.