Inclusive savings, where and how you least expect it – 28 September 2021, 12:00-13:00

Inclusive savings, where and how you least expect it – 28 September 2021, 12:00-13:00

28/09/2021 at 12:00 CET - 13:00 CET
Location: Online
Organiser: InFiNe.lu
Event type: Conference

Being more lucrative for the service provider, loans have long been the only type of product offered by banks and MFIs. Yet, savings products carry many advantages. For vulnerable, excluded and low-income populations, savings help secure a source of income and help them cope with setbacks and other unforeseen events. For these target populations, savings facilitate some level of empowerment by offering a safer (and more reassuring) way to manage their finances over the long term.

The digital InFiNe.lu event on inclusive savings will showcase the experience of two organisations that offer savings products to a hard-to-reach clientele.

Register before September 24th, by sending an email to contact@infine.lu

What are/have been their challenges, solutions and lessons learned?

Fansoto is a Senegalese MFI, supported by Entrepreneurs du Monde, which offers regular savings of small amounts (1 or 2 euros), collected onsite, to a population in a very unstable region (armed conflict).

Muktinath Bikas Bank, the Nepalese development bank, which offers several savings products, including long-term savings (pension savings) and savings for migrant workers, to a local population living in remote areas.

Both organisations offer doorstep saving products and mainly serve women.

Fansoto was nominated semi-finalist of the 2020 European Microfinance Award “Encouraging Effective & Inclusive Savings”. Muktinath Bikas Bank Ltd is the winner of the 2020 European Microfinance Award.

Speakers:

• Amélie Germette, head of social microfinance methodology at Entrepreneurs du Monde, will represent Fansoto.

• Govinda Bahadur Raut, assistant chief executive officer, Inclusive Banking, Muktinath Bikas Bank Ltd

• The session will be moderated by Axel de Ville, ADA executive adviser and InFiNe.lu Board member.

Amélie Germette has been working for Entrepreneurs du Monde (EdM) since June 2014. For the past 7 years, she has been working in the social microfinance sector, supporting the growth of MFIs located in France, West Africa, South-East Asia and Haiti. Currently as Head of Methodology in Social Microfinance at EdM, she is in charge of ensuring the specific last-mile group loan methodology without joint-liability, including regular savings deposit and training session, designed by EdM is well implemented in all programs. She has therefore been involved in various operational projects aimed at developing new financial and socio-economic services, structuring MFIs through the design of diverse processes and tools, while building the capacity of the teams. Amélie Germette lived in Cambodia for 6 years, and has recently moved back to France.

Govinda Bahadur Raut has 27 years of experience in microfinance, MSME financing and development sectors including providing training and technical assistance to microfinance institutions in Nepalese microfinance industry. He had worked as a practitioner, wholesale lender and as a technical assistance provider in areas of microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) capacity building in Nepal. Since 2012, he has been leading Inclusive Banking team of Muktinath Bikas Bank Ltd. (a leading “B” class financial institution in Nepal), which holds more than 40% portfolio of the bank. Inclusive Banking portfolio of the bank comprises Microfinance, Small Finance, Directed Lending, Partnerships (Impact) Banking and Agriculture, Cooperatives and Value Chain (ACVC) Banking.

Axel de Ville is currently executive adviser for ADA, an NGO specialised in microfinance and entrepreneurship and member of InFiNe.lu. Axel is also a member of InFiNe.lu Board. From 2013 to 2016, he was working in Dakar as Head of the UNCDF Regional Office for West and Central Africa and then Deputy Director of the Regional Office of UN Women for the same region. Prior to this experience in West Africa, he was executive director of ADA for more than ten years. 
His professional career led him to work in Mexico and Belgium in the private sector and then in Romania, Djibouti, Luxembourg and Dakar in the field of development cooperation and poverty alleviation. This career path has allowed him to acquire a solid management experience and an in-depth knowledge of development issues, inspired by Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The event is digital and in English, and for InFiNe.lu members only.

Register before September 24th, by sending an email to contact@infine.lu