February 2009

Compuscan attended the 'Micro Finance Africa Summit 2009', hosted by AMC International at the Southern Sun Hotel, OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg from the 23^rd of February 2009 until the 25^th of February 2009.

This summit targeted: Registered banks dealing with Micro Finance, Trade creditors, Consumer creditors, Credit information, Credit insurance, Debt administrations and collections, Insolvency practitioners, Micro banks, Micro finance institutions, Government organisations involved in Micro finance, Government departments dealing with micro finance and consumer forum, Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) lending organisations, Micro loan operators, Credit bureaus, Micro lenders, Debt counsellors, Debt recovery agents, Credit management practitioners, Service providers to the banking industry, Consumer advisory bodies, Finance development corporations, People involved in: Lending, Consumer education, Policy, strategy and regulation dealing with micro finance.

Frank Lenisa, Compuscan’s Marketing Director presented Compuscan at the event and did a presentation on ‘Credit Bureaus for Micro Finance Institutions’.

Some of the subjects and experts who presented during the first two days of the summit were:

• Dr. Chiara Chiumya (Assistant Director – Centre for Microfinance, University of Pretoria) – ‘An Overview of Microfinance Achievements and Challenges of Growth in Africa’
• Mary Ellen Iskenderian (President and CEO, Women’s World Banking) – ‘The Implication of Global Credit Crisis on Microfinance Delivery’ and ‘Commercial Banks in Microfinance: Competition or Complementary?’
• Peter Gachuba (Partner, AfriCap & Board Member, Equity Bank Kenya) – ‘Micro-capital: An Emerging Asset Class amidst the Global Credit Crunch?’
• Olaotse Matshane (Director, Financial Inclusion, National Treasury) – ‘Assessing The Importance of Microfinance Regulation’
• Grace Oloo (Director, Institute for Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Poverty Eradication, University of Venda) – ‘Transforming NGO MFIs: Critical Ownership Issues to consider’
• Paul Greef (Director, Global Credit Rating Company) – ‘Rating and financial performance analysis for MFIs’
• Simon Trupp (Head: Consulting, Scoring, and Analytic Services, PIC Solutions) – ‘Credit scoring for Microfinance: Does it work?’
• Richard Pelrine (Technical Director, INSPIRED International) – ‘Microfinance Pricing – What is the “Right Price”?’
• Craft Silicon – ‘Case Study: Improving outreach of MFIs using Mobile Technologies – Jamii Bora Trust’
• Norman Buckham (CEO, Thembani International Guarantee Fund) - Focus on non-finance delivery from MFIs’

On the third day all delegates attended a full day workshop covering ‘Delinquency Management for Microfinance’.

During the workshop the following subjects were discussed:

• Tracing causes and costs of delinquency
• Measuring delinquency using international standards
• Preventive and curative strategies
• Common delinquency problems and how to address these concerns

Overall the summit was a great success and we will be sure to attend it again in the future!