SPECIAL REPORT: MFIs in Mali, Burkina Faso Adopt Microfact for Performance Evaluation, Decision-making After Presentation at SAM

Two NGOs, ADA of Luxembourg and BRS of Belgium, presented their Microfact toolkit at the SAMs in Dakar and Addis Ababa, reaching many MFI leaders representing both MFIs and various membership associations. As a result, several of these organizations hosted trainings on the use of the free toolkit, which includes “monitoring and financial performance analysis” tools used by about 1,000 organizations. Two of these tools are MFI Factsheet, which is used for monitoring the past financial and social performance of MFIs, and Microvision, which creates five-year projections for business planning. Microfact trainings are offered by about 60 certified individuals around the world.

As a result of meeting Basile Kouagou N’Dah, a certified Microfact trainer, at SAM, the Association Professionnelle des Systèmes Financiers Décentralisés du Mali hosted a training on Microfact in November 2017. It was so successful that the organization held a second training in April 2018.

Similarly, a training hosted by the Réseau des Caisses Populaires du Burkina in December 2017 inspired several of the organization’s member credit unions to adopt MFI Factsheet as a decision-making tool. They use it to analyze their financial and social results as well as to organize staff and board meetings around driving sustainable growth.

Amidou Microfact vendor space at the 2017 SAM; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Alou, the director of the Caisse Populaire in the Dassasgho neighborhood of Ouagadougou, reports that MFI Factsheet has boosted the performance of his organization. Dramane Eric Conombo, the director of the Caisse Populaire in the Cissin neighborhood of Ouagadougou, says, “MFI Factsheet is our strongest asset when it comes to evaluating our institution’s performance.”

The Microfact toolkit, including Microvision, will be presented to attendees at the next SAM, which will take place in Ouagadougou from October 21-25, 2019.

ADA, an NGO based in Luxembourg, co-organizes SAM every two years with the support of Luxembourg’s Ministry for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs. The SAM steering committee members are: ADA, Luxembourg’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Microfinance African Institutions Network, the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association and the Fédération des APSFD de l’Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine. We invite you to read more about SAM at http://sam.africa.

This vignette is part of a sponsored series demonstrating the value of SAM (the French acronym for African Microfinance Week), a major conference dedicated to financial inclusion in Africa. The first three SAMs were held in Arusha, Tanzania, in 2013; Dakar, Senegal, in 2015; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2017. The next SAM will take place October 21-25, 2019, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso!

The goal of SAM is to provide a unified platform for addressing issues facing microfinance in Africa by bringing together investors, MFIs, researchers, banks, networks, innovators, governments and other stakeholders.

The 2017 SAM hosted 700 participants from 58 (mostly African) countries, including representatives of 200 MFIs; 25 exhibitors at the Innovation Fair; and 26 investors, who made 170 MFI contacts at the Investor’s Fair. The proceedings also included conference sessions presented by 60 speakers plus a menu of 20 training programs.

Additional Resources

SAM
http://sam.africa/

Additional vignettes and MicroCapital coverage of SAM
http://www.microcapital.org/category/semaine-africaine-de-la-microfinance-sam/

Additional vignettes on SAM en francais
https://www.ada-microfinance.org/fr/evenements/semaine-africaine-microfinance/objectif-sam-2019/paroles-de-nos-participants