Réseau à la Faîtière des Caisses Populaires du Burkina, a savings and credit cooperative with 180 locations in Burkina Faso, has sent several staff members to all three SAM conferences. In 
Dakar in 2015, they made contact with a provider of solar light kits that hold a charge for four days. RCPB now lends to women to purchase these kits, which can have a wide range of benefits, such as increased student study time and reduced indoor air pollution from burning kerosene.
Azaratou Sondo-Nignan (pictured), the deputy director of RCPB, was part of a delegation that presented at SAM on the institution’s youth loans. In addition to sharing its expertise with other organizations, the delegation brought back ideas that helped improve the training that RCPB’s young borrowers receive in support of their loans.
RCPB staff also heard from a representative of a firm in Niger that offers a system to control irrigation canals remotely. Ms Sondo feels this would be beneficial to RCPB clients, but the cost is too high at this time.
Ms Sondo is very pleased that the 2019 SAM will take place in her country for many reasons, including that several microlenders in Burkina Faso have acquired financing based on relationships that were developed at prior SAMs
.
Founded in 1972, RCPB offers savings; group and individual loans; and insurance in case of natural disaster, disability or death. It has loans designed for artisans, agriculture and housing. The cooperative also offers non-financial services such as business consulting and financial education.
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
Using SAM to Align Financing Needs, Social Impact in Mozambique
https://www.microcapital.org/using-sam-align-financing-social-impact-mozambique/
Growing Enterprises in Kenya from Micro- to Small to Medium-sized, With Help from SAM
https://www.microcapital.org/special-report-growing-enterprises-in-kenya-from-micro-to-small-to-medium-sized-with-help-from-sam/
How Paidek Has Leveraged the SAM Conference to Diversify Its Funding Sources and Microfinance Product Line-up
https://www.microcapital.org/special-report-how-paidek-has-leveraged-the-sam-conference-to-diversify-its-funding-sources-and-microfinance-product-line-up/
How Oikocredit Leveraged SAM (Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance) to Expand Its Risk-management Program
https://www.microcapital.org/special-report-how-oikocredit-leveraged-sam-semaine-africaine-de-la-microfinance-to-expand-its-risk-management-program/
MicroCapital coverage of SAM
http://www.microcapital.org/category/semaine-africaine-de-la-microfinance-sam/
Similar Posts:
- SPECIAL REPORT: Save the Date for SAM 2023 – African Microfinance Week – in Togo, October 16-20!
- SPECIAL REPORT: Yikri of Burkina Faso Wins $110k European Microfinance Award for Progress Toward Food Security #EMW2023
- MICROFINANCE EVENT: SAM (Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance); October 16-20, 2023; Lomé, Togo
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Oikocredit Lends $3.3m to Witti Finances to Support SMEs in Côte d’Ivoire
- MICROFINANCE EVENT: ANDE Annual Conference; September 12-14, 2023; Accra, Ghana
