The fourth biennial SAM (from the French translation of African Microfinance Week, Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance) will address themes including agricultural finance, financial technology (fintech), youth employment, and small and medium-sized enterprise development. In addition to providing practitioners and investors with a venue for exchanging ideas, the event includes conference presentations, an Investors’ fair, an Innovators’ fair and many training sessions.
Background on Organizers: The event is organized by ADA with the support of the Luxembourg’s Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs. ADA is a Luxembourg-based nonprofit formerly known as Appui au Développement Autonome. It promotes financial inclusion, primarily by supporting the implementation of tools to measure social performance and transparency as well as working to prevent over-indebtedness.
The event is co-organised by the following networks: Microfinance African Institutions Network (MAIN), which is based in Togo; the African Rural & Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA), a Kenya-based group of central banks, retail financial service providers (FSPs) and microfinance networks; the Association Professionnelle des Systèmes Financiers Décentralisés (APSFDs) du Burkina Faso, a group of FSPs in Burkina Faso “working towards the emergence of a more professional, transparent and fully integrated microfinance sector in the financial system;” and the Fédération des APSFDs de l’Union Économique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine, a Burkina Faso-based group of eight APSFDs serving FSPs in the countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union.
Cost: The fee to attend is EUR 550 (USD 616).
Event Website: https://sam.africa
For additional information, you may contact ADA via info[at]ada-microfinance.lu or +352 45 68 68 1.
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 https://sam.africa.
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.
By Jolene Khor, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
SAM homepage
https://sam.africa
ADA profile
https://www.ada-microfinance.org/en/about-ada
MAIN homepage
https://www.mainnetwork.org
AFRACA homepage
https://afraca.org
APSFD-BF homepage
http://www.apsfd-burkina.bf/
FAPSFD-UEMOA homepage
http://fapsfd-uemoa.org/
Did you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Find out more at https://www.microcapital.org/products-page/
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