by the MicroCapital Team - Africa, Education, Mobile Money, Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance (SAM), Technology -

SPECIAL REPORT: The SAM Innovators’ Village – What About the 2019 Iteration Convinced So Many to Return for the SAM 2021 Coming Up in October in Rwanda?

The SAM (Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance – African Micro­finance Week in French) is a major five-day gathering dedicated to inclusive finance in Africa. Since the first SAM in 2013, the SAM has consistently offered a true ecosystem of events, including a two-day confer­ence that this year will deeply explore the resilience of the sector and the popula­tions it serves, thanks to the participation of a range of high-level speakers and panelists. Before and after the con­ference, par­tici­pants will meet new partners and learn new skills at the Investors’ Fair, the Innovators’ Village and a wide assortment of free training sessions and workshops.

The Innovators’ Village is a key element of the SAM, showcasing innovative solutions that strengthen the resilience of indiv­iduals and organisations in the inclusive finance sector. It is also a meeting place, creating opportunities for synergies among a myriad of actors in the sector. At the Innovators’ Village, you’ll find a range of organisa­tions that can strengthen the resilience to shocks of African institutions and populations through concrete tools, methodolo­gies, products and ser­vices. Exhibitors will meet new potential customers and investors to develop their businesses, as well as partners for new projects. Practi­tioners likewise will identify innovative solutions that meet their needs and find potential partners and investors. Funders can identify innova­tive solutions with high potential for both social and financial returns.

Probably the most effective way to understand the value of the Inno­vators’ Village is through the words of leaders who have participated as exhibitors in the past and will return for this next edition of the SAM, which will take place in Kigali, Rwanda, from October 18 to 22, 2021.

Jarek Chuchla, Microfact Coordinator: Every single edition of the SAM is a celebration of inclusive finance in its best form. Perfect organisation – along with impressive programing, trainings and meetings – has made this event the largest net­working platform for microfinance institutions (MFIs) and their stakeholders in Africa.

For Microfact, the SAM is a great way to build momentum in promoting our tools and trainings, which offer great added value to the microfinance sector. Having a stand at the Innovators’ Village in 2019 put us in touch with hundreds of managers,decision-makers and investors who were interested in our tools, “Microvision” and “MFI Factsheet.” These free tools help monitor the performance of MFIs and also can be used to make projections and business plans for them. Moreover, in 2021, we have kept working on even more innovative solutions, launching the Microfact e?learning plat­form, which offers self-paced online courses in English, French and Spanish. The next SAM is a great opportunity for us to promote these resources to a broader audience.

Denis Moniotte, Rubyx Co-founder: Back in 2019, the SAM Innovators’ Village was Rubyx’s first opportunity to put our ideas, including our “D6” solution, in front of a large number of financial services providers and to observe the reactions of our future clients. In a very short period of time, we were able to have a lot of con­versa­tions and gather very valuable feedback. As a result, we launched several new projects in Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire to help microfinance banks analyse their customers’ behavioural data to fuel their sales force, become more efficient and improve service quality. Today, we analyse the daily behaviour of more than 1 million entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa as well as automating credit decisions in seven countries.

This year, we are coming back to the Village to present “D6 Board,” our new web and mobile application that puts artificial intelligence directly into the hands of port­folio managers. This helps them make the right decisions faster as well as offering new products, such as the automated renewal of microcredits, SME loans, bank overdrafts and nano-credit. We look forward to sharing this success with all visitors to the Village this year. Without the SAM, it would be impossible for us to reach such a diversity of actors.

Emmanuel Odonkor, Quipu Business Development Manager: As part of our ongoing drive to facilitate financial inclusion through technology, we joined representatives of hundreds of companies and other stakeholders with similar aims during the SAM 2019 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to support local initiatives with our international experience.

Three Quipu staff members with in-depth experience in the African market attended the conference and presented our tailored innovation of the year, QWare, a software-as-a-service core banking system designed specifically for MFIs and small banks. Built on the Quipu Banking Suite, QWare covers all the technology needs of small financial institutions, supporting both their back-office and retail business operations. QWare benefits from over 35 years of experience in developing technical solutions for financial institutions of all sizes, now with easier and faster access. Thus the solution drove a lot of interest and discussion around the possibilities of cloud-based core banking systems. Our presence at the booth during the SAM 2019 offered the opportunity to showcase QWare to so many interested financial services experts. We are looking forward to meeting our customers at the SAM 2021 to share even more innovations that we have developed over the past two years!

This feature is part of a sponsored series on the SAM 2021, which is organized by the Luxembourgish NGO ADA, the Microfinance African Institutions Network (MAIN), the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA) and the Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR), with the support of the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs of Luxembourg and the Government of Rwanda. The event is scheduled to take place from October 18 to October 22 in Kigali, Rwanda. MicroCapital has been engaged to promote and document each of the SAMs since 2015.

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