Events
May
23
SME FINANCE FORUM
Event
May 23, 2023
London, UK
Add to Calendar
2023-05-22 20:00:00
2023-05-22 20:00:00
23rd Receivables Finance International Convention (RFIx)
SME Finance Forum is delighted to join BCR Publishing as a media partner for the 23rd Receivables Finance International Convention (RFIx) on 23-24 May in London to hear industry experts discuss the challenges and opportunities in the current febrile environment for global trade and receivables. RFIx is the industry’s leading event, attracting delegates from across the globe, bringing together market leaders and new entrants. It provides essential updates on the latest invoice financing trends, market challenges, and financial innovation as well as excellent networking opportunities.
Plus, the 5th Receivables Finance International Awards preludes the event on the evening of 22 May - a night of recognising industry excellence, glamour, fun, entertainment and good food and wine.
To register for an Early Bird discount please follow: https://bcrpub.com/events/23rd-annual-receivables-finance-international-convention-and-awards
London, UK
SME FINANCE FORUM
ronyg@panapps.co
America/New_York
public
May
10
SME FINANCE FORUM
Communities of Practice
May 10, 2023
Add to Calendar
2023-05-09 20:00:00
2023-05-09 20:00:00
AgriFinance Community of Practice - AgTech platforms
Registration is open on the Member's portal
The SME Finance Forum has created a Community of Practice on Agrifinance, a group of AgriFinance experts and practitioners from member and non-member institutions, to discuss experiences and document good practices and innovations in the field. One main objective of this CoP is to promote learning and sharing of good practice examples that help members improve their offerings and better serve the Agri-SMEs.
Target audience: SME Finance Forum members, IFC clients, and their guests. By way of background, the SME Finance Forum convenes the AgriFinance CoP meetings every quarter. These meetings are open only to members of the SME Finance Forum. The attendees are senior executives and practitioners from banks, fintech companies, DFIs, NBFIs, and credit guarantees, who operate in over 190 countries. Usually, the meetings have between 40-100 attendees. The invitation could be extended to non-members on a case-by-case basis.
Panelists: Will be announced soon
Registration is open for members on Member's portal.
By registering for this event, you agree to the SME Finance Forum/IFC Event Privacy Notice.
Read about the work of our CoPs
---------------------------------------------------------------
If you are not a member and interested in participating, please send an email to Khrystyna Kushnir
SME FINANCE FORUM
ronyg@panapps.co
America/New_York
public
May
10
SME FINANCE FORUM
Communities of Practice
May 10, 2023
Add to Calendar
2023-05-09 20:00:00
2023-05-09 20:00:00
AgriFinance Community of Practice - AgTech platforms
The SME Finance Forum has created a Community of Practice on Agrifinance, a group of AgriFinance experts and practitioners from member and non-member institutions, to discuss experiences and document good practices and innovations in the field. One main objective of this CoP was to promote learning and sharing of good practice examples that help members improve their offerings and better serve the Agri-SMEs.
The CoP discussed the role of AgTechs in financing farmers and will present the roles that banks and MFIs can play in this AgTech finance ecosystem. The meeting highlighted some recent examples and engaged the participants in discussing their own experiences and way forward.
Target audience: SME Finance Forum members, IFC clients, and their guests. By way of background, the SME Finance Forum convenes the AgriFinance CoP meetings every quarter. These meetings are open only to members of the SME Finance Forum. The attendees are senior executives and practitioners from banks, fintech companies, DFIs, NBFIs, and credit guarantees, who operate in over 190 countries. Usually, the meetings have between 40-100 attendees.
Speakers:
Christian KC Karamagi Stanbic Bank Uganda, OneFarm Business Lead
Christian is a successful sales & Innovations professional experienced in Banking with a demonstrated diverse history and understanding of financial services industry with deep knowledge and on ground experience in Uganda’s market across of sectors of the economy. Christian is driven by the passion to create and be part of successful teams, processes and systems that drive ethical business growth. Christian is passionate about transforming lives, driving change and social impact through Agriculture, financial inclusion and financial literacy.
Moderated by Hans Dellien, chaired by Panos Varangis, and hosted by Khrystyna Kushnir.
Mr. Dellien is the Agrifinance Lead for EAP at IFC and the FIG AS Country Anchor for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Mr. Dellien supports Financial Institutions and Fintech’s in the region with the design and implementation of products, risk assessment technologies, and strategic partnerships to finance farmers and Agribusinesses. He has supported banks and Fintech companies in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Before joining IFC, Mr. Dellien was the Director of Microfinance Products at Women’s World Banking and coordinated advisory services to micro finance institutions and Banks across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Prior joining WWB, Mr. Dellien worked 5 years for the International Project Consultants (IPC-Gmbh) a German consulting firm associated to PRO-CREDIT Holding. Mr. Dellien has a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics and Rural Finance from the Ohio State University.
Panos Varangis is currently the Principal Operations Officer at the Financial Institutions Group, IFC. Prior to that Panos led IFC’s work in advising financial institutions to provide financial services to SMEs, agribusinesses, and farmers. Before joining IFC, Panos served as the Deputy CEO of the Agricultural Bank of Greece (2004-2009). From 1987 to 2004, he worked at the World Bank in various positions at the International Commodities Division, the International Trade Division, the Bank’s Research Department, and finally at the Agricultural and Rural Development Department where he oversaw a global program on commodity risk management. Panos holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University in New York.
Read about the work of our CoPs
---------------------------------------------------------------
SME FINANCE FORUM
ronyg@panapps.co
America/New_York
public
May
04
SME FINANCE FORUM
Event
May 04, 2023
WEBINAR
Add to Calendar
2023-05-03 20:00:00
2023-05-03 20:00:00
Digital Data Corridors: Facilitating Financial Inclusion for Refugees
On May 4th at 8 AM CEST, IFC's Global Financial Infrastructure Program (GFIP) will be holding a webinar “Digital Data Corridors: Facilitating Financial Inclusion for Refugees” with the support of the State Secretariat for Econoic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO).
Cross border data highways and predictive analytics can support financial inclusion of Forcibly Displaced People (FDPs) in hosting countries, with virtual channels among international financial institutions helping refugees verify their credit histories and re-establish their careers.
Learn about the IFC's Global Financial Infrastructure Program (GFIP) and this project designed to help Ukraining refugees in accessing financial services in European countries through data and analytical tools.
Speakers will:
Present the foundations of the project
Discuss lessons learned and challenges
Explore the potential replication in other regions and geographies
Speakers will include:
Elena Koneva, Director International, FICO
Fabrizio Fraboni, Principal Operations Officer, Financial Institutions Group - Europe
Collen Masunda, Operations Officer, Financial Institutions Group
Liliana Pozzo, Manager, Financial Institutions Group - Europe
Click on the RSVP link to register
WEBINAR
SME FINANCE FORUM
ronyg@panapps.co
America/New_York
public
May
03
SME FINANCE FORUM
Marketplace
May 03, 2023
Add to Calendar
2023-05-02 20:00:00
2023-05-02 20:00:00
SME Finance Virtual Marketplace - May Session
The “SME Finance Virtual Marketplace” is an online match-making platform that promotes partnership and collaboration between members of the SME Finance Forum, especially financial institutions, fintech companies and development finance institutions/ investors. The virtual Marketplace is powered by GlobalLinker, an AI powered ‘Digital Ecosystem’ offering SMEs a range of services to build digital presence including e-commerce.
May Marketplace Session
This monthly marketplace session, scheduled on Wednesday, May 3rd from 8 am to 9 am EDT, will feature Leading Small Business Lenders and Finance Facilitators who will present their MSMEs Product and Services.
Following the presentations, participants can reach out directly to the presenters to make inquiries or explore partnership opportunities!
Companies Pitching
Arara
Climate focused fintech platform delivering AI assisted sustainability solutions that enable climate change mitigation at scale.
Asset owners and investors on the platform have dynamic and persistent visibility on material risks and opportunities to assist decision making and allocation of resources most efficiently.
Rise and Motive Partner
Rise has a simple vision: to power a better future for SME lending. How? By helping financial institutions improve their SME credit decisioning with alternative data.
Rise is a product powered by Motive Create, the innovation arm of private equity firm Motive Partners.
Strands
With the mission of improving the bank-client relationship, Strands is the worldwide leading FinTech that develops solutions for financial institutions to increase customer engagement and generate new revenues through digital channels.
Their solutions combine machine learning, open banking, open finance, and artificial intelligence to create highly personalized solutions to attract, retain and engage retail and SME customers for them to reach a new concept of financial wellness.
Lama
Lama is an AI-powered lending exchange that increases small businesses’ accessibility to bank-rated capital. Lama connects its bank partners to a wide variety of embedded lending opportunities, acting as a growth engine for their commercial lending business.
Choice Microfinance Bank
Banking institution licensed and headquartered in Kenya. We envision full financial inclusion where individuals and business have access to full suite of affordable and quality financial services that meet their needs.
Presenters
Charlie Robertson - Senior Product Owner - Motive Create
Charlie has 8 years of experience in the fintech industry as a Product Owner. Has spent the majority of that time solving problems in the SME market with emerging innovative technologies. The product he currently leads is called Rise.
Ernesto Giralt - Chief Commercial Officer - Strands
Ernesto is the Chief Commercial Officer at Strands, where he leads the company's global growth initiatives. With over 15 years of experience in both strategy consulting and fintech, Ernesto brings a deep understanding of the Banking Digital Transformation Strategy and GTM Strategies to achieve Strands growth goals.
After graduating with a BA from Esade, Barcelona, and an MBA from the University of Florida, Ernesto began his career in the financial industry as a strategic consultant at a Big4 firm. In 2012, after 5 years as consultant, he joined Kantox, a promising fintech startup, as its fifth employee. As the company's sales leader, he helped to grow the team to almost 200 people and its revenue from 100k to more than 20m recurrent revenue. Kantox was acquired by BNP Paribas in October 2022 for over 140m.
Omri Yacubovich - Co-Founder & CEO - Lama
Omri is an experienced entrepreneur with a rich blend of sales, business development, marketing, and product experience. Passionate about finding relevant solutions to complex challenges.Prior to Lama AI, Omri founded multiple companies focused on helping small businesses thrive, including Commerce Sciences (acquired by Taboola), was the VP of Global Sales and Marketing for Planck (a leading insurance fintech), and led the successful launch of the 1st digital bank in Israel.Omri is speaking around the world at conferences to spread his vision around the future of Fintech, B2B and B2C growth strategies.
Royden D’Souza - Senior Project Manager - Choice Microfinance Bank
Royden is a banking professional with over 15 years of experience across North America, Middle East and Africa. He has held various roles in sales, client management, risk and compliance, and project management within retail banking and wealth management business units. Royden current is a Senior Project Manager at Choice Financial, a fintech providing a world class Banking as a Service platform to African clients. He oversees client integrations and manages clients across various markets in East and Southern Africa. Royden is an accredited member of the Association of Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialists. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Economics/Finance from Brock University, Ontario, Canada.
Ram Mahidhara - Chief Operating Officer - Arara
Ram is the Chief Operating Officer of arara.io Inc, a cloud-based, B2B, climate and ESG focused platform that enables companies and their supply chains identify, measure and manage their climate and ESG risks and footprint. arara.io currently has operations in Brazil, US, India and Nigeria.
An international infrastructure executive with over 25 years’ experience in infrastructure and emerging markets, Ram currently also serves on two boards. Between 1997 and 2019, Ram worked at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank Group. His most recent position at IFC was as a Chief Investment Officer, where he managed the implementation of a $2.5 billion co-lending program involving six institutional investors, and led client relationships with several Asia-based infrastructure companies. Ram has lived and worked in 32 countries across 4 continents: Latin America (5 years); sub-Saharan Africa (9 years), North America (11 years) and Asia (3 years). He has substantial sectoral expertise in power, transport, OGM and telecom. Ram has also managed an asset portfolio of US$2.7 billion in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining IFC, he worked for the Amoco Corporation and the Regional Economics Applications Lab, both in Chicago. Ram has a PhD in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin.
How does the Marketplace operate?
To participate in the marketplace, each institution must have:
An institutional profile (company profile and products/services offering)
A personal profile (individuals representing the companies)
Individuals on the Marketplace can explore products and services available (investment products, advisory services, technology solutions...etc. ) and reach out to one another to discuss potential collaboration and partnership.
To learn how to set up a company profile, a listing and an individual profile, please read the User Manual in this link.
Feel free to let us know should you have any questions or need any assistance to smefinanceforum@ifc.org.
SME FINANCE FORUM
ronyg@panapps.co
America/New_York
public
Apr
27
SME FINANCE FORUM
Event
Apr 27, 2023
Add to Calendar
2023-04-26 20:00:00
2023-04-26 20:00:00
Setting the course for successful small business climate action
Small businesses are the backbone of local communities, providing the jobs, services and products that keep our world ticking. When taken together, they have the potential to substantially impact the global fight against climate change and create more resilience in their own businesses and communities. At the same time, they are the most impacted by climate change, and their climate action can only bolster their long term business success.
On April 27, 2023, at 11a ET / 4p BST, the SME Climate Hub invites small businesses around the world to a webinar that will help to move forward their climate action journeys. Learn about:
The tools available to help small businesses take climate action
The role of small businesses in the climate crisis – and the financial opportunities at stake in their action
The climate action journeys of small businesses, including the successes and challenges of their peers
Audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions about the initiative and hear from small businesses that have made changes to reduce their emissions. The webinar is free to attend. Please register for the event in advance – we look forward to seeing you there.
Registrants can join the webinar here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83422992052
SME FINANCE FORUM
ronyg@panapps.co
America/New_York
public