Workshop A: 9:00 – 17:00

Proven Microfinance Rating Methodologies to Comprehensively Rate MFIs Sustainability

This workshop will focus on how to rate MFIs sustainability in four main areas:

FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: Has the institution a sustainable business model? How vulnerable is it to external shocks? How much does it depend on donor funding? What is the probable evolution of its major performance indicators?

ORGANIZATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY: Are all management systems and procedures in place and efficient? How strong is the institution’s management team?

OPERATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY: Has the institution built an efficient portfolio management system? Are all operational risks well mitigated?

SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: How well do the systems of the MFI align with its social objectives? What is the MFIs ability to put its social mission into practice?

Participate in this workshop and you will be able to answer questions relating to MFI sustainability by:

• Defining the main risks and evaluation areas
• Exposing knowledge of the main tools for field audit and verification
• Analysing performance ratios and indicators commonly used in microfinance and compare with the industry benchmarks
• Developing a powerful methodological framework to evaluate the MFIs sustainability

Facilitator

Emmanuelle Javoy, Managing Director of Planet Rating, joined Planet Rating in 2003 and became its Managing Director in February 2008. Emmanuelle has been responsible for revising Planet Rating’s analytical tools and has designed new rating services. Emmanuelle has carried out more than forty missions in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Workshop B: 09:00 – 12:30

Understanding Islamic Law in Order to Develop Shariah-Compliant Products and Services

This workshop provides an introduction to Shariah Compliant Microfinance. It investigates the confluence of microfinance and Islamic finance and gives an overview of what you will need to know in order to develop microfinance products that comply with Islamic law. This workshop will help you to understand the corpus of Islamic law so that you can:

• Evaluate the risks and rewards of Shariah-compliant products in the MF market
• Learn about the accepted Islamic finance business constructs and how they can be utilized in MF;
• Learn about default and insolvency rules in Islamic law
• Understand how to get your MF products certified as Shariah-compliant through a fatwa from a Shariah Advisory Board
• Create a roadmap for developing Shariah-compliant products and services

Facilitator

Robert Eli Michael is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Islamic Law of the New York City Bar Association and the Managing Member of Robert E. Michael & Associates PLLC, a boutique law firm which represents clients in a variety of areas dealing with problem situations. As a former commercial banker, investment banker and international finance lawyer, Mr. Michael has been involved in financial transactions in over 50 countries. Mr. Michael, who has become a leading contributor on issues of Islamic finance for Al Eqtisadiah, a business newspaper in Saudi Arabia, conceived and has led from the onset the NYCBA’s Islamic Law initiatives and also heads its participation in the drafting by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) of an international legislative guide for secured lending law. His interest in Shariah-compliant finance dates to 1980, when he drafted the original lending forms, under Saudi Arabian law, for Saudi American Bank (SAMBA).

Workshop C: 13:30 – 17:00

Building Transparent Pricing into the Global Microfinance Industry

Commercial financial markets often have regulations on transparent pricing, or through-in-lending, but this is a rarity in microfinance. Determining the true price of microfinance products is almost never done and generally yields quite surprising results – True rates are often two to three times higher than quoted rates.

With such a significant lack of transparency, there is no known ‘market price’. This means consumers cannot make informed decisions, managers have trouble setting the price of their products, and investors often don’t know the price of the products they are indirectly funding until they see the rates show up in the headlines of a journalist expose article. Find out about how the microfinance industry is beginning to correct this market imperfection to enable better growth and sustainability.

Attend the workshop and examine the following:

• How and why has transparent pricing emerged over the past 40 years in developed countries? What benefits does transparency offer?
• Exploring the reasons why microfinance has been trapped into practicing non-transparent pricing
• Understanding the implications that non-transparency is having on the reputation of the industry as well a son individual institutions
• Understanding the mechanics and differences of calculating Annual Percentage Rates and Effective Interest Rates
• Look at the current efforts underway to shift the global microfinance industry to pricing transparency

Facilitator

Chuck Waterfield is the CEO & Founder of MicroFinance Transparency. Chuck Waterfield has 25 years experience in microfinance, with a mixture of practical field experience (starting MFIs in Haiti & Bolivia) and experience leading network strategy development (serving as microenterprise Director for both MEDA and for CARE International). He developed Microfin, the most popular financial planning software in the microfinance industry and has taught more than 3,000 microfinance professionals in his training schools. Chuck is currently on faculty of clumbia University School of International and Public Affairs. In 2008, he founded MicroFinance Transparency.