PlaNetFinance UAE - Dubai Conference 2006

1st part: Governments’ members, practitioners, committed to the development of microfinance or supporting it will address their vision and expectations about the role of microfinance in the world and more particularly in the Middle East.

• H.E. Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister, Ministry of Economy
• Jacques Attali, President, PlaNet Finance
• Patrice Paoli, Ambassador of France in the United Arab Emirates
• Sheikh Sultan Al Qasimi, President, PlaNet Finance UAE and Chairman, Gulf Holdings

2nd part: Microfinance specialists will assess the state of microfinance, worldwide initially, and in the MENA region and more particularly in the Middle East in a second step.

• Sébastien Duquet, Director, PlaNet Finance
  Presentation Sébastien Duquet
• Mohamed Maarouf, Director MENA, PlaNet Finance
  Microfinance in the Middle East and North Africa : State of Affairs
• Deepak Khana, Senior Program Manager, IFC
  Microfinance in the MENA Region

Despite their relatively young age, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in the Middle East have experienced rapid growth and dynamic expansion, passing from just 129,000 active clients in 1999 to over 1.5 million today. There are currently hundreds of MFIs in the region, ranging from small, regional programs to large, national institutions that are global models of ecellence. Nonetheless, the majority of MFIs in the Middle East are at the same stage in their evolution. Having passed the initial start-up phase, MFIs in the Middle East are now concentrating, expanding and consolidating their activities. This evolution, however, poses new sets of challenges for MFIs. Finding new sources of funding, diversifying the offer of products and services, and professionalizing human resources are among the challenges that microfinance institutions in the region are facing.
The goal of this session is to identify the various strategies that MFIs in the Middle East and North Africa are employing in order to successfully meet the high level of demand, reach more microentrepreneurs, and become fully intergrated into the formal financial system.

Banks and Private sector actors are increasingly entering the microfinance markets throughout the world. As complimentary players to traditional NGO MFIs, these institutions are able to reach a larger number of people, thanks to their extensive financial capacities and variety of financial services that can be offered. In addition, they are able to act as the bridge between very poor households served by traditional MFIs and higher-income brackets served by commercial banks. These actors can engage in microfinance either through direct involvement by creating specialized departments, products and services or can participate indirectly by refinancing MFIs. In the Middle East and North Africa, commercial banks and private sector actors have only just begun to enter the microfinance sector. Although 84% of MFIs in the region are non-profit NGOs, some notable examples do exist.
This session will explore different global examples of direct and indirect participation of banks and private companies in microfinance with the objective of providing Best Practice models for the MENA region.