The Asia Micro Finance Forum, which is the most sought after event of the Micro Finance Industry of Asia successfully concluded in Shanghai on the 7th of August 2014, with over 500 delegates from more than 40 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and USA taking part.
The event was organized by the ‘Banking With The Poor Network’ (BWTP), which is the largest Asia based micro finance network.
The forum was spearheaded by Mr. Chandula Abeywickrema, who is the Chairman of the Banking With The Poor Network, who is also the CEO / MD of the CCC Solutions, a subsidiary of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
This is the Fourth time the event was held under the leadership of Chandula, the very first was held in Beijing, China, while the rest was respectively held in Hanoi , Vietnam and in Colombo Sri Lanka 2010.
He was also one of the key note speakers of the event, along with two of the global greats in the microfinance industry, namely Sir Fazle Hasan Abed the founder and chairman of BRAC Bank and Bob Annibale the Global director of Citi Bank for Microfinance and Community development.
During the event, three key note speakers articulated the emerging changers and the challenges, all the stake holders of the micro finance industry is facing and the importance of holding the AMF 2014 to move away from narrow micro finance focus to more broader Financial Inclusion Strategy and importance of the creation of more dynamic ecosystem to empower and enrich over 2 billion people in Asia.
The Forum was held by the Banking With The Poor Network in collaboration with the Citi Foundation, which acts as the lead partner and Foundation Development Cooperation (FDC), who organized the event.
China Association of Microfinance was the local host of the event, which was held under the theme of AMF 2014 Themed “Financial Inclusion in Asia: Creating dynamic financial Ecosystem for the poor.”
During the forum, participants discussed the financial frame works in the countries in Asia, policies, and regulations; financial capability; demand driven products; peer to peer microfinance; behavioral economics; digital finance, micro finance as a catalyst for SME growth and achieving impact of the target groups with more pragmatic solutions.
