Join us for our first series of the EIB’s Inclusive finance academy that focuses on how to support more vulnerable groups. Drawing on lessons learnt from the EIB’s TAFIR programme in the Middle East and North Africa, we have partnered with experts from the Frankfurt Business School of Finance and Management to explore how local microfinance institutions can better serve vulnerable communities across the globe.
By sharing real success stories and expert insights, we hope to help local microfinance institutions expand financial access to those traditionally under-served by the banking sector. Whether you're a microfinance professional or interested in financial inclusion, these five sessions will provide valuable knowledge to enhance your impact and outreach.
The Inclusive finance academy was developed under TAFIR — an EIB technical assistance programme financed by the FEMIP Trust Fund, to support the financial inclusion of more vulnerable groups in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Module 1
Placing the customer at the heart of your operations
Eric Cimon joins us to discuss the importance of a customer-centric approach when designing your products.
Eric is an expert in helping microfinance institutions around the world better understand the needs of their customers. He shares his experience on the following topics:
- Why is it important to conduct customer research while developing financial and non-financial services?
- Why invest time on customer research?
- Which tools and processes should you use for your customer research?
This module features one such tool adapted for the needs of microfinance institutions when carrying out customer research.
Module 2
Providing meaningful business training to your clients
We are interviewing Lujain Saidi to delve into the importance of offering meaningful business training and support programmes for your clients.
During this module you will discover:
- Why has business training become so important in development finance.
- How do you determine what type of training you should offer to your clients.
- How to identify and avoid common mistakes when setting up business trainings.
- What alternatives to building fully fledged training centres exist.
A microfinance institution in Tunisia shares in this module its experience of developing a specialised training centre to offer an array of non-financial services to both new and established microentrepreneurs.
Module 3
The importance of non-financial services in times of crisis
Bijan Osburg talks about the challenges of microfinance institutions to develop and roll out non-financial services, often in difficult settings.
During this video, Bijan gives his insights on:
- What non-financial services are, and why they are important for both the microfinance institution and the customer, especially in times of crisis.
- How you can fund non-financial services.
We also hear from an experienced microfinance partner how personalised business coaching benefitted its customers.
Module 4
The essentials of gender-based lending
Our next guest is Elaine Salsa, an expert in gender finance and access to finance for women. In this module, we explore the importance of adapting products and services to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs.
During this module, Elaine explains:
- What gender-lens finance is.
- Why it is needed in financial sector development.
- How you can make your institution gender conscious.
- What pink washing is and how you can avoid it.
During this module a Jordanian microfinance institution shares their experience of reaching out to Syrian female refugees in Jordan.
Module 5
Microfinance: A lifeline for refugees
Mert Dedebas joins us in this last module to discuss how refugees can access finance and what microfinance institutions should consider when thinking of serving this segment.
Mert, a financial inclusion expert, shares his perspective on the following questions:
- How common is refugee lending, and what factors still limit such lending?
- How can you understand refugees’ needs and build responsive services?
- How can you identify the main risks and challenges, and which actions can you take to mitigate them?
In this module, we discover how a pioneer of refugee lending went about about serving the Syrian refugee community in Lebanon.
Dig deeper
Microfinance: Empowering the smallest businesses
Strengthening small businesses, including micro-enterprises, is one of the EIB priorities. The Bank’s microfinance investments and technical assistance programmes help the most underserved communities access finance and support for their businesses. In doing so, we help to sustain jobs, empower women and girls, build resilient economies and support rural communities.