The Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund (FOMIN/MIF) has begun registering the press planning to attend the 13th Inter-American Microenterprise Forum (XIII Foromic 2010) October 6-8 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The Foromic is the premier annual event on microfinance and microenterprise development in Latin America and the Caribbean, where there are some 65 million of these businesses, which generate about half of the region’s jobs. Every year Foromic draws more than 1,000 delegates from financial institutions, consulting firms, government agencies and international organizations interested in microenterprise development.
The Foromic’s program will discuss economic perspectives for the microfinance industry and how the global economic and financial crisis has impacted the microenterprise industry in Latin America and the Caribbean, where some 600 institutions serve nearly 9 million clients
Plenary sessions and panel discussions will cover topics such as financial and social performance in microfinance, and technologies that allow microfinance institutions to reduce costs and reach remote clients. Moreover, participants will be able to participate in workshops about microinsurance, financial inclusion, and regulation.
A new edition of the Microscope, an annual report which ranks the microfinance climate in 55 countries worldwide, including 21 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, will be presented at the meeting. The report is prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit with support from the Multilateral Investment Fund, CAF, and the Netherlands Technical Assistance Trust Fund at the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The 2010 edition of “Microfinance Americas: The Top 100” will also be released during the event. The publication will feature the best microfinance institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean, using a ranking that combines multiple measures of microfinance performance such as outreach, efficiency and transparency.
During the event, the IDB will award its annual prizes for institutions that provide outstanding microfinancial and enterprise development services to microenterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition, the IDB will recognize three local microenterprises that have excelled either for their innovations or their impact on community development in Uruguay.
This year’s Foromic, which will be held at Exhibition Park of the Laboratorio Tecnológico del Uruguay (LATU), is co-sponsored by the Uruguayan Ministry of Economy and Finance, and Uruguay’s Corporación Nacional para el Desarrollo, as well as by numerous regional and international agencies interested in microenterprise development.
About the FOMIN/MIF
Over the past three decades the IDB has been a pioneer in promoting microfinance. Through FOMIN/MIF, a member of the IDB Group, the Bank has supported the expansion of the region’s leading microfinance networks and encouraged innovations that have accelerated this industry’s development. For example, the Fund has spearheaded work converting non-governmental organization into regulated financial institutions and has supported actions to build a network of rating agencies and credit bureaus in the region.