The PlaNet Finance Foundation was recognized as being of public utility by decree, on the 13th of January, 2012.

The PlaNet Finance Foundation helps poor populations who are excluded from the formal banking system, develop their independent income generating activities. The accompaniment of these microentrepreneurs sustainably improves their living conditions and those of their surrounding communities. The Foundation finances projects implemented and managed by the main development and microfinance actors worldwide. It also contributes to the amelioration of the social impact of microfinance by adhering to, and communicating best practices.
 

What do Queen Sofia of Spain, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Group Danone Chairman Franck Riboud, former Mexican President Vicente Fox and Sir Fazle Abed of BRAC all have in common? From November 14-17, 2011, they will join some 2,000 activists and poverty fighters from more than 100 countries in Valladolid, Spain, for the Global Microcredit Summit, a gathering held once every five years.

Take this opportunity to meet with Arnaud Ventura, Vice President of PlaNet Finance Group who will chair the workshop "Why Managing for Social Performance is More Important than Just Measuring It, and How Can MFIs Best Use These Insights?" on November 14 - 16:30-18:00. (to read the abstract, click here)

To know more about this event: http://www.globalmicrocreditsummit2011.org

To receive a 10% discount, register for the Summit online by November 11, 2011 using this code: MCSDIS

Please find under the following link a study published by Planet Rating with Mix Market “Microfinance and the Role of Policies and Procedures in Saturated Markets and During Periods of Fast Growth”.

http://www.themix.org/publications/microbanking-bulletin/2011/09/microfinance-policies-procedures

“This article evaluates the role that governance, management information systems (MIS), risk management procedures, and lending methodologies play in different scenarios, with emphasis on their interaction with external factors like market saturation levels and MFI growth rates. They use consistent measures for procedures and policies, based on data from almost 200 ratings of 130 microfinance institutions by Planet Rating using the GIRAFE methodology. “

PlaNet Finance supports the Mobile Money Southern Asia from 26 to 29 September 2011 in Mumbai, India
www.mobile-money-transfer.com/southern-asia
+44 (0) 20 7370 8622

Bringing together all senior mobile payments stakeholders in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and the Maldives - Mobile Money Southern Asia is the world's only event examining mobile money initiatives in the entire south Asian region.

Giving you practical insights into working business models, local and international case studies on effective deployment of mobile money, how to guidance on structuring commercial partnerships and adapt to local regulatory developments and much more.

Featuring an expert panel of over 30 mobile money pioneers, including Vodafone Essar, Telenor, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Eko, Yes Bank, Tata Teleservices, Cellular Operators Association of India, Department of Post India, Mobile Payments Forum of India... - Mobile Money Southern Asia is not to be missed. Book your place online at www.mobile-money-transfer.com/southern-asia, or call +44 (0) 20 7370 8622, using your promotional code MSAC6 (15%)

Following the signing of the financing contract June 15, 2011 with the European Union, PlaNet Finance Brasil began in early July and the project Microfinance Financial Education in Belém, State of Pará, Amazonia.

After teaching the basics of financial management to micro-entrepreneurs in South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Madagascar, Colombia, Egypt , the Philippines, China, PlaNet Finance is now reaching out the microentrepreneurs in Amazonia.

Brazil is experiencing a remarkable economic growth, but that does not benefit the entire population. Indigenous communities in particular often remain in poverty and social exclusion, particularly in the North where they are most numerous. This project arose from the following observation: the Indians in urban areas, without access to capital, develop small businesses, generally precarious and informal, that keep them in a very vulnerable situation.
The Financial Education Project aims to allow 500 people of Indian origin living in Belém to have access to credit and appropriate training.

To this end, PlaNet Finance Brasil for two years will work in partnership with AmazonCred, a microfinance institution in Brazil, which PFB will provide technical assistance to enable it to develop financial products tailored to specific needs of this population.

The Microfinance and Financial Education Project in Belém will unfold in three phases.
Currently the diagnostic phase is in progress. The analysis of socio-economic conditions of the Indian population referred will enable AmazonCred to develop financial education modules adapted.
Then the training will be developed and implemented during a year and a half. It includes two main areas: development of entrepreneurial skills and management of a microenterprise.
Finally the project beneficiaries will have access to microfinance products specially designed for them by AmazonCred, thanks to the expertise and monitoring of PFB.

The project financial education is a fundamental model of intervention because it includes training not only technical but also focused on individual empowerment of marginalized people. PlaNet Finance Brasil has decided to focus on financial education because it is a complement to the microcredit: it is a necessary prerequisite for the proper use of loans delivered to people in precarious situations or excluded from traditional banking system.
The needs for financial education have been identified in many other regions in Brazil. This project could be extended to new populations.

The FreemE project (Promoting renewable energies and energy efficiency in Morocco and Egypt) aims at supporting the development, access and sustainable use of renewable energies and energy efficiency services through microfinance in Morocco and Egypt. 

During this workshop, all the results after one year of activities, the energy and financial policies in place in Egypt and the background of similar project in European and Mediterranean countries will be presented.

The workshop also aims to open discussion among key experts and stakeholders on the issues and challenges on developing financial models to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy equipments within marginal and vulnerable populations

Launched in April 2010, the project is managed by PlaNet Finance, an international non-profit organization supporting the development of microfinance, in partnership with the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME, France), Renewable Energies and Solidarities (GERES), and two Egyptian microfinance Institutions: Egyptian Association for Community Development (DBACD) and Dakahleya Businessmen Association for Comprehensive Development (EACD)
The project has duration of 3 years in both countries and is funded at 75% by the European Union.
The FreemE project should benefit to 4 800 people in both countries and raise awareness of around 2 400 microentrepreneurs and low-income households.

University Meets Microfinance - Team is pleased to invite you to University Meets Microfinance’s upcoming workshops. Students of the “University Meets Microfinance” project, which is co-financed by the European Commission, will present their research findings and discuss them with practitioners, professors and students.

• UMM’s 5th Workshop: “Microfinance in Africa” on May 31st at Sciences Po in partnership with BNP Paribas and ESCEM, in Paris

• UMM’s 6th Workshop: “Rural finance” and “Savings” on June 17th and 18th 2011 in parallel to the “Second European Research Conference on Microfinance” (which takes place from June 16th to June 18th 2011) at the University of Groningen, organized by the e-MFP Action Group “University Meets Microfinance”, in Groningen

• UMM’s 7th Workshop: “Investments and Regulation in Microfinance” on July 11th and 12th 2011 at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, in Frankfurt
Workshop programs and registration forms are available for download at: http://www.universitymeetsmicrofinance.eu/site/upcoming-workshops.html

University Meets Microfinance (UMM) is a programme which fosters cooperation between university students in Europe and microfinance practitioners. UMM has been launched by PlaNet Finance and Freie Universität Berlin and is co-financed by the European Commission within the frame of its Education for Development Programme. In 2010 the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) has set up an e-MFP Action Group “UMM” to further enhance students’ research and microfinance education. Until now the programme has involved over 1300 students, practitioners and professors from 26 universities and 12 countries. www.universitymeetsmicrofinance.eu/
 

PlaNet Finance is proud to support the Conference Transformational Microfinance LATAM organized by Hanson Wade from 17 to 19 May 2011 in Mexico City.
Mobilize Alternative Delivery Channels for Improved Reach, Increased Transactions, Lower Costs and New Products. Join us to develop your Financial Institution’s multi-channel delivery strategy to reach the unbanked with low-cost products through mobile channels and technologies, banking agent correspondents and retail networks. Transformational Microfinance LATAM follows on from the successful Microfinance series in London, Washington, Miami, Singapore, Amsterdam, Dubai. Featuring practitioners and leading experts the programme focuses on the lessons we can learn from current projects to help you achieve your goals
www.microfinance-latam.com/

Yesterday, under the aegis of the Cannes film festival, the PlaNet Finance Foundation, chaired by Jacques Attali organized a charitable dinner in the Palm Beach, thanks to Patrick Partouche's generosity to support women entrepreneurship around the world.

The godmother of the evening was Carole Bouquet: "women have been inventing the world. They lead it and pass on the best of it, whenever it is possible. Women must be helped to keep telling us the most beautiful stories. "

The PlaNet Finance foundation works at improving access to financial services (loan, save, insurance) to the poorest populations, allowing them to create or to develop a generative activity of income. Among 190 million microentrepreneurs in the world, 74 % are women who struggle every day to live in dignity and are able to meet the needs of their families.

200 participants among whom several personalities from the world of the cinema were present: The actresses came to express their solidarity with the women supported by the foundation, as well as Pascal Elbé, Patrick Le Lay, Alain Terzian, Claudie Ossard, Thierry De Ganay, Christophe Lambert and some young comedians like the pre-nominated for 2006 César Awards in the " Most Promising young Actress " category Estelle Vincent and (2009 Talent of Cannes) Jérémie Loiseau.
Official partners of the Cannes film festival and some other big french companies mobilized around this evening party have likely contributed to link the world of the cinema to the socially sustainable development cause : Alexandre Allard, Dominique Desseigne, HP, Orange, L’Oréal, Renault and INA chief executives were also in attendance.
A necklace was donated by Chopard for the benefit of the foundation, and the auction was animated by Carole Bouquet and Pierre Cornette De Saint Cyr.
Carole Bouquet offered a bottle from her own vineyard and promised to have dinner with the buyer.
Reserved price 1000 €, auctioned for 9000€!
Among the objects auctioned : a 643 diamonds Chopard necklace worn by Carole Bouquet, a concept car model offered by Renault auctioned for 10 000€, a series of 4 photos offered by the INA (National Audiovisual Institute): 35 000€, a Monica Bellucci's photo realized by Bettina Rheims with the complicity of the H&K agency : 57 000€.

The amount of the funds that have actually been collected was more than 300 000€ and will be entirely put back into PlaNet Finance projects.

The second edition will be organized next year by The PlaNet Finance foundation.

The 4th annual Forum Convergences 2015 will take place on May the 3rd, 4th and 5th 2011 to the Paris City Hall. 2,000 participants, including 200 high-level experts are expected to meet in conferences, 40 technical forum of exchanges, workshops and a marketplace. Emmanuelle Javoy, Sébastien Duquet and others members and consultants from Planet Finance Group will be involved in the forum of exchanges.

Convergences 2015 promotes an economy taking more into account the social impact, and to allow dynamics between agents engaged in this path. This initiative therefore aims at the creation of a synergy between private, solidarity-based and public actors towards poverty reduction. By drawing the links between those actors, Convergences 2015 materializes in an ambitious conference leading to debates, alternative proposals, as well as innovative action plans.

Convergences 2015 focus on collaboration opportunities between mobilized actors from private, public and social business sectors, all fighting against poverty.

Program and registration on the website: http://www.convergences2015.org
 

Monday, March 21st 2011 from 9 am to 7.30 pm at the Brussels' Stock Exchange (La Bourse).

The strong growth in emerging countries should not hide the fact that many countries and people have not yet benefited from globalization. 2.6 billion people live on less than $ 2 per day and 1.4 billion live on less than $ 1.25 per day. This particular population visibly does not have access to financial services. Microfinance, which has increasingly become more developed in the last twenty years, specifically addresses this group. This instrument for development has proven to be very effective. It can however be susceptible to financial crises, and suffer from weakness in the microfinancing domain. There is evidently room for improvement. These questions will be addressed by the Belgian Finance Club and PlaNet Finance at the conference: "Microfinance as a development tool or a profit-making device?”.

For more details about this event, go on www.planetfinanceconferences.org

Eight awards have been attributed in the presence of the laureates on Thursday, December 16th in the Musée du Louvre, following these categories:

• In the category « Agriculture », the award was attributed by Orange Foundation to Maria Celina Pina Horta (Cape Verde), for her business of selling farm products, supported by the microfinance institution (MFI) ASDIS.

• In the category « Education », the award was attributed by Lenovo to Faida Bakaji Tshuma (Israel), for her project of nursery for African children refugee, supported by the program Microfy.

• In the category « Environment », the award was attributed by GDF-SUEZ to Lirenza Cardenas Chavez (Perou), for her business of ecological agriculture and reafforestation, supported by the MFI Movimiento Manuela Ramos-Unidad de microfinanzas « Credimujer ».

• In the category « Social Impact », the award was attributed by Total Foundation to Shu Lian Wang (China), founder of a plaster factory and supported by the MFI Ningxia CEPA.

• In the category « New Technology », the award was attributed by Sogeti to Rani Khairy Mohamed Amin (Egypt), for his project of maintenance and his accessories shop both dedicated to computing supported by the MFI Alexandria Business Association.

• In the category « Health », the award was attributed by Sanofi to Salimata Doumbia (Mali), for her business of selling traditional medicine, supported by the MFI Miselini.

• The new award « Entrepreneurship in France », was attributed by the The Edmond de Rothschild Group to Stéphane Bonnet, for his business specialized in plumbing, heating and ventilation, supported by FinanCités.

Each laureate received a trophy such as an amount of 1000€ in order to help them to make a professional or a personal project come true. You will be able to discover their exemplary lives in the brochure attached.

• At last but not least, a Special Award was attributed this year to a student, Maria Christina de Lorenzo (Italia), for her thesis concerning microfinance investments, supported by the «University Meets Microfinance» programme from PlaNet Finance.
 

Date: 3 & 4 November 2010
Location: Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa

PlaNet Finance proudly announces its association to this international conference, the initiative of African Business Advisors, and organized by Omega Investment Research, the African-based international event manager.

This event is a unique opportunity for all financial institutions, including microfinance institutions, banks, and microfinance practitioners to explore some of the critical issues around reaching out to the Base of the Pyramid, discovering the new trends and best practices of the industry, and attracting investment in the African microfinance sector.
 

For more information contact Anne Maftei at amaftei@planetfinance.org

PlaNet Finance is delighted to support the Asia Microfinance Forum which will bring together leading microfinance practitioners, policymakers, financiers, academics and advocates as partners in achieving greater financial inclusion in Asia. The Asia Microfinance Forum is convened by The Banking With the Poor Network (BWTP) and organised by The Foundation for Development Cooperation (FDC), with the Citi Foundation as Lead Sponsor, and Hatton National Bank as Local Host.

This milestone event will take place in Colombo, Sri Lanka, October 12-15 2010.

Learn more about the Forum on: www.asiamicrofinanceforum.org

The Microfinance Process Excellence Award (MPEA) is an effort by PlaNet Finance India to reward process excellence in microfinance institutions (MFIs), establish industry benchmarks and elevate the standards of process and institutional management across MFIs in India. This is the 4th time that this prestigious award has been offered.

Efforts have been made to achieve clarity and transparency in the application process through an easily accessible online survey and integration with the social performance reporting initiatives already underway in the Indian microfinance sector.

If you represent an Indian MFI and would like to apply for this award, please go to 
http://www.mftransparency.org/pages/mftransparency-partners-with-planet-finance-india-on-mpea-2010/  
and complete the application survey by no later than September 15th 2010.

If you have any questions, please contact PlaNet Finance India at their offices in Bangalore:

Programme Manager in charge of the MPEA 2010: Saheba Sahni
Phone: 08042066182
Email: ssahni@planetfinance.org
 

We wish you good luck with the application!
 

Bezant Chongo from PlaNet Finance Southern Africa will be a speaker at the "Mobile Money Services Africa" Conference that will be hold in Johannesburg from July 20 to 22.
www.iir-telecoms.com/event/mmsa
 

The Global Microinsurance Summit organized by C5 and supported by PlaNet Guarantee, the microinsurance agency of PlaNet Finance Group, will be held in Paris from June 30 to July 1st. François-Xavier Albouy, CEO and Mathieu Dubreuil, Microinsurance Program Coordinator – Africa of PlaNet Guarantee as well as François Durollet, Managing Director of PlaNet Finance will be speakers.
www.c5-online.com/microinsurance.htm
 

Emmanuelle Javoy, Managing Director of Planet Rating, the microfinance rating agency of PlaNet Finance Group, will be a speaker at the Social Performance Task Force Annual Meeting that will be held in Bern, Switzerland, from June 29 to July 1^st.
For more information : www.sptf.info
 

You are invited to the Microfinance Dialogues 2010: University Meets Microfinance @ Leibniz Universität Hannover. 

Experts of Oikocredit, Cerise, Planet Rating and PlaNet Finance and students and professors from University of Hohenheim, University of Frankfurt, Tilburg University, University of Sheffield, Charles University Prague and University of Wageningen present and discuss their findings in the field of impact assessment and social performance. The workshop is supported by InWent gGmbH, through funds of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Date: June 17th, 3:00 – 6:30 pm: “Approaching the subject” and June 18th 2010, 11:30 am – 5:30 pm: “Deep Dive”

(Participation on 1 or 2 days possible)
 

Location: Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany

Keynote Speech: William Pariente, MIT Poverty Action Lab / Université Catholique de Louvain: Recent developments in the impact and mechanisms of microfinance

The topic: As microfinance has grown in scope and scale critical voices are increasingly on the rise. On the one hand, skeptics question the impact of access to financial services on income, wealth and well-being; others project that with the increasing emphasis on financial performance Microfinance Institutions might drift from their original social mission. Researchers and practitioners meet the criticism by developing new impact evaluation methodologies and implementing management approaches which focus on maintaining a balance between financial and social performance.

Registration: Please register for the Workshop by June 2nd at www.universitymeetsmicrofinance.eu. You can participate on both days (June 17th and June 18th) or only on the second day (June 18th). For students a participation fee of 20 EUR applies. For other participants a fee of 40 EUR applies. You will receive all organizational details upon registration. The fee includes the participation in the “Annual International Conference of the Verein für Socialpolitik (German Economics Association), Research Committee on Development Economics” which starts in the evening of June 18th and ends with a conference dinner on June 19th. The conference programme is available at www.uni-goettingen.de/ael. Local organizers are Lukas Menkhoff and Oliver Gloede, members of the Development Economics Research Group at the Leibniz Universität Hannover.

University Meets Microfinance (UMM) is a programme co-financed by the European Commission. It was initiated by PlaNet Finance and is carried out in collaboration with students and professors from 14 European universities with the support of Freie Universität Berlin, ESCEM, Ernst & Young, Capgemini Italia and Sanofi-Aventis.

University Meets Microfinance @ Leibniz Universität Hannover

For more information: www.universitymeetsmicrofinance.eu 
 

PlaNet Finance co-organises, along with the American Conference Institute, the Global Microfinance Investment Congress (GMIC) that will take place in New York on the 24th to the 26th of May.

From its inception, GMIC established itself as the premier event for Microfinance Investment Vehicles, Microfinance Institutions and other industry stakeholders in the value chain, to meet, collaborate and share best practices. This is where relationships are forged and deals are made. This is where you will hear thought-leaders form around the world discuss the current global market for microfinance, and the latest strategies for success in microfinance.

For more information and to register: www.MicrofinanceCongress.com