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UNITED NATIONS CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FUND Microfinance |
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News | Advisors Group for the International Year of Microcredit Meets in New York Citigroup Holds Reception to Welcome Advisors and Herlad Success of the Year On 23 September 2004, the recently convened Advisors Group for the International Year of Microcredit met for the first time in New York at Citigroup, a core sponsor of the Year. The group brings together the heads of major financial institutions like Citigroup and ING with leading economists such as Raghuram Rajan and Hernando de Soto; the heads of microfinance institutions from Benin, Cambodia, Colombia, Morocco and Bangladesh; leading business people; as well as social investment experts and the media. The group of financial sector luminaries has joined forces to forge a global commitment to build inclusive financial sectors. Although diverse, the Group shares a common belief in the power of microfinance clients to use financial tools to change their lives. Mark Malloch Brown, Managing Director of UNCDF and Administrator of UNDP, opened the meeting by emphasizing the significance of the Year as the world is struggling to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the importance of microfinance as a tool to meet the goal of halving the proportion of people living in poverty by the year 2015. Stanley Fischer, Vice Chair of Citigroup and former Chief Economist of the World Bank and Managing Director of the IMF, was unanimously appointed the Group’s Chair. In accepting his post, he stressed the tremendous talent at the top of the field of microfinance that the Advisors will be able learn from and engage to make the Year a success. The meeting focused on the objectives of the Year, and how to make the Year a success. Specifically, the Advisors aim to make a significant contribution through their active participation in two key projects. First, the Data Project will bring together leading statisticians and researchers from multilateral and private sector institutions to look at how we can collect better hard data. The goal is to design and pilot an index and cost-effective methodology to measure the numbers of people in the bottom income segments of the market that have (or do not have) access to financial services. Second, the Blue Book Project will inventory, through a wide participatory survey process, the constraints to microfinance and bring together a broad constituency to discuss and deliberate ways to overcome these barriers. The Advisors strongly feel that the Year should focus on better understanding the financial needs of poor people, and the role of microfinance as a tool to combat poverty. The need to prioritize the access of women to good financial services and the unique issues faced by rural people living in poverty was highlighted by Leonor Velasco de Melo of Fundacion Mundo Mujer-Popayan. Rene Azokli of Padme of Benin underlined the need to listen to microfinance clients during the Year and the importance of building sustainable institutions. The Advisors Group will meet again in New York for a breakfast meeting on the morning of the launch on 18 November. After the meeting, Citigroup hosted a reception for nearly 250 guests that included their senior management and private bank clients, the Microfinance Club of New York, Wall Street, students, members of microfinance networks, NGOs and the UN community to celebrate a “soft launch” to the International Year of Microcredit. Citigroup has been a strong supporter of microenterprise activities around the world since 1965 and continues this dedication though its role as a core sponsor of the International Year of Microcredit. The reception was opened by Stanley Fischer, who spoke about his vision for the Year and in particular about Citigroup’s new Microfinance Group, headed by Robert Annibale, which moves microfinance from being a purely philanthropic activity into the domain of Citi’s global business, a huge step in promoting microfinance as a viable business concern for the largest financial institution in the world (click here to ask Mr. Annibale a microfinance question on the official Year website).
Specifically addressing the Advisors, Fischer said, “Estimates of the number of poor people in the world who use microfinance range from 70 million to 750 million. One of the goals of the International Year of Microcredit is to improve statistics on the nature and scale of the penetration of microfinance. But the essential goal is to strengthen and spread the availability of good financial services, which offer the possibility and the hope to many poor people of improving their situations through their own efforts." He went on to refer to the Year as an unparalleled chance to help poor and low-income people change the conditions under which they live. Mark Malloch Brown then took the
podium and congratulated a group of students led by Bhakti Mirchandani of the
Harvard Business School, for their efforts to promote the Year through the Global
Microentreprenurship Awards. He also reflected on Citigroup’s adoption
of commercial microfinance and called the move “good business” and
a wonderful message that supports the vision of the Year. Underscoring the importance
of a strong foundation for a vibrant entrepreneurial landscape, he reminded
the guests that businesses start with just one or two people and grow from there
– transforming economies all over the world. “As a student, this was an incredible opportunity to hear about and discuss current developments in microfinance,” said Santiago Suarez, a student at Yale University and International Coordinator of the Student Microfinance Initiative (SMI). “I was able to share my views with many people in the industry. Overall, the event just got me even more excited about the International Year of Microcredit and what I can do for it.” Citigroup will hold a similar event in London on 4 November in collaboration with the UK National Committee for the Year, the Economist magazine and UNCDF. In addition to Citigroup, ING, UNCDF, and the UN Foundation are core sponsors of the Year.
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