Symposium on Investing Private Capital in Micro & Small Business Finance

Project at a glance

Dates and Place

10 - 11 October 2005, Geneva, Switzerland
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Organizers

Centre for Applied Studies in International Negotiations (Casin)

Project details

Micro & small business finance are fast-growing segments of the financial industry, opening financial products for fund managers and private investors worldwide. Geneva --a centre of major international organizations and a global financial hub-- made the business case for micro and small business finance, thus providing a lasting contribution to the UN Year of Microcredit 2005. Microfinance is a valuable tool for development.

The Casin Symposium showcased today's leading investment vehicles and business models in micro & small business finance and appealed to the financial community, from institutional to "field" investors, to explore this new asset class.

The two-day Symposium was centered on full-assembly roundtables, designed to provide input and debate on:

  • The demand for private capital in micro and small business finance;
  • Sources of private capital in micro and small business finance;
  • Today's leading approaches and successful business models for attracting capital to micro and small businesses;
  • Critical factors and enabling conditions for private investment in micro and small business finance, including a lively debate on ten differentiated roles of private and public actors and resources.

The Symposium presented the leading microfinance investment vehicles in two series of interactive workshops. This allowed participants --private and public investors, leading micro and small enterprise finance providers, regulators, intermediaries, and entrepreneurs-- to network and engage in small group discussions.

The Geneva Symposium brought together leading individuals from the financial community who can play (or already play) an important role in providing, channeling, and deploying private capital for micro and small business finance. Participants included public, institutional, and individual private investors, pension fund managers and pension fund consultants, fund managers, bankers, high-level social investors, microfinance operators and intermediaries, rating agencies, enterprise managers, public officials, and other actors engaged in microfinance.

Volunteering Opportunities

10 volunteers participated in the organization of the event, and took care of welcoming and registering delegates, supervising conference rooms, reporting and more.



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