Events & Presentations

March 14, 2013, Washington, D.C., USA

Deborah Drake of the CFI’s Investing in Inclusive Finance team will participate in a Roundtable on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation to review and discuss the findings of a recent review of “Best Regulatory and Supervisory Practices of Corporate Governance,” which was carried out by the Association of Supervisors of Banks of the Americas (ASBA) and supported by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), member of the IDB Group. The meeting will provide a venue for feedback to enrich ASBA’s work by convening a recognized group of experts and practitioners in corporate governance. The organization of this meeting is also supported by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a financial inclusion think-tank based in Washington D.C.

March 4-5, 2013, Arlington, USA

Global stakeholders in the savings group community will assemble for a two-day conference to explore the topic of savings groups, and how the savings group model can evolve to further catalyze financial inclusion and development. As part of this year's event, conference Advisory Committee members Aga Khan Foundation, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Freedom from Hunger, Oxfam America, PLAN, and USAID will launch “50 by 2020,” an initiative expanding savings groups membership globally from 6 to 50 million by 2020. CFI is pleased that it will have the opportunity to participate in the conference and its discussions.

February 28 - March 1, 2013, Boston, USA

Beth Rhyne will present on money management, financial inclusion, and banking the unbanked at this year’s Financial Inclusion Research Conference. Hosted by the SWIFT Institute and held at the Harvard Kennedy School, the aim of the conference is to bring together researchers and financial industry leaders from around the world to explore how to bridge the financial inclusion gap. Conference topics include microfinance, remittances, mobile money, and financial services quality.

February 9-10, 2013, Boston, USA

The Social Enterprise Conference is one of the world’s leading forums to explore the intersection of business and social impact. The Conference is entirely student-run, jointly hosted by students from the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School. To encourage better solutions to the world’s most pressing social problems, this conference aspires to: showcase cutting edge ideas, trends, and people in social enterprise, connect aspiring and experienced social entrepreneurs with networks and partnerships to accelerate social change, and to challenge, strengthen, and advance the social enterprise field.

Deborah Drake will be participating on a panel discussing Corruption, Transparency and Barriers to Growth for Social Enterprises on Sunday, February 10 at 3:15pm. Corruption in developing countries is a known problem, yet its impact on social enterprise and development is considerably under-acknowledged. This panel addresses the challenges that political and systemic corruption pose to social entrepreneurs, and seeks to build dialogue around best practices that nonprofit and social organizations could use on the ground. Panelists will also consider the potential new initiatives – such as innovative online platforms - provide in order to understand and navigate the obstacles of corruption.

February 7, 2013, Online

Following the launch of Financial Inclusion 2020, CFI, Citi, and Visa are hosting a webcast to learn more about the campaign’s global effort and how you can get involved. FI2020 aims to achieve universal access to quality financial services through unprecedented collaboration among leading companies, NGOs, and policymakers. The webcast will be February 7, 10AM-11AM EST. For more information and to register, click here.