The Inter-American Development Bank will hold October 3-5 in San Salvador, El Salvador the 10th Microenterprise Forum, a conference on a vital economic sector for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Microenterprises are the main source of income for hundreds of millions of families around the world. In Latin America and the Caribbean there are some 60 million of these tiny businesses, which generate nearly half the jobs in this region.
This year the forum, organized by the IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund and the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador, will focus on the progress achieved over the past decade by the microfinance industry and the steps it must take to massively expand poor people's access to financial services tailored to their needs.
The event will be opened formally on Thursday, October 4 by El Salvador President Elias Antonio Saca and IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno. As part of that ceremony, the IDB will present the winners of its annual awards for institutions and individuals for their outstanding contributions to microenterprise and community development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Panels will be held during the conference on such issues as new technologies to expand the coverage of microfinance services, microcredit operations funded through capital markets, partnerships to create entrepreneurship opportunities for low-income people and measures to encourage microenterprises to become formal businesses.
More than 1,000 people will attend the conference, which will be held at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in San Salvador. Participants will include leaders from NGOs, foundations, social investment funds, microfinance institutions, credit unions, banks, consulting firms, universities, think tanks, government agencies and multilateral aid organizations.
The IDB is the leading source of financing for microenterprise development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 1978 it has invested more than $1 billion in over 500 projects related with microfinance and small business development.
Under its Opportunities for the Majority initiative launched last year the IDB called on the region to triple the volume of microcredit over a five-year period, to $15 billion by 2011.
Inter-American Development Bank
marketing@alchempro.com
