[Nigeria] Lagos Business School Holds Micro-Finance Conference

from All Africa

Daniel Ior
Makurdi

A National Microfinance Conference, organised by Lagos Business School, in collaboration with Micro-finance Investment Company will hold from June 14 to 15, at LBS Pan- African University Conference Centre, Ajah, Lagos.

It will be the first national conference on micro-finance, with the theme: "Preparing stakeholders in mirco-finance sector in Nigeria for the challenges and opportunities created by the new national microfinance policy."

Billed to attend the conference are prospective micro-finance banks, community banks, NGO micro-finance institutions, commercial banks with micro-finance focus, regulators(CBN), micro-finance consultants, microcredit/poverty alleviation agencies of all tiers of government and donors community.

The conference will afford participants insights into business opportunities in the Nigerian micro-finance market, and understand the objectives and expectations of the policy, regulatory authority, and government on micro-finance among other benefits.

The first national microfinance policy was launched by President Olusegun Obasanjo December 15 last year.

The policy provides for licensing of Micro-Finance Banks (MFBs), and conversion of existing micro-finance institutions into MFBs. Interested commercial banks are allowed to practise microfinance either by setting up a subsidiary MFB or creating an internal micro-finance division.

Under the policy, state and local governments are required to set aside 1per cent of annual budgets for micro-finance schemes.

With expectation for fast growth, the imperative of creating a platform to obtain quality and comprehensive information required to guide stakeholders becomes obvious, which is what the conference is set to achieve.