The eighth Pakistan Microfinance Forum 2014 organised annually by Shamrock Conferences International will take place on November 25, at a local hotel. Representatives from the State Bank of Pakistan, government organisations, regulatory bodies, microfinance banks and financial institutions, experts in the development sector, economists and academia, donor agencies, rural-support organisations and national media will be attending the day-long forum.
The theme of this year's forum is "Microfinance is an idea whose time has come" and is based on the quote of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Dedicated sessions will be held to understand how far Pakistan has progressed in reaching out to the poor and marginalized. It will culminate with a power-packed panel discussion on the central theme of the conference.
Menin Rodrigues, chairman and convenor of the microfinance forum highlighted, "This yearly forum provides an unprecedented platform to regulators, development economists, microfinance banks and financial institutions and key stakeholders to highlight issues that hamper growth in the social development sector as well as seek opportunities to embrace technological interventions that can give financial access to the poor."-PR