Searching for innovative solutions at the 10th EMN annual conference

On June 25-26, 2013 the 10th European Microfinance Network (EMN) annual conference was held at the Clarion hotel in Stockholm, Sweden. More than 200 attendees gathered with the common purpose of finding new strategies and innovative ideas to improve microfinance in Europe.

The theme of this year's conference was 'Innovative Pathways for European Microfinance'. Fasiel Rahman, EMN president, described the conference as “interactive" with "more people integrated in the discussion.” Key stake holders were represented at the conference, including practitioners, professionals, academics, politicians, and bankers.

The two-day conference included simultaneous workshops on the different facets of improving microfinance in Europe. Several attendees commented on the success of the JASMINE Initiative (Joint Action to Support Microfinance Institutions) workshops.

EMN was  chosen to implement a new project within JASMINE called ‘Microfinance Development Services'. The workshop was open to all - individuals, micro entrepreneurs, micro enterprises and other people and organizations interested in microfinance in Europe.

Another  standout workshop at this year's conference was the 48 hour Innovation Race. This continuous discussion platform was based on the work of Kaj Mickos, Professor Emeritus in Innovation Techniques at the The Innovation Plant.

“We started producing innovations in a limited time,” Mickos said. Mickos described the race as a “highly organized process where we follow a route map that does not start with good ideas, it starts finding interesting problems.”

The groups began with Problem Mapping, which led to Problem Verification to test if there was a real problem. Ola Syse, designer at the Innovation Plant, said “it was interesting to map out where the problems in Europe are.”

He explained that a major objective of the Innovation Race was to reinvent services that were not working in some countries by using preexisting models to create new models that would work in a broader market.

Syse was in charge of the "youth" group in the race. One solution this group developed was called 'I wish.' Syse explained, “'I wish is a sort of geographical mapping of the market where we ask people living in the cities want they miss or what they want to have in their neighborhood.” Individuals who want, for example, to have a bakery in their neighborhood go into the service and post the demand. Then, visitors to the forum vote and and entrepreneurs can see where the demand for business is.

Workshops gave attendees the platforms necessary to discuss new strategies for microfiance, but this conference also created important networking opportunities for organizations. The City of Stockholm invited all attendants to a reception in the City Hall, the same location of the Nobel Prize dinner. NEEM (Network for Entrepreneurs from Ethnic Minorities), a partner organization of the conference, invited everyone to a dance at the hotel following the closing remarks.

Neoklis Stamkos, entrepreneur from KEPA, a private company with headquarters in Thessaloniki, Greece, explained that he fulfilled his objectives during the two-day conference because “we met the people that we wanted to meet.” Stamkos added that KEPA is building their organization and this conference enabled them to find the appropriate people to provide advice and connections.

Meagan Andrews, research assistant from ICF GHK, explained that “I thought [the conference] provided a lot of different perspectives on ways to overcome the unique challenges for the microfinancing industry in Europe.”

One comment that perhaps summarized the achievements of the 10th annual conference was from Joseph Toindepi from the Faculty of Education, Health and Science University of Derby. “The conference was very productive because it focused on the important and relevant issues of entrepreneurship and innovation which are key to the future development of microfinance in EU,” Derby said.

Next year, on the 19th of June, Lisbon will host the 11th EMN annual conference under the slogan “Employment - Challenges and Opportunities of Microfinance.”