This SME Finance Forum webinar will build on the January 2019 alternative data, scoring and risk management webinar which highlighted that the smaller the firm, the less conventional the data that is usually available. This can make access to formal credit and financial services more difficult to obtain, due to both perceived risks from traditional lenders and the potential higher cost of lending.

Fortunately, there are new innovations across the global utilizing new and less traditional sources of data to both reduce the risks and costs in serving smaller firms. This webinar will highlight two successful examples of this type of innovation.
It will also deepen the discussion on data and scoring, and showcase other measures that help make SMEs more easy to understand and service, while also helping these small enterprises to be more formal, efficient and profitable.   

This webinar will host speakers respectively from the International Finance Corporation, ACCION and MYBank.

Speakers

Momina Aijazuddin is IFC’s Global Head of Microfinance/ Financial Inclusion and works also as Principal Investment Officer in IFC's Financial Institution Group (FIG). She covers IFC’s microfinance investment and advisory activities globally, which exceeds cumulative investments of US$6 billion worldwide with over 300 MFIs, in addition to advisory services worth $63.7 million in 68 projects across 30 countries. She is leading IFC’s efforts to scale up private sector commitments with strategic partners in the digital finance, microfinance and fintech space committed to achieving the World Bank Group’s Universal Financial Access by 2020.  She was also a core member of the drafting team for the G20 Digital Financial Inclusion Principles. Momina brings over two decades of investment transaction experience in financial services, microfinance and manufacturing sectors in over 60 countries across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, MENA and LAC regions. Her technical expertise includes setting up greenfield MFIs in MENA and Asia, transforming institutions to become regulated banks and engaging with policymakers and industry players. Momina currently serves on the Supervisory Board of the Microfinance Initiative for Asia (MIFA), a US$175 million debt fund, launched by IFC and KFW and managed by Blue Orchard.

Scott Stefanski is the Vice President of Digital Strategy and Product Innovation at ACCION. Scott has dedicated much of his 22-year career as a business and technology strategist, to the pursuit of solutions at the nexus of financial inclusion and digital disruption. This work began with early efforts to introduce mobile technology to emerging markets before addressing issues around bank access, co-creating an early mobile wallet solution and serving as first employee for Ultralight Banking (later branded Obopay). He later focused on merchant challenges and designed solutions to embrace interpersonal transaction behaviors, founding Maana Mobile for the South African market. Most recently, Scott has expanded his work to address financial needs throughout supply chains, investigating and modeling opportunities to digitize supply chain management and finance practices for the benefit of a broader set of suppliers and merchants. 

Iain Brougham is the Senior Manager, Digital Strategy at ACCION. As part of Accion Global Advisory Solutions, Iain Brougham is the Senior Manager responsible for working closely with its partners to define and implement digital transformation initiatives. Iain has a broad range of experience consulting for commercial banks, fintechs, microfinance institutions, and startups across Europe, Africa, and Asia. Prior to Accion, he was part of a team that set up and operated a shared agent network scheme – now called Interswitch Financial Inclusion Services Limited – in Nigeria. Iain holds a B.S. in architectural engineering and design management from Loughborough University.

Jing Zhang is the Senior Risk Expert at MYBank. Mr. Jing Zhang is the Senior Risk Expert at MYBank and is responsible for the credit policies for the SME loans. He has 14 years of experience in risk management in banking. Before joining MYBank, he held various positions in several financial institutions, including Chief Risk Expert at PingAn Bank in China and Business Director at Capital One Bank in the United States. Mr. Zhang received his master’s degree in statistics from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in US.

Read a summary here. The webinar recording and presentations are available only for members on the member portal here.

Contact: Jessica Alfaro