MICROFINANCE BEST PRACTICES GROUP ON LINKEDIN http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=3040764&trk=anet_ug_hm DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP AND OF THE SUGGESTED SUB-GROUPS AND TOPICS. Microfinance owners, donors, board members, senior executives, managers, experts, consultants, practitioners and everyone interested in this field are warmly invited to join. In this respect the Microfinance Best Practices group logo is "JOIN-SHARE-LEARN-APPLY ! " NOTE: The final version of this document was published on May 24, 2010

1. MICROFINANCE BEST PRACTICES GROUP ON LINKEDIN
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=3040764&trk=anet_ug_hm
DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP
AND OF THE
SUB-GROUPS AND TOPICS
Microfinance offers to poor/unbanked/financially underserved people rapid access to a diverse range of basic financial services such as loans, savings, money
transfer services and microinsurance in order to run their businesses, build assets, ensure smooth self-consumption, and manage risks.
Different types of financial services providers for these type of customers have emerged: non-government organizations; credit cooperatives; community-based
development institutions like self-help groups and credit unions; commercial and state banks; insurance and credit card companies; post offices; etc. The
financial products and services offered to these types of customers have proven to be a powerful instrument for facilitating access to finance, self-economic
empowering and poverty alleviation, enabling them to build assets, increase incomes, and reduce their vulnerability to economic stress.
While the internet and the public/university libraries provides for an abundant literature presenting THEORIES related to a professional and performant
microfinance management, the managers, practitioners, experts and everyone else interested are facing BOTH a scarcity of REAL LIFE MICROFINANCE BEST
PRACTICES (papers, manuals, procedures, systems, models, practical case studies, web-links) as well as non-uniform and sometime confusing standards.
Therefore I created the MICROFINANCE BEST PRACTICE group, with the aim of facilitating exchanges of MICROFINANCE/MICROBANKS REAL LIFE,
IMPLEMENTED, PROVEN BEST PRACTICES that can be REPLICATED into other FUTURE REAL LIFE MICROFINANCE and MICROBANKS
UNDERTAKINGS.
By joining the Microfinance Best Practices group all members MUST comply BOTH to the group's POLICY and BEST PRACTICES DEFINITIONS, otherwise
they will face the risk of being blocked and eventually removed from this community.
The group logo is "JOIN - SHARE - LEARN - APPLY ! "
George Staicu – Linkedin Microfinance Best Practices Group Founder & Owner
Senior banking & microfinance consultant
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MICROFINANCE BEST PRACTICES GROUP - SUBGROUPS & TOPICS
= FINAL VERSION =
1) Microfinance Best Practices - Standard / basic definitions & Cross-cutting issues
a) What is microfinance ?
b) Key principles of microfinance
c) Types / Models of microfinance institutions
i) Microfinance: financial businesses in the banking sector OR social safety net organizations !? - topic suggested by Mr. Petrus van Dijk
ii) Church & charity promoted microfinance institutions
iii) Microfinance versus banking
iv) Microfinance and the served markets - topic suggested by Mr. Petrus van Dijk
d) Social mission versus Operational & Financial sustainability - topic suggested by Ms. Veronika Thiel
e) Microfinance institutional transformation - topic suggested by Mr. Paulo Orozco
f) Microfinance livelihood
g) Microfinance and the climate change
h) Microfinance and renewable sources of energy (bio-gas financing) - topic suggested by Mr. Neal Van Milligen
i) Islamic Microfinance
i) Microfinance versus / and Sharia-compliant / Islamic Banking Practices - topic suggested by Mr. Mohammed Malik
j) Information sources - recommended readings
2) Microfinance Best Practices - How to set-up a Micro Finance Institution
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Microfinance start-up - topic suggested by Mr. Jasim Sheikh
c) Feasibility and impact study
d) Project Management & Organization
e) Seed capital
i) Loan capital
ii) Operational capital
f) Information sources - recommended readings

2. 3) Microfinance Best Practices - Donor fundraising
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Donor fundraising strategies
c) Fundraising campaigns
d) Writing grants proposals
e) Information sources - recommended readings
4) Microfinance Best Practices - Corporate governance; Owners / Board responsibilities
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Corporate governance standards
c) Corporate Governance policy
d) Board committees
e) Information sources - recommended readings
5) Microfinance Best Practices - Strategic planning
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Vision, Mission
c) Business strategy planning
i) Vision & Mission
ii) Setting-up and organizing the strategy team & meetings
iii) Strategic assumptions
iv) SWOT analysis
(1) Internal factors
(a) Strengths
(b) Weaknesses
(2) External factors
(a) Opportunities
(b) Threats
v) Strategic objectives / goals
vi) Departmental Strategies
(1) Donor fundraising and commercial borrowing strategies
(2) Financial management strategy
(3) Risk management strategy
(a) Credit risk strategy
(b) Liquidity risk strategy
(c) Market risk strategy
(d) Interest rate risk strategy
(e) Foreign currency risk strategy
(f) Operational risk strategy
(4) Marketing strategy
(a) Customers
(b) Product & services
(5) Organization strategy
(a) Organization chart
(6) HR strategy
(a) Annual training program
(7) IT strategy
vii) Action / operational plans
viii) Business strategy monitoring & updating
ix) Business strategy tools: balanced scorecard
d) Annual budgeting,
e) Information sources - recommended readings
6) Microfinance Best Practices - Products and Services
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Microfinance operations - topic suggested by Mr. Rahul Gaurav
c) Micro-loans
i) Micro-lending methodologies
(1) Group loans
(2) Individual loans
(3) Village banking loans
ii) Business micro-loans
iii) Agriculture micro-loans – topic suggested by Mr. Uday Shankar P
iv) Farming micro-loans – live stock micro-lending
v) Housing micro-loans
(1) Mortgage loans - topic suggested by Mr. Oscar Pfeiffer
(2) House improvement loans - topic suggested by Mr. Oscar Pfeiffer
vi) Consumer micro-loans
vii) Cash-flow based lending / Non-collateral lending
viii) Loan repayments collection - topic suggested by Mr. Uday Shankar
ix) Optimum Client Load factor for a Loan Officer - topic suggested by Mr. Rahul Gaurav

3. x) Microfinance MSME over-lending - topic suggested by Mr. Thomas Kimani
xi) Microfinance Credit guarantee schemes - topic suggested by Mr. Enrique Bravo
xii) Affordable Housing in Sub Saharan Africa - topic suggested by Mr. Victor Ndu
xiii) Integrated loan tracking software - topic suggested by Mr. Jorge Rodríguez Grecco
d) Micro-savings
i) Current accounts
ii) Savings
iii) Deposits
e) Micro-insurance
f) Branchless banking - topic suggested by Mr. Paulo Orozco
i) Cards
ii) Mobile banking
iii) Internet banking
iv) Online micro-lending
g) Information sources - recommended readings
7) Microfinance Best Practices - Customers, Markets & Marketing
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Marketing strategies, policies , procedures and systems
c) Marketing Mix
d) Microfinance products & services development - topic suggested by Mr. Enrique Bravo
e) Market/Impact studies
f) Customer Relationship Management
g) Microfinance products & services integration: micro-lending/micro-insurance/services - topic suggested by Mr. Enrique Bravo
h) Information sources - recommended readings
8) Microfinance Best Practices - Human Resources
a) Brief basic definitions
b) HR strategy & policy
c) Human Resources strategy, operational plans & budget
d) Human Resources policy
i) Recruitment and Selection
ii) Employees orientation and integration programs
iii) Human resources career development
iv) Human resources development
(1) Human Resources annual training plan
v) Human resources motivation
(1) Non-financial motivation
(2) Financial motivation
(a) Loan officers & administrative staff incentive / bonus schemes
e) Organizational development
f) Information sources - recommended readings
9) Microfinance Best Practices - Internal control, Internal audit, External audit
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Internal Controls
i) Essentials of an effective system of controls
ii) Internal Control framework policy
iii) Policies and procedures
iv) Key risks
v) Corrective controls
c) Internal audit policy
d) Internal Audit Committee – charter, responsibilities
e) Internal audit department – organization, charter, responsibilities, internal audit planning
f) External audit – necessity and organization
g) Information sources - recommended readings
10) Microfinance Best Practices - Enterprise Risk Management
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Risk management strategy, policy and procedures
c) Risk Management Committee
d) Types of risks
i) Internal risks
(1) Institutional Risks
(a) Social Mission
(b) Social mission drift risk
(c) Commercial Mission
(2) Liquidity risk management;
(a) Liquidity risk policy
(b) Liquidity risk management tools

4. (c) Liquidity contingency plan
(3) Credit risk management
(a) Credit risk policy
(b) Credit Committee charter, responsibilities
(c) Loan provisioning
(d) Financial & credit analysis
(e) Credit scoring
(f) Loan portfolio tracking and quality/delinquency management
(g) Portfolio At Risk (PAR) management
(4) Market risk management
(a) interest rate risk
(b) foreign currency risk;
(5) Operational risk management
(a) principles of operational risks
(b) transaction risk
(c) internal processes and systems risks
(d) human resources risks
(e) fraud risk - topic suggested by Mr. Paulo Orozco
(f) security risk
(6) Strategic risk management
(7) Technological risk management
(8) Anti Money Laundering
ii) External risks
(1) Competition
(2) Demographics.
(3) Physical Environment
(4) Macroeconomic
e) Basel II for MFIs
f) Information sources - recommended readings
11) Microfinance Best Practices - Asset & Liability Management
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Asset & Liability Management strategies
c) Asset & Liability Management policy & procedure
d) Asset & Liability Committee – charter, responsibilities, etc
e) Information sources - recommended readings
12) Microfinance Best Practices - Financial – Accounting - Performance management
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Accounting policies/models /systems
i) Cash basis
ii) Accrual basis
iii) Chart of accounts
iv) Financial statements
v) Key financial factors
vi) IAS, IFRS
c) Accounting for inter-branch transactions
d) Cash-Flow Management
e) Financial & social performance
i) Financial statements analysis
ii) Financial terms and formulas
iii) Metrics of microfinance
(1) Financial performance metrics
(a) Operational self-sufficiency
(b) Financial self-sufficiency
(c) ROE
(d) ROA
(e) Liquidity ratios
(f) Productivity ratios
(g) Efficiency ratios
(2) Social performance metrics
(a) Outreach
iv) External credit ratings for microfinance institutions
f) Benchmarking
g) Capital management
i) Capital Sources for a Microfinance Program (NGO)
(1) Grant Funds
(2) Concessionary loans
(3) Commercial borrowings
(4) Retained earnings
ii) Capital sources for a licensed Microfinance institution (Non-Bank Financial Institution)

5. (1) Commercial borrowings
(2) Retained earnings
(3) Customer savings
(4) Investor equity (IPOs)
h) Microfinance Investment Vehicles
i) Initial Public Offering (IPO) for microfinance institutions
j) Interest rate management;
i) Effective interest rates;
ii) Net Interest Income and
iii) Net Interest Margin management;
iv) Break-even yield
k) Product pricing & profitability - Activity Based Costing
l) Profit & Cost centers; Internal Fund Transfer Pricing;
m) Information sources - recommended readings
13) Microfinance Best Practices - Branch network performance management
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Branch network performance management policy and financial model
c) Branch network performance indicators
d) Information sources - recommended readings
14) Microfinance Best Practices - Information Technology, MIS & Management reporting
a) Brief basic definitions
b) IT infrastructure
i) hardware,
ii) software:
(1) accounting software,
(2) loan tracking software,
(3) payroll software
(4) fixed assets management software
(5) integrated microfinance / microbanking software
c) Communication network infrastructure
d) MIS & Modern management reporting
i) Internal management reports
ii) External management reports
(1) Regulatory / Supervision reporting
(2) Donor / investor reporting
e) Microfinance and the Application Service Provider (ASP) model - topic suggested by Mr. Enrique Bravo
f) IT (hardware & software) procurement / selection
g) Modern IT tools
h) Information sources - recommended readings
15) Microfinance Best Practices - Regulation & transparency - topic suggested by Mr. Uday Shankar P
a) Brief basic definitions
b) Microfinance legal frameworks
i) Microfinance NGOs
ii) Microfinance Non-Banking Financial Institutions ( NBFI )
c) Types of microfinance supervision and regulation frameworks
d) Information sources - recommended readings
16) Microfinance Best practices - Visionary microfinance models
a) Modern microfinance
b) Innovative microfinance - Microfinance CO2 /tree financing - topic suggested by Mr. Ferdinand Swart
c) Microfinance of the future;
d) Information sources - recommended readings
17) Microfinance Best practices - Education, training, internship opportunities / offers
18) Microfinance Best practices - Requests & Offers of consulting services / procurement of systems
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Ms. Veronika Thiel , Mr. Petrus van Dijk, Mr. Uday Shankar, Mr. Victor Ndu, Mr. Neal Van Milligen, Mr. Paulo Orozco, Mr.
Ferdinand Swart , Mr. Oscar Pfeiffer, Mr. Mohammed Malik, Mr. Enrique Bravo, Mr. Jorge Rodríguez Grecco and Mr. Rahul Gaurav for their contribution to the
refinement of this list..
George Staicu – Founder & Owner of the LinkedIn Microfinance Best Practices group
Senior banking and microfinance consultant
Copyright © 2010