This year, the conference is taking place in Lusaka, Zambia. According to data, Zambia has more than 40,000 documented savings groups serving approximately 800,000 households, with more than 40 local and international NGOs promoting savings groups. The MSME sector, on the other hand, is under-developed and not yet fully defined while experiencing significant barriers to accessing finance.

Informal finance mechanisms such as savings groups and village banking are among the few options for MSME financing. Though traditional banking is not serving Zambian MSMEs optimally, efforts have been made to link banks with savings groups to address the MSME financing gap. And the role of digital finance services has proved revolutionary in these efforts.

This conference is an opportunity for practitioners to engage about these issues and emerging practices in the sector – globally and locally. A key outcome of this event is that new partnerships will be developed leading to retooling and strategizing to deepen and broaden outreach by providers while riding on Zambia’s digital finance ecosystem in a competitive environment and under a friendly policy and regulatory framework.