Last week I attended a conference titled “Microfinance: Translating Research into Practice”, hosted by the Centre for Microfinance in partnership with the College of Agricultural Banking (CAB) in Pune.

Dr. Nachiket Mor gave a presentation talk at the India-Europe workshop on Innovation and Partnership on 14th Dec 09.

The annual forum on social entrepreneurship organized by Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation and hosted by the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad was held on the 8th and 9th December 09.

The South Asian Economics Students Meet (SAESM) that concluded recently in Dhaka had Kshama Fernandes from IFMR  Capital interacting with the students over a dinner talk on “Access to Finance for All”

A recent micro-loan securitisation, completed by IFMR Capital and Equitas Micro Finance, has enabled the first ever mutual fund investment into the Indian microfinance sector.

Nachiket and I presented at the Brookings Institution at a conference titled "Regulation in Emerging Markets". We presented a paper that was authored by Suyash Rai and co-authored by Nachiket and I.

The IFMR Trust is interested in finding practical solutions to challenges faced in the delivery of services across the areas in which it is involved.

The Asian Institute on Transport Development initiated a dialogue on strengthening trade and communication ties between India and Bangladesh on October 12th, 2009 at the India International Centre in Delhi.

Undertaking an exercise in learning, I had last month visited BISWA, an MFI based in Orissa, that apart from providing microcredit, is involved in a wide range of activities related to health, education, water, sanitation and livelihood enhancement programs.

The power of finance to transform the lives of the poor is not well understood.