The Center for Global Development (CGD) is hosting an event next Wednesday entitled Eyes beyond the Prize: Envisioning the Next Thirty Years of Microfinance [1]. The talk will look at critical issues for microfinance institutions including: What changes will technology bring? Which new products ought to be pursued, and for whom? How great is the threat of backlash against high interest rates?

The discussion promises to be quite interesting, featuring speakers:

• Alex Counts - Founder, President, and CEO, Grameen Foundation
• Elizabeth Littlefield - CEO, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor
• Elisabeth Rhyne - Senior Vice President, ACCION International
• Damian von Stauffenberg - Founder and CEO, MicroRate
• Moderated by David Roodman - Research Fellow, Center for Global Development

If you can’t make the talk, CGD has some other good resources on microfinance. Research fellow David Roodman and Uzma Qureshi have a publication [2] that analyzes microfinance institutions as businesses, asking how some succeed in covering costs, earning returns, attracting capital, and scaling up. You can also check out the resources for their previous event on microfinance, Mobilizing Private Sector Capital for Microfinance Development [3], featuring Jonathan Lewis, CEO of MicroCredit Enterprises [3].

The event is on January 31st, so if you’re in Washington D.C. and want to attend you can check out their website for further details [4].