Americas Regional Chapter Launch
The launch of the Americas Regional Chapter is a recognition of the need to convene our members and affiliates across the western hemisphere to build stronger connections, create a space to discuss regional events and dynamics, and create a more cohesive understanding of SME finance challenges and opportunities within the region. We will kick-off this new chapter with a context setting roundtable that will dive into some of the most pressing issues facing the SME finance ecosystem regionally and will begin to build a learning agenda for the chapter to pursue throughout the year.
The event will take place in a hybrid format. In-person event will take place at IFC Headquarters in Washington DC. Online participants will be sent a link upon registration.
Proposed Agenda
8:00 am: Opening remarks: IFC Regional Director
8:15 am: Strategic context: Qamar Saleem, SME Finance Forum
8:25 am: Introduction of the Chapter’s objectives and discussion on priority topics and key milestones:
- Representative from Republic Bank - TBC (Trinidad)
- Miguel Fernandez, Banhcafe (Honduras)
- Wagner Murgel, Seu Ativo (Brazil)
- Paula Pelaez, IDB Invest (USA)
- Moderator: Nora Brown, SMEFF
8:45 am: Roundtable discussion: Scaling SME Resilience through Open Finance and Embedded Credit: Case studies from US and Latin America:
- Alberto Torres, Citi
- Juan Esteban Jijon, Produbanco (Ecuador)
- Andi Pereira, Kapitale (Brazil)
- Moderator: Irene Arias Hofman, CEO MIRA, former CEO of IDB Lab
9:25 am: Closing and next steps: SME Finance Forum