BFC Managing Director, Michael Kortenbusch, will this week be in Istanbul for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Annual Meeting & Business Forum. With two days of speeches, panel discussions and expert analyses, this event is a key fixture in the development banking calendar.

Following the EBRD’s evaluation of the final deliverables, BFC is happy to report:
“Overall EBRD is pleased with the implementation of the project and the quality of the data collected. From the beginning and up until now BFC has been and remains very responsive to all of our emails, requests, and questions. From the quality of the enumerator team that you put together, to the thoroughness of the training and the handling of a sometimes crazy logistical schedule BFC was always on top of it” (Senior Research Analyst, EBRD).

BFC wish to thank all of those who worked on this project for their outstanding commitment, expertise, and success!

In March, BFC successfully completed the introduction of a credit scoring solution for a leading microfinance institution (MFI) in the Caucasus. The BFC project team, consisting of Senior Credit Scoring Experts, Peter Hauser and Dan Pavelesku, worked closely with the client institution over five months to develop a statistical credit scoring system for agricultural microenterprises that will provide an accurate risk assessment of potential clients at the time of application.

BFC extends its multi-year advisory contract with a leading development bank.

Maturing microfinance markets convince lenders of the need to improve operational efficiency.

BFC at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Banking Commission Meeting, in Lisbon, 15–18 April.

Can microfinance learn how to effectively deal with operational risks from the mainstream financial industry? Yes, it can!

Marina Kortenbusch, Managing Partner of Business & Finance Consulting, presented five such ways — thinking, speaking, acting and presenting ourselves positively, in addition to organising ourselves well.

Michael Kortenbusch, Managing Director of Business & Finance Consulting, presented the “Loan Officer Superman” in the form of a matryoshka, in order to visualise the issues involved in combining five different functions into one position — the Loan Officer.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” — beginning with this famous quote by Peter Drucker, Michael Kortenbusch guided participants through a two-hour journey exploring the four key activities that form BFC’s Strategic Planning Framework: Understand, Decide, Plan, and Implement.

Michael Kortenbusch, General Director of Business & Finance Consulting, delivered an inspiring speech to more than 100 representatives of microfinance institutions, investors and authorities, in which he shared international experiences of how to successfully respond to the three key challenges in agricultural financing

More private lenders are seeing opportunities in financing the agricultural sector, but agrilending operations require new tools and approaches to cope with the market’s unique challenges.

BFC Managing Partner Marina Kortenbusch, PhD, was invited to present a workshop on building a strong staff culture for the Microfinance Centre’s 15^th annual conference, held in the Caucasus region.

“Effective microfinance depends on effective training, which should involve business simulation games,” argued Michael Kortenbusch, Managing Director of Business & Finance Consulting, speaking at the second annual German-Moldovan forum for SME finance in Chisinau, Moldova on October 25, 2011.