At this workshop in our Brussels office on Thursday 15 March, we will hear from Jean-Philippe Stijns, Senior Economist at the EIB, who will explain how the EU Bank supports entrepreneurship outside the EU. His presentation will be followed by concrete project examples from Jordan, Ethiopia and a multinational initiative focusing on sub-Saharan Africa.

We will welcome Lama Zawati, Deputy General Manager for Finance and Administration of the Microfund for Women (MFW), who will tell us how the MFW contributes to support poverty reduction and social inclusion through the promotion of decent work conditions and access to essential services, including funding, for micro-enterprises in Jordan.

We will also hear from Faith Chisulo, head of the company that runs the M-Birr platform in Ethiopia. M-Birr focuses on the provision of mobile money services in the country, and solutions which simplify the process for payment of goods and services between individuals and small businesses.

Finally we will learn about Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), thanks to Jean-Michel Severino, CEO of I&P, who will tell us about his impact investing group, which gathers three impact funds representing EUR 75m, and has supported more than 60 SMEs, located in 15 African countries.

A sandwich lunch will be provided ahead of the event, and a networking coffee will take place afterwards.