ABUJA – Mr Valentine Whensu, the President, National Association of Micro Finance Banks (NAMB), on Friday said the Association would hold its first micro finance conference in the first quarter of 2015.
Whensu made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
He said the essence of the conference was to enlighten citizens on the importance of Micro Finance Banks (MFB) to the growth of the nation.
He added that the conference was also aimed at celebrating with government, stakeholders and members who contributed to the sub-sector.
The NAMB boss said that the conference would be organised in collaboration with the association’s sister body– the Association of Non- Bank Micro Finance Institutions.
Whensu said micro enterprises were the only means of transforming the economy and it was necessary for people to be informed of their importance in nation building.
He said “micro businesses are the only vehicles that can transform any economy.
“ When you take care of the micro and small enterprises in any economy, it contributes to the GDP and even more to the national economy and it changes the face of poverty.
“ And we should not forget that when we talk about financial inclusion, it is MFB that are the right vehicle to take us out of poverty alleviation.
“There is no poverty alleviation without financial inclusion, so we want to stage our MFB and let the whole world know what we are doing.’’
Whensu added that the Association was working toward being self-regulated, “which is one of the pillars guiding NAMB.’’
He said NAMB planned to arrange an exchange programme for members to be able to visit countries like Ghana, to know how such associations operate.
“We intend to organise ourselves with other neighboring countries to get a body that will regulate our operations,’’ he added. (NAN)