'SA leader in micro finance'

Rashid Ahmed from the Micro Finance Regulatory Council (MFRC) said the South African micro finance industry and the legislation governing it had become a touch stone for countries from Africa and around the world.

"Of particular interest to them has been the way in which the industry is being regulated through the MFRC and the legislation surrounding it."

Ahmed said credit bureaus and the technology that made them function as efficient cogs in the micro finance machine had also attracted wide interest.

To underscore the importance of South Africa in the micro finance industry world wide, Ahmed confirmed the MFRC in partnership with the University of Pretoria Centre for Microfinance, the Ugandan Micro Finance Network and the Central Bank of Uganda would host 2nd African Microfinance Conference in Cape Town from August 29 to September 1 this year.

Fred Steffers, managing director of the Consumer Profile Bureau said the upcoming conference was clear proof that South Africa had become a world leader in the field of micro finance.

"We have had visits from individuals and organisations in different parts of Africa who wanted to look at our setup with a view to replicating it in countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Botswana.

"There is no doubt that the systems we have developed in South Africa are among the most cutting edge in the world and the envy of many countries."

Steffers said his company and other credit bureaus had managed to developed systems that ensured that consumers received the amount of credit they could reasonably handle while at the same time protecting vendors from consumers who posed a bad credit risk.

Steffers said for Africa to move forward with economic development and poverty alleviation, it was essential that it had to progress quickly with the integration and transformation of its microfinance industry.

"We have already seen some developments in a number of countries such as Kenya and Tanzania but in most African countries microfinance is still seen and handled as separate to the formal financial sector," Steffers said.

"Until a determined effort is made to integrate microfinance into the formal banking systems, we'll always be playing catch-up," he said.