Family bank to participate financing conference

The Family Bank will participate in Sanabel's Ninth Annual Conference, the largest of its kind in the MENA Region, due to be hosted by the Sudanese Capital Khartoum from October 31 to November 2, 2012, under the theme of "New Decade for Sanabel, New Services from the Microfinance Sector". Sanabel (the Microfinance Network of Arab Countries) consists of 89 members from 13 Arab countries, namely Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. The conference will be an exclusive occasion to learn about and discuss new trends, challenges, and opportunities facing microfinance practitioners in the Arab region, as well as a unique opportunity to meet and network closely with the sector practitioners from all around the world.More than 500 microfinance practitioners, donors, investors, and government representatives from the region and worldwide are expected to attend this important event in Sudan. This year Sanabel will also be celebrating the network's 10th anniversary as part of the Ninth Annual Conference's proceedings. The Family Bank's delegation to the conference includes the Manager of Micro Enterprises Financing and NGO's Programmes and Assistant Mangaer fro Credit and Risk SHereen Hussain Jani. It is to be noted that the Family Bank, established according to a cooperation framework with Grameen Trust, was initiated by the Social Development Ministry, in total partnership with the Royal Charity Organisation (RCO), Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK), Ithmaar Bank, Ahli United Bank and Kuwait Finance House. It is the first Islamic micro-finance bank in the Middle East with the prime objective to contribute to poverty alleviation and socio-economic empowerment of the communities it serves through the provision of sustainable Islamic financial services to the needy. The bank also acts as a mechanism to guide and maintain programs aiming to enhance the living conditions of the needy families, and provide official channels for obtaining financial and organizational support for such households and the organizations providing patronage from inside and outside the Kingdom. It was licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain in 2010 and has served more than 1000 beneficiaries up to now.