The French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, the American Chamber of Commerce in China and the Swisscham Beijing are pleased to invite you to this cocktail conference on:

Development of Micro-finance in China

This panel discussion involving Wokai (Micro-finance funder, China Micro-finance P2P pioneer), Planet Finance (Micro-finance development organization) and the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA, Micro-finance, disaster relief, healthcare) will take you into the world of Micro-finance and explain how appropriate this system is to China.

Both difficulties and opportunities of micro-finance in China will be explored from the perspective of these 3 organizations, which, although they have the same goal, have different approaches.

Short presentations will be followed by a panel discussion and a Q&A session, in order to expose what opportunities for involvement from the wider business community is available to enable people in China to lift themselves from poverty.

Speakers:

Sara Jane Ho, Wokai
Sara Jane Ho, a native of Hong Kong, received a BA in English and Government from Georgetown University and is headed to Harvard Business School this fall. Prior to volunteering for Wokai in Beijing and New York, and founding the Wokai Hong Kong Chapter, she was an investment banking analyst at Perella Weinberg Partners and Morgan Stanley. Sara will share insights on the microfinance landscape in China, the regulatory outlook of non-profits, and the social impact of helping people to help themselves. Wokai's success has been followed by Bloomberg Asia, CCTV News, Phoenix TV, China Daily and CNBC, and many others.

Justin Zhang, PlaNet Finance
Justin Zhang has been a microfinance consultant with PlaNet Finance China office since its inception in 2003. Justin has seven years of microfinance experience in China and works on both the Technical Assistance team, providing consulting and capacity building to financial institutions, as well as on PlaNet Finance China’s poverty-alleviation “Microfinance Plus” projects. Justin graduated from the People’s University of China where he obtained a bachelor degree in Business and Administration.

Elaine Chou, PlaNet Finance
Elaine Chou is the Director of Administration and Finance for PlaNet Finance China and oversees the finances and administration for its Beijing office and all China projects. She also works as a consultant on Technical Assistance projects for financial institutions and development agencies in China. Elaine was previously an investment banking analyst in New York where she specialized in mergers and acquisitions. She graduated from New York University where she studied Economics, Psychology and Business.

Li Qi, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation
Li Qi is the resource development manager of microfinance department, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA). After receiving her Bachelor degree in 2003, she joined CFPA. In CFPA, she mainly responsible for build and maintain the partnership in microfinance with its donors and partners like Shell, Nike, Microsoft, JP Morgan, Bayer, Stand Chartered Bank, Citi Bank ect. She has been working with CFPA for nearly seven year, among which, 5 years are with the microfinance program.