Venice Microfinance Initiative

When executives asked members what they expect to do and strengthen during their experience with the club, our fellow students expressed the will to be involved in something of real impact.

The good thing was that we already had something in mind.

Our fresh and innovative project was inspired by successful activities carried out by the Melbourne Microfinance Initiative, a student society based at The University of Melbourne, Australia, which core activity consists in delivering pro-bono consulting to MFIs in South East Asia and in the Pacific Region.

Their success, efforts and collaboration were essential to the development of the Venice Microfinance Initiative.

About us

The main goal of VMI is to get in touch with microfinance institutions working in Italy, Estern Europe and North Africa, in order to establish a profitable collaboration aimed to provide them the specific services (Risk Management, Marketing, Digitalization process) they might need of. We will select a delegation of students, who will be adequately trained by professors and experts in each of the areas above; after the training the students will start a 3 months long internship abroad for the MFI.

The introductory video conference aims to give the students and the MFI operatives the first chance to meet and to set the basis for the collaboration project.
During this meeting, both parties will evaluate and discuss the issues previously brought up by our team, and consider possible solutions.

The mid-term field journey consists in a 3-months internship for our students at the MFI’s headquarter. During this visit, VMI will have the chance to meet the institution’s operatives in person, to be involved with clients, and to better understand how operations are performed on a daily basis.

VMI’s final video meeting is needed for our students to evaluate the implementation of the project, give the final recommendations and analyze future benefits. During the meeting, VMI will also assess the impact and success of the initiative, question the improvement of the project and ask for feedback.

Sponsor

Institute was set up within the EIB Group (European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund) to promote and support social, cultural, and academic initiatives with European stakeholders and the public at large. It is a key pillar of the EIB Group’s community and citizenship engagement.
One of the aim of the EIB Institute is to support the activities of the European Investment Bank Group (EIB and EIF) in the area of microfinance through its Knowledge and Social Programmes. These programmes use instruments such us grants and sponsorships in order to promote conferences and other initiatives and to support higher education and research enabling the development of microfinance in Europe and beyond its borders.
The role of EIB in VMI:
VMI is entirely funded by the EIB Institute. The Institute, in fact, is engaged in supporting the carry-out of VMI’s activities across 28 European Union’s states.
More precisely, EIB aims to cover accommodation expenses, travelling expenses and expenses related to the printing and dispatching of the final report that will be made the Team properly selected from VMI’s Board.
The Team will be scrupulously selected among Invenicement Ca’ Foscari members and will be engaged in a pro-bono not remunerated work, ensuring that the project will be carried out with the highest standards of professional and ethical competence, supporting MFIs (Microfinance Institutions) with whom VMI has already established a collaboration
The current financial collaboration with EIB will lasts for 3 years (January 1st – December 31st) and will allocate an amount of Euro 30.000 that will be used to cover expenses of the project and will be paid after the presentation of invoices. This financing aid aims to cover expenses for 3 students of Ca’ Foscari University for an internship of three months in Italy or abroad, at the premises of a partner microfinance institution (MFI).