NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Many people want to make a difference, but turning good intentions into tangible impact can be hard. The Net Impact Conference is your accelerator. We can give you the skills, experiences and connections so that you can have the greatest impact now and throughout your career.

From the founders of impactful companies, to the professionals using business as a force for good, to the students and graduates preparing for a career with purpose, our members and alumni continue to be a driving force for change around the world everyday. These are the inspiring people who will gather this October in Atlanta for the 2017 Net Impact Conference.

For 25 years, the Annual Net Impact Conference has guided attendees to their careers with impact. This year we’re taking it a step further: we’re creating an experience unlike any conference you’ve ever been to before. At the 2017 Net Impact Conference, we’ll help you map out your Path to Purpose.

You already have a passion for social and environmental impact, the 2017 Net Impact Conference will take you on a path where you can turn that passion into a purposeful career by gaining tangible skills and actionable insights.

The 2017 Net Impact Conference will bring together in one space the brightest, most enthusiastic, and innovative impact leaders from around the world. With specific paths mapped out for students, new graduates, emerging leaders, and those changing careers, all attendees will leave with their own map of their path to purpose.

The theme of this year’s Central Asian & Caucasus Microfinance Forum is: “Microfinance Goes Digital: Opportunities & Challenges in the Caucasus & Central Asia.”

The microfinance market in Central Asia & Caucasus is young and dynamic. The regional microfinance market is acute and recently gaining popularity. Microfinance investment opportunities have significantly grown and diversified in recent years as the MFI market grows and matures.

Discussions and presentations will allow participants to share their experiences, ask questions to the experts, as well as communicate with colleagues about the most trending issues of the microfinance sector at the Central Asian & Caucasus Microfinance Forum in Tbilisi, Georgia.

The conference will bring together market players from MIVs, MFIs, banks, consultancy companies and IT solutions providers in order to discuss such topics, as:

• Market and investment outlook for 2017-2018;
• Access to finance in local currency;
• Raising attractiveness for new investors: what are the main steps;
• Fintech for MFIs and banks: how to become more efficient and competitive;
• Microfinance credit risk management: credit scoring in the region.

Groupe Initiatives, a consortium of 10 NGOs active in international development, invites you to a day of discussions around how to best create and support local artisanal value chains:

-What are the different strategies that can strengthen local artisanal value chains or help them emerge?
-How to create adequate links between the actors of a new value chain?
-What are the tools that can help understand and analyse such value chains (e.g. stakeholder mapping) ?
-What role(s) can NGOs play in supporting the creation of these value chains? Should they only support others or also play an active role? What risks does this bear?

Hystra will be testifying on the learnings drawn from dozens of projects.

Register here! (NB: the roundtable will be held in French. Seating is limited so book early!)

Fake News, distrust in journalism, and misinformation are some of the trending topics of 2017. What do they mean? Why is the current state of media at an inflexion point? What are the consequences of today’s contemporary media challenges? And how are social entrepreneurs solving them?

Laxmi Parthasarathy, Director of Global Media Partnerships at Ashoka, will discuss her research on the intersection of social entrepreneurship and media innovation in building more informed and civically engaged communities.  Laxmi’s talk is sponsored by the Center for Social Impact’s Social Innovation Series and Net Impact@Ross Undergraduate Club.