This 1st European Microfinance Day will serve as framework to achieve the following:

- Raise awareness among European citizens of the existence of microfinance and of how it is different from the mainstream financial sector.

- Explain to the political decision makers the benefits of microfinance and present them some lines of a policy agenda for the development of the sector.

- Draw the attention of European media to how microfinance actually works in Europe and to how it supports European citizens, unemployed or excluded from the traditional financial sector.

- Exchange experiences within the European microfinance sector by giving visibility to the performance of EMN & MFC members.

- Allow local members to increase awareness of their achievements and mission at local level.

Microfinance Ireland provides loans of between €2,000 and €25,000 to sole traders and small companies with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover of less than €2million. A subsidiary of The Social Finance Foundation, it was set up with the support of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the European Investment Fund.

For more information, please visit www.mircrofinanceireland.ie