The conference, Growth through Innovation in Africa: Mobile Financial Services and Financial Inclusion, will take place in Washington from 16-17 May 2011. The event is part of the Brookings Institution’s Africa Growth Initiative (AGI) and is in partnership with AFI and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). The goal is to explore how financial inclusion in Africa can be advanced through the use of mobile phone technology by looking into best practices and lessons learned from existing initiatives and strategies. High level policy makers, regulators, government officials, development agencies, and private sector stakeholders will make up the participants.

The opening panel will feature Maria Otero, Under Secretary of State (USA), Governor Njuguna S. Ndung’u of the Central Bank of Kenya, Alfred Hannig of AFI, and will be moderated by Mwangi Kimenyi, Director of Brookings Africa Growth Initiative. They will set the stage by examining mobile financial services and links between financial inclusion and economic growth in Africa. The following panels will focus on scaling up financial services and the role of development partners. The second day will host a series of discussions over mobile financial services covering risks and regulation, monetary policymaking, and the next frontier.

The co-chairs of the Mobile Financial Services Working Group (MFSWG) will be on hand to facilitate and gain inputs for the groups work from leading experts in attendance. A small group of leaders comprising AGI scholars, central bank governors, and others will convene ahead of the public forum to discuss key trends and agree on a path forward to maintain momentum and lessons learned with scaling up mobile financial services in Africa.

A number of panelists, discussion leaders, and moderators will come from the AFI membership and wider network:

• Perks Ligoya, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi
• Benno Ndulu, Governor of the Bank of Tanzania
• Njuguna S. Ndung’u, AFI Steering Committee and Governor of the CBK
• Louis Kasekende, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Uganda
• Millison Nah, Bank of Ghana
• Raymond O. Estioko, Co-Chair of the Mobile Financial Services Working Group (MFSWG), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
• Carlos Lopez-Moctezuma, Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV) and Co-Chair of the AFI Working Group on Mobile Financial Services
• Claire Alexandre, Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• David Porteous, AFI Associate, Bankable Frontier Associates
• Alfred Hannig, AFI Executive Director

Raising the profile and actual use of mobile financial services are the expected outcomes of the conference. The event is an opportunity for policymakers to share insights on these overarching objectives with governments, multilateral agencies, civil society and private sector leaders.