The annual Mikro Kapital Convention took place from 8-10 December 2017 in the magical, snowy setting of the Hotel Radisson in the historic region of Tver, 80 miles from Moscow.

This was an opportunity for Mikro Kapital’s management to meet everyone who has played a part in the company’s success since it was founded ten years ago. The convention in Tver aimed to highlight the key moments in Mikro Kapital’s development, a company with its roots in the past, an intense approach to the present and an attentive and optimistic view of the future.

The three days of the convention were packed full of seminars and conversations on topics close to Mikro Kapital’s heart such as financial analysis, digital marketing, global group IT networks and leadership, and were attended by leading figures from a range of different countries, representing various institutions and the world of microfinance: Nikolas Drude, Associate Director and Senior Banker at EBRD; Mario Baccini and Riccardo Graziano, Chairman and General Secretary respectively of the National Microcredit Agency (ENM); and Gulbakhor Makhkamova, CEO of IMON International.

One of the highlights of the numerous discussions was the conversation with Arseny Tarasov, Digital Transformation Lead at Microsoft, who painted a picture of a company that has brought about substantial changes in the last 20 years, not only in the world of banking and finance but in the economic system as a whole.

The iconic 1980s film Back to the Future was chosen to represent the dual celebration (the annual convention and Mikro Kapital’s tenth anniversary), acting as a leitmotif throughout the evening. The guest of honour was the incredible DeLorean – the car dazzled guests in the hall, before appearing on-screen in the video which opened the convention.

The company, its employees and its clients were the real stars of the second day of the convention. The 13 companies in the Mikro Kapital group were presented to 600 guests, in a room equipped with three large screens. With one storytelling video for each company, viewers were taken on a journey from Moscow to the Caucasus via various European (Italy and Romania) and CIS (Moldova, Belarus and Armenia) countries, before heading to Central Asia, where Mikro Kapital met another organisation (IMON International) and Tajikistan, where interesting microfinance projects have recently been launched. The convention continued with presentations from the managers of each company, providing an overview of their development and objectives.

This journey was rounded off in the evening with an award ceremony, which celebrated the results achieved and the effort put in by various figures. A special award was given to one of the many highly professional women who work at Mikro Kapital: a true professional who has achieved excellent results as well as raising five children.

Another deserving award-winner was Vittorio Volpi, Chair of Mikro Kapital’s Advisory Board, who describes himself as a self-made man, and whom the management credits with a large part of Mikro Kapital’s success. As Vincenzo Trani, the Group’s president, declared when the award was presented, “many of our projects could not have been completed without Vittorio’s advice and experience”.

Drawing on his wide-ranging and long-standing experience in banking and finance, Vittorio Volpi’s speech once again demonstrated his attentive analysis of the profound changes underway in the banking sector, focusing both on finance and the phenomena of fintech and cryptocurrencies.

“Both drawing on these deep changes in the banking system and in response to them, Mikro Kapital and its partners will find the tools required to continue to grow into the future”, Vincenzo Trani concluded, “continuing the successful journey we started out on only ten years ago”.