March 8, 2010–CGAP, Deutsche Bank, Grameen-Jameel and Islamic Development Bank have joined forces to challenge the Islamic microfinance industry to develop new ideas for business models in the Islamic Microfinance Challenge 2010: Innovating Sustainable, Scalable, and Market-Driven Models.  Islamic microfinance has gained some traction over the past few years, with a swift rise in the number of institutions offering microfinance products in compliance with Islamic principles. But the fundamental challenge for the Islamic microfinance industry remains meeting client demand with affordable, authentic, profitable, and market-driven products.

The Arabic Microfinance Gateway is seeking to contact freelance translators, to carry out the translation projects of the gateway for the year 2010. The freelance Translator shall be responsible for translating and editing the selected documents on monthly basis.  The freelance translator will also be responsible for ensuring that the translated text is in line with the glossary developed by Sanabel as well as acronyms and abbreviations known to the industry.  The contracted translator shall translate and edit training documents from English to Arabic or from Arabic to English as needed.

The ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility launches a new call for grant proposals to encourage insurance providers to experiment with new products and develop strategic partnerships that will bring effective and affordable products to working poor in developing countries. 

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Ranya Abdel-Baki as the new Executive Director of Sanabel.  This position has been vacant for the past five months during which Ranya was Acting Executive Director.