Sanabel is a microfinance network serving Arab countries that aims to strengthen the microfinance sector. It has 88 member institutions serving over 2.8 million clients. The document provides details on Sanabel's vision/mission, membership categories and benefits, key activities including training and conferences, partnerships, achievements from 2002-2012 such as translating courses and increasing members, and future plans to support the sector in the Maghreb region.

1. S ANAB EL AT A GLANC E
May
2 0 12
SANABEL – The Microfinance Network of Arab Countries

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
 About Sanabel
 Sanabel’s Vision, Mission, and Objectives
 Sanabel’s Membership
 Benefits of Membership
 Sanabel’s Key Activities
 Sanabel Key Achievements in 2011
 Sanabel New Partnerships
 Sanabel’s Main Partners & Donors
 Sanabel’s 10 Anniversary (Achievements from 2002 – 2012)
 Future Activities in Maghreb Region

3. ABOUT SANABEL

4. VISION, MISSION & OBJECTIVES
Vision
Sanabel envisions all low income people in Arab countries with access to comprehensive financial
services.
Mission
Sanabel advocates for growth, innovation, best practices & standardization of the microfinance sector
in Arab countries.
Objectives
1- Strengthen the capacity of MFIs through needs-based training, technical assistance and peer
exchanges.
2- Advocate for a positive and conducive microfinance environment and for the inclusion of
microfinance in the financial sector.
3- Promote microfinance best practices among stakeholders in Arab countries through transparency,
standardization, peer learning and information exchange efforts.
4- Foster innovation in the microfinance sector by researching and highlighting leading trends in
technological developments, product diversification and new financial services.

5. SANABEL’s MEMBERSHIP
 Sanabel presently has 88 members from 13 different countries; namely, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan,
Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.
 It is estimated that Sanabel members are serving 2.8 million clients representing 90% of the total
microfinance clients in the region.
 Sanabel currently has four membership categories:
•Full Member1
Institutional Criteria:
9.Focus on lending to micro entrepreneurs;
10.Located and operating in one or more Arab countries;
11.Minimum of 2 years of operations as an MFI;
12.Minimum of 5,000 active clients in countries with populations in excess of 8 million; a minimum of
3,000 active clients in all other countries with the exception of Lebanon and Palestine which should
have a minimum of 2,000 active clients;
13.Working to achieve full operational and financial sustainability;
14.Committed to building transparency, evidenced by the annual submission of financial information
to external auditors, the Micro banking Bulletin (MBB) and the Microfinance Information Exchange
(MIX).
1. 60% of Sanabel members are listed under full members category.

6. SANABEL’s MEMBERSHIP (cont’d)
2) Affiliate Member
Institutional Criteria:
6.Focus on lending to micro entrepreneurs or be a national microfinance network;
7.Located and operating in one or more Arab countries;
8.Working to achieve full operational and financial sustainability;
9.Committed to building transparency, evidenced by the annual submission of financial information to
external auditors, the Micro banking Bulletin (MBB) and the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX).
3) Friends of Sanabel
Institutional Criteria:
15.Individuals, banks, donors, technical assistance providers, trainers and non-MFI NGOs committed to the
development of best practice microfinance Arab countries;
16.Actively participating in the microfinance sector in Arab countries.

7. SANABEL’s MEMBERSHIP (cont’d)
4) National Network (New)
Institutional Criteria:
5. Advancing Microfinance in the Arab region;
6. Located and operating in one or more Arab countries;
7. Is representative of more than 50% of the microfinance sector in area(s) of operation (i.e. members
are serving more than 50% of active clients within the network’s area(s) of work);
8. Focusing on activities that are results oriented;
9. Working to achieve full operational and financial sustainability;
10. Committed to building transparency and benchmarking amongst microfinance networks
worldwide; evidenced by the annual submission of financial information to external auditors,
Sanabel network, and SEEP Network.

8. BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP
 Affiliation with the leading best-practice MFIs in the region;
 Discounted registration and scholarships for Sanabel's annual conference which is the largest
gathering of microfinance practitioners, experts, donors, investors, and stakeholders in the region;
 Discounts and a priority for the participation in Sanabel‘s Training of Trainers (TOT) workshops
and trainings courses for microfinance practitioners;
 Ability to disseminate the MFIs latest news through Sanabel’s newsletters and to participate in peer
learning activities and exchanges;
 An opportunity to create a profile on the MIX market and have it updated periodically to give
donors, investors, and industry specialists an accurate view of the MFI’s performance;
 Access to new projects and activities brought to the region for the first time such as Social
Performance Management.

9. SANABEL’s KEY ACTIVITIES
 Sanabel enjoys a unique position as a market facilitator providing the Arab microfinance industry
with direct services in areas such as: networking, training, translation, research, and exchange of
information using the primary languages of the region.
 Sanabel serves as a catalyst and coordinating entity for the work of partner organizations in areas
such as transparency and benchmarking, capacity building and in advocacy for the microfinance
industry.
 Sanabel’s Core Activities include:
o Training & Capacity Building
o Communications & Membership (www.sanabelnetwork.org )
o Annual Conference ( www.sanabelconf.org )
o Transparency & Research
o Social performance Management Project (SPM)
o Arabic Microfinance Gateway ( www.arabic.microfinancegateway.org )

10. SANABEL’s KEY ACHIEVEMENTS in 2011
 Membership and Communications
o 6 new members from 6 countries joined the network in 2011, bringing up total membership to a total of
86 members in 2011.
o Sanabel officially re-launched its website with a new design and updated content.
o Sanabel successfully organized a breakfast/Iftar gathering for the first time for its members in Egypt and
Yemen during the holy month of Ramadan.
 Training and Capacity Building
o Sanabel organized the first regional Management Crisis workshop tackling the current situation in the
Microfinance sector, entitled: “Managing the Crisis and Planning for the Future” on 20 - 21 November
2011 in Cairo, Egypt.
o Sanabel organized 6 training courses (3 TOTs and 3 TOMMs), and 2 workshops throughout 2011 in 3
Arab countries, delivered to more than 160 participants.
o Sanabel successfully organized a peer exchange program in Morocco in cooperation with “Centre
Mohammed VI de Soutien a la microfinance Solidaire. The program was attended by 13 participants from
Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Syria.
o Sanabel introduced and delivered 2 new training courses for the first time to the Region, namely; Youth-
Inclusive Financial Services course (ToT & ToMM) in cooperation with Making Cents International (MCI)
and Alexandria Business Association (ABA) and a course on Islamic Microfinance.

11. SANABEL’s KEY ACHIEVEMENTS in 2011 (cont’d)
 Transparency and Research
o The Transparency department began the data collection process for the MSME Islamic Finance survey
in collaboration with CGAP, Al Baraka Bank and AFD (which is providing the financial support).
 Arabic Microfinance Gateway (AMFG)
o AMFG launched a special series of blogs on the new challenges and opportunities that were created by
the Arab Spring titled: “Microfinance and the Arab Spring: Challenges and opportunities” which is
published on the CGAP website in English and the AMFG website in Arabic.
 Social performance Management
o Sanabel successfully co-organized with SEEP Network four-day training on “Strategic Planning &
Governance”, in October, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. 12 participants representing the national networks in
the Arab Countries.
 Sanabel Annual Conference
o Sanabel’s 8th Annual Conference, “Microfinance in the Arab Region: Challenges of the Past and
Opportunities of the Future”, was held under the patronage of H.E. Prime Minister Dr. Maarouf Al-
Bakhit, in Amman, Jordan from June 7th – 9th, 2011, and was well attended by more than 500
participants and featured 70 speakers from the region and around the globe.

12. SANABEL’s NEW PARTNERSHIPS
 Signing of MOU with CGAP: for a strategic cooperation in serving the microfinance sector in
the Arab region. Some of the joint activities under this MoU include the issuance of a semi-
annual MENA Update Newsletter that highlights the key developments and interventions in the
region by donors and investors, Arab Spring Blogs series…etc
 Signing of MOU with Centre Mohammed VI de Soutien a la microfinance Solidaire: for the
provision of more effective support to strengthen the microfinance sector in the Maghreb sub-
region (North Africa).
 Signing of MOU with GIZ: to strengthening the regulatory framework in selected countries in
the region (namely Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine) as well as providing technical assistance to
Sanabel in the areas of strategy development, procedures and governance, and service
provision.
 Signing of MOU with Silatech: to provide youth savings initiatives for low-income youth in
the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

13. SANABEL’s MAIN DONORS & PARTNERS

14. Sanabel is Celebrating its 10th
Anniversary

15. SANABEL’s KEY ACHIEVEMENTS from 2002 - 2012
Sanabel has been awarded the “Network of the Year Award 2010” from The Small
Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network.
Membership and Communications
oIncrease in number of Sanabel members from 17 in 2002 to 88 members to date; of which 60% are
full members;
oPublication of periodic newsletter, annual report, and maintenance of Sanabel website;
Training and Capacity Building
o Translation of 12 microfinance courses into Arabic;
o Trained over 95 trainers (TOTs);
o Trained over 1,500 microfinance managers (TOMMs).
Sanabel Annual Conference
oHeld an annual microfinance conference from 2004 - 20011;
oOver 500 individuals (including practitioners, policy makers, donors, experts, and investors from 26
countries) participated in the last conference which was held in Amman in June 2011;
oThe Sanabel conference is the largest of its kind in the region.

16. SANABEL’s KEY ACHIEVEMENTS FROM 2002 – 2012 (cont’d)
 Arabic Microfinance Gateway
o Website launched in 2004 (partnership with CGAP);
o Over 680 documents have been translated and posted on the site in addition to news items, jobs
and organizational profiles;
o Website is visited by more than 8,800 visitors per month.
 Transparency and Research
o Gather, analyze and publish data on Arab MFIs – through partnership with MIX (Number of Arab
MFI with profiles on MIX Market increased since 2003 to reach 75 MFIs in 2010; while the number
of Arab MFIs participating in annual global benchmarks published in MIX MicroBanking Bulletin
(MBB) increased from 6 in 2003 to 65 in 2010.)
o Sanabel has released “Arab Microfinance Regional Report” that analyzes the financial performance
of the Arab region within the context of the existing funding structure and regulatory environment
and also highlights key trends, achievements, challenges, and opportunities for the microfinance
sector in the Arab region to all interested parties.
 Social Performance Management (SPM)
o First SPM TOT was conducted resulting in training of 8 Arab microfinance practitioners in SPM, of
whom 6 were certified;
o SPM trainers conducted 3 training (1 in the French and 2 in Arabic) for 27 Sanabel member MFIs, of
which 13 MFIs has Social Audits conducted by the trainers.

17. THANK YOU