Boulder Institute of Microfinance

Ms. Chigara has more than 13 years of experience in microfinance, SME development, and organisational development in Southern Africa. She has held operational, managerial, and senior advisory posts in microfinance institutions at both wholesale and retail levels, such as Vulindlela, International Labour Organisation (ILO), CARE Zimbabwe, and Zambuko Trust. While in CARE Zimbabwe, she was instrumental in spearheading the set up of a microfinance division in Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe.

In the recent past she has been project manager for a management contract, funded by USAID that set up MicroKing - a division for Kingdom Bank (Zimbabwe). Her practical field experience has been bolstered by several successful invitations to present papers on microfinance and related subjects at international conferences, as well as her attendance as trainer at internationally recognised best-practice courses, including the Boulder Microfinance Training Program.

She is an accredited trainer with CGAP, ILO and MicroSave and has extensively used MicroSave PRA tools both in training and programme evaluation contexts. Her accomplishments clearly reflect a comprehensive understanding of the organisational, human, financial, system, product and many other attributes of successful microfinance. Furthermore, she has shown an ability to transfer her skills and knowledge to counterparts, colleagues, and subordinates in several varied settings.

She has worked in numerous African countries conducting consulting assignments in countries including South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, Swaziland, Uganda and Tanzania. She has been conducting training for Financial Analysis at the Boulder MFT program for five years and will be facilitating the sixth session this summer. Currently she is working for ACCION International as Resident Advisor for ACB in Tanzania.