The Citi-PPAF Microentrepreneurship Awards (CMA) are strongly promoting small business owners and enterprising individuals in Pakistan through facilitation of microcredit facilities to microentreprenuers. The recently held 12th edition of the Citi - PPAF Microentrepreneurship Awards (CMA), delivered in partnership by the Citi Foundation and the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), announced 32 winners nationwide who were awarded for their exceptional perseverance and hard work.
According to the details of the CMA, these microentreprenuers, through the facilitation of microcredit, changed their own lives and contributed to the development of their communities.
Naseem Maseeh, one of the winners, owns a stitching centre where he has trained more than 5000 girls and earns Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 per month. While physically disabled, Naseem was encouraged by the First Microfinance Bank to start his own business, and is now planning to expand his business by opening bigger centers in other areas. "Disabled people are hardly trusted by anyone. I had suffered lot but my life totally changed after the opportunity provided by The First Microfinance Bank," Naseem said.
Another winner, Sanober, resident of a small remote community, started her business from a chicken cart and today she owns a shop in the local market in Hyderabad employing 6 people. She earns more than Rs 5,000 per day now and plans to invest more in her business. I never thought that I will attain so much success, but I was able to achieve my dream because of the loan I received from Khushhali Microfinance Bank. I was discouraged by my family members but today I am the biggest financial supporter of my family, she said.
Programmes like the Citi-PPAF Microentrepreneurship Awards are a fantastic way to highlight best practices in microentrepreneurship and simultaneously to raise awareness about microfinance and its importance for a thriving economy. Even though the Citibank has wrapped up its consumer operations not only from Pakistan but in more than 50 countries around the globe, Citi still has a strong presence within the corporate and investment banking space and is committed towards economic development and poverty eradication in the country.
To be eligible for the Citi - PPAF Microentrepreneurship awards, a business must have benefited from an affordable loan from responsible finance providers, and must have contributed to the local economic growth in the community, province or city they operate in. Since 2005, the Citi Microentrepreneurship awards have recognised 450 outstanding microentrepreneurs through their programme. In addition to cash awards, the winners also receive trainings in financial management and marketing to help them grow their businesses.
According to Pakistan's first ever official report on multidimensional poverty launched by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform, nearly 39 percent of Pakistanis live in multidimensional poverty, with the highest rates of poverty in FATA and Balochistan. While the world saw some progress over the past two decades as the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) placed eradicating hunger and poverty on top of the global agenda, extreme poverty remains a pressing challenge. It continues to be a priority in the 2015-2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Many studies have found that a small increase in microfinance to the developing world could lift more than 10.5 million people out of extreme poverty. Microfinance not only reduces how many households live in poverty but also how poor they are.
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