As many as 35 organisations are providing services to about 2.1 million people in the country and these services not only include just extending micro credit but other services such as savings, life and health insurance and enterprise development.
This was stated by the Chief Executive Asasah Microfinance Institution Tabinda Jaffery during a presentation to the Lahore Economic Journalists Association (LEJA) members here Tuesday. Aamir Rana, Head Livelihoods Programme was also present on this occasion.
She said 26 districts in Punjab are in pathetic and depressing condition where up to 40 percent people are living below poverty line. Throwing light on services of microfinance organisations, she said according to the new concept of the microfinance, customers need both financial and non-financial services that are tailor-made to suit their requirements. These services include a multitude of targeted credit products with appropriate loan sizes, savings, insurance, enterprise training and market linkages," said Tabinda.
The target market of the microfinance organisations has continued to be those poor people who have no access to formal sources of credit, she said and added that they have targeted productive poor, primarily women to whom microfinance is provided with women empowerment as a key to its operating target.
She said that the microfinance crediting was started in 1862 in Germany where the small farmers were provided small loans first time in the history. Agha Khan Rural Support Fund was the first of this kind of works in the country, established in 1982. While specialised microfinance institutions started their work from 1996 by the establishment of Khushhali Bank- the first microfinance bank in Pakistan.
Giving an overview of the Asasah Microfinance, the CE stated that it has segmented the market of microfinance between the productive poor and micro-entrepreneurs having running businesses. The productive poor avail Asasah's general services and the newly introduced Taleemi Sahoolat, whereas the micro entrepreneurs can avail its specialised services and micro enterprise training, she added.
At present Asasah operations are exclusively concentrated in urban, semi-urban and rural areas of Punjab with head office located at Lahore and branches spread over the other cities of Punjab. The operations have been structured in a substantially decentralised basis in which the overall governance of the operations is at the head office; however the operations pivot is the branch. Branches have been grouped into areas under the management of area manager for better management and administration.
It is to be noted that the Asasah Model is based on a minimalist approach with highly standardised and decentralised operations run on solidarity or group lending approach. In this the branch will continue as the nucleus of the entire gambit of operational activities. Women are used as conduits for providing financial resources to poor households.