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Zambia
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The Promoter
The promoter is a non-banking financial institution founded in 1985. The founder’s pioneered “village banking,” which brings together groups of between 10 – 25 people in a community, mostly women,who guarantee small loans for each other. These small loans enable them to create income-generating opportunities which help support themselves and their families. Fueled initially by grants and technical assistance from government, foundation and private donors, the promoters began as a series of international assistance programs to alleviate poverty in low-income and post-conflict countries through the provision of small loans to poor entrepreneurs. A quarter century later, the promoter operates with a distinct business model that integrates both donations and investment in order to maximize the capital available to clients. This integrated funding model paired with our double bottom line approach promotes transparency and sustainability while honoring the social mission for which we were founded.
The promoter reaches over 1.8 million clients through its 23 subsidiaries in Africa, Eurasia, the Middle East and South Asia, and Latin America. Their outreach is among the broadest and most comprehensive of today’s microfinance institutions. Today the financial institution has grown into a global network spanning four regions and serving over 1,000,000 clients. The promoter offers an array of financial products and services to its clients including enterprise financing, savings, remittance services, micro insurance, and financial education. Their Products and their terms and conditions are adapted to each market context, so they may achieve their mission of improving the livelihoods of low-income individuals and their families while ensuring sustainability of operations.
The promoter’s commitment over the last 25 years has been to reach the working poor, and those who have been excluded from the financial mainstream. The promoter often operates in communities that other microfinance providers have declined to enter, and its average loan size (600USD globally and 263 USD in Africa), among the very lowest in the microfinance industry suggests that the promoter is succeeding in its mission. They bring new life-enhancement services to clients and engage in cutting-edge research to track the benefits to clients, allowing the promoter to better serve them.
The Africa Chapter
The Africa chapter has expanded its outreach to Malawi (1994), Tanzania (1998), Zambia (2001), the Democratic Republic of Congo (2003) and Nigeria (2014).It has continuously focused on refining key aspect of its business: physical and organizational infrastructure, information technology systems, products, policies and procedures, and the focus on customer centricity, resulting in strong and sustained growth in portfolio and outreach. Africa has engaged in developing new electronic channels to increase client accessibility to their services, to allow them to efficiently scale up their services, and to effectively service the different market segments they would like to reach out to, with their new savings products. The promoters are developing new channels in different subsidiaries to gain the experience necessary to export the most effective ones to other subsidiaries: Branch based POS and Access cards used on partner bank ATMs in Uganda, Agency banking (POS) in the DRC, and Mobile phone payment services in Tanzania.
Zambia
The promoter started operations in Zambia in 2001, with headquarters in Lusaka and branches in Lusaka, Central, Southern, Eastern and Copperbelt Provinces. Ever since, Zambian branches have grown to become the biggest enterprise-lending Microfinance Institution in the country both in both Portfolio and Clientele. The brand is now a common household name among the communities in Zambia thanks to its Savings, Loan and value additional products and services as well as lending methods that are outstanding on the market. The Zambian branches recently, added Savings to its product range to enable clients build Wealth and secure their future through Sustainable Savings. The branches has total assets of ZMW 144, 036, 000 (more than USD 19 million, as of June 2015) and serves over 34,000 credit and over 63,000 Savings clients in 14 branches and 5 Agent outlets in urban and periurban areas of the country.
Today the Zambia branches alone employ over 500 employees. Established as a non-for-profit organization in 2001, they have made significant progress at expanding its loan portfolio and number of clients over the past years. The promoter’s loan portfolio as at June 2015 was at 116,447,691 (over USD 15, 000, 000). Since the introduction of Savings in 2013,the Zambia’s branch Savings portfolio has grown to ZMW 26,982,794 (USD 3, 696, 273) in Quarter 2 of 2015.
Focus: Enterprise Financing
The promoter is a non-banking financial institution founded in 1985. The founder’s pioneered “village banking,” which brings together groups of between 10 – 25 people in a community, mostly women,who guarantee small loans for each other. These small loans enable them to create income-generating opportunities which help support themselves and their families. Fueled initially by grants and technical assistance from government, foundation and private donors, the promoters began as a series of international assistance programs to alleviate poverty in low-income and post-conflict countries through the provision of small loans to poor entrepreneurs. A quarter century later, the promoter operates with a distinct business model that integrates both donations and investment in order to maximize the capital available to clients. This integrated funding model paired with our double bottom line approach promotes transparency and sustainability while honoring the social mission for which we were founded.
The promoter reaches over 1.8 million clients through its 23 subsidiaries in Africa, Eurasia, the Middle East and South Asia, and Latin America. Their outreach is among the broadest and most comprehensive of today’s microfinance institutions. Today the financial institution has grown into a global network spanning four regions and serving over 1,000,000 clients. The promoter offers an array of financial products and services to its clients including enterprise financing, savings, remittance services, micro insurance, and financial education. Their Products and their terms and conditions are adapted to each market context, so they may achieve their mission of improving the livelihoods of low-income individuals and their families while ensuring sustainability of operations.
The promoter’s commitment over the last 25 years has been to reach the working poor, and those who have been excluded from the financial mainstream. The promoter often operates in communities that other microfinance providers have declined to enter, and its average loan size (600USD globally and 263 USD in Africa), among the very lowest in the microfinance industry suggests that the promoter is succeeding in its mission. They bring new life-enhancement services to clients and engage in cutting-edge research to track the benefits to clients, allowing the promoter to better serve them.
The Africa Chapter
The Africa chapter has expanded its outreach to Malawi (1994), Tanzania (1998), Zambia (2001), the Democratic Republic of Congo (2003) and Nigeria (2014).It has continuously focused on refining key aspect of its business: physical and organizational infrastructure, information technology systems, products, policies and procedures, and the focus on customer centricity, resulting in strong and sustained growth in portfolio and outreach. Africa has engaged in developing new electronic channels to increase client accessibility to their services, to allow them to efficiently scale up their services, and to effectively service the different market segments they would like to reach out to, with their new savings products. The promoters are developing new channels in different subsidiaries to gain the experience necessary to export the most effective ones to other subsidiaries: Branch based POS and Access cards used on partner bank ATMs in Uganda, Agency banking (POS) in the DRC, and Mobile phone payment services in Tanzania.
Zambia
The promoter started operations in Zambia in 2001, with headquarters in Lusaka and branches in Lusaka, Central, Southern, Eastern and Copperbelt Provinces. Ever since, Zambian branches have grown to become the biggest enterprise-lending Microfinance Institution in the country both in both Portfolio and Clientele. The brand is now a common household name among the communities in Zambia thanks to its Savings, Loan and value additional products and services as well as lending methods that are outstanding on the market. The Zambian branches recently, added Savings to its product range to enable clients build Wealth and secure their future through Sustainable Savings. The branches has total assets of ZMW 144, 036, 000 (more than USD 19 million, as of June 2015) and serves over 34,000 credit and over 63,000 Savings clients in 14 branches and 5 Agent outlets in urban and periurban areas of the country.
Today the Zambia branches alone employ over 500 employees. Established as a non-for-profit organization in 2001, they have made significant progress at expanding its loan portfolio and number of clients over the past years. The promoter’s loan portfolio as at June 2015 was at 116,447,691 (over USD 15, 000, 000). Since the introduction of Savings in 2013,the Zambia’s branch Savings portfolio has grown to ZMW 26,982,794 (USD 3, 696, 273) in Quarter 2 of 2015.
Focus: Enterprise Financing
- Providing financial services to micro and small enterprises.
- Providing market- and mission-led products, with a focus on a set of core products – credit, savings, insurance and payment services – benefiting clients and generating profits for the promoter’s, which are delivered through efficient branch and non-branch channels.