Pakistan

Dr. Sono Khangarani, CEO of Acumen Fund investee Micro Drip and CEO of Thardeep Rural Development Program (RDP), was profiled recently in an article entitled “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” in the Dawn Review, a Pakistani newspaper. Dr. Sono has dedicated the past twelve years of his life improving the lives of the poor in the rural areas of Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, Dadu and Khairpur districts of Sindh, Pakistan.

With the support from Acumen Fund, Dr. Sono and Thardeep recently set up a for-profit drip irrigation company – Micro Drip – that procures drip systems from India. Micro Drip then markets the systems to poor farmers in Thardeep’s network of 3,000 villages, with plans to expand to other water scarce regions in Pakistan. He has also led managerial, technical and social capacity-building efforts, including livestock management training, cooperative development and micro-credit initiatives.

Read the full article here.

Editor’s note: This post was written by Batool Hassan, with assistance from Aun Rahman

On Thursday, August 21, Acumen Fund Pakistan hosted a half day roundtable discussion on “Innovations in Low Income Housing: Local Challenges and Global Lessons.”

The roundtable convened a small group of 20 key stakeholders representing different areas within the housing development and housing finance sectors. Attendees discussed key challenges and issues facing low-income housing development in Pakistan. The roundtable also highlighted successful models locally and globally, key challenges to scale, and what steps are necessary at the private and public sector levels to facilitate on the ground movement in the affordable housing space.

The group included:
- Representatives from the State Bank of Pakistan
- Representatives from Sindh and Punjab government housing agencies
- Stakeholders from private banks and microfinance organizations
- Affordable housing developers, urban planners and architects

The event itself was an energizing and aspirational experience for the Acumen Fund Pakistan team – we have rarely before seen such a dedicated, informed, engaged, and impassioned group of individuals who sincerely have a stake in the low-income housing space in this country. The depth of knowledge and level of commitment to catalyze change in the sector was unparalleled.

In this day and time, with so much attention on housing for the poor, we came out of the meeting with an awareness and an understanding that we have a real chance to solve some substantial problems that are global in scale but with innovative local initiatives, we can genuinely tackle.

Within the two overarching themes of Housing Finance and Housing Development, there were some key emerging ideas, possibilities and learnings that were tangible take aways.

By Priya Pandya, Acumen Fund Summer Associate (pictured at left)

In early August, Acumen Fund Pakistan held a small dinner at the Sheraton Hotel. Some of our investees, key partners and advisors - including Shaukat Tarin, Zubyr Soomro, Zaffar Khan, Ali Siddiqui, and Shahid Firoz - discussed one of the biggest challenges of social enterprise in Pakistan—developing and retaining talent.

Deepti Doshi, our Talent Manager, kicked off the evening with an overview of the Acumen Fellows Program as the search for the next class of fellows begins worldwide. Personal stories by current and previous fellows Jawad Aslam, Ayeleen Ajanee and Adrien Couton gave insight into what Acumen is looking for in hiring, but also what an experience working hand-in-hand with the investees has offered them. Each of the Fellows echoed the sentiment that the reach and power of the Acumen Fund brand and network has been invaluable. Jawad, who has spent the last year working with the Saiban low-income housing project, has been able to use this experience as a springboard to start his own commercial housing development and management company.

Ayeleen Ajanee, former Acumen Fund Fellow and Batool Hassan, Acumen Fund Pakistan Associate

Zahara Khan, CEO of Sehat First, asked the million dollar question: “How do you attract employees with field experience, technical expertise, business knowledge and a passion to serve the poor? And how do you compensate them financially?” It was great to see others in the room eager to share their experiences and lessons. People brought up passion a number of times as the essential attribute for all people in this sector. Sadaffe Abad, CEO of Kashf Foundation, said it best, “You don’t need to go high-end. Why target top-ranked universities? Why not recruit from within the community, where people have a stake in the success of the project. You need long-term strategy and clear profiles. You need two or three people who really share the values that are important to your company. Leadership is critical and culture is important. Once you get a few people to lead, it grows.”

Even after the discussion and during dinner, conversations ensued on interesting topics. I was most alarmed to learn from Zahara that, in her work, she comes across mothers who chew up tobacco and give it to their children to stop them from crying! Our investees have an array of knowledge and welcome the idea of having a sounding board to discuss their everyday challenges. There is much to learn and share as the notion of social enterprise slowly gains traction in Pakistan. Acumen Fund Pakistan plans to build on the momentum started from this event with future investee knowledge sharing workshops.

Acumen Fund investee Kashf Foundation is the featured 5 Diamond profile of this month on the MIX Market, a global microfinance information platform on the web. The MIX Market rates Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) on their transparency in reporting, by scoring them on a scale of one to five “diamonds”, with 5 being the highest possible level of accuracy and clarity in financial and operational program reporting. The MIX is seen as a global leader in championing financial transparency, accountability and disclosure standards in microfinance.

Kashf Foundation is one of Pakistan’s fastest growing microfinance institutions, with a mission of financial inclusion and providing women in Pakistan with access to microfinance products and services. Acumen Fund has been investing in Kashf since 2002 and has seen the organization grow to over 300,000 clients, with plans to reach 1 million by 2010. We have been working with Kashf to expand beyond simple microfinance to second generation products like the Home Improvement Loan (HIL). Kashf is a professionally-run organization, with clear financial reporting systems and processes and we are delighted to see them highlighted on MIX Market for transparency. MIX has also rated Kashf as one of the top 25 MFIs in the world for 2007. Kashf President Roshaneh Zafar has also recently been nominated to the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Councils on Financial Empowerment and the Gender Gap.

Visit the Kashf Foundation page on the Acumen Fund website to read more about our investment, view stories and a presentation at our office by Kashf Foundation CEO Sadaffe Abid.