Pakistan

“This looks just like South Jersey!” In true Acumen fashion, I had an “Aha” moment driving through rural Punjab on the way to see Acumen Pakistan’s newest investment, Jassar Farms. Located two and a half hours outside Lahore in Narowal, the region is surrounded on three sides by India and is only three kilometers from the border. So why did it look like South Jersey? Punjab is the breadbasket of Pakistan with a beautiful sea of green fields on both sides. As we drove deeper into the heart of Punjab, we passed fields of rice and wheat and sugar cane, all sporadically peppered with brick kilns. Even at the farm itself, spread across 250 acres of land, there were fields of sorghum, alfalfa, and corn, all being grown to process into livestock feed at the farm. At the farm, I met up with Shehzad Iqbal, social entrepreneur and CEO of Jassar Farms who had a thing or two to share about dairy farming in Pakistan and the social impact of this new line of business. Jassar Farms is a corporate dairy farming business focused on dairy and breed improvement of poor livestock farmers aiming to increase milk productivity. Here are a few interesting facts about dairy farming in Pakistan:

• Pakistan is the 5th largest producer of milk worldwide, yet one cow has the productivity level of only 1/5th of a Western cow.
• On average, the milk production of one cow is approximately 1,800 liters of milk per year.
• As a comparison, one western cow has a milk yield in the range of 8000 – 10000 liters per year.
• In the normal 9-10 year lifespan of a cow, she can give birth 9 times in her lifecycle and is lactating 270 - 305 days per year.
• The milk producing livestock in Pakistan is divided almost equally between buffalo and cow. Pakistan is among the top producers of buffalo milk globally but herds most commonly suffer from poor farm care, poor quality feed and lack breed improvement. While buffalo breed improvement could reap great benefits, breed enhancement through artificial insemination has been less studied in buffalos as compared to cows, worldwide.
• Through experiments in artificial insemination and other methods of livestock breed enhancement, there is strong potential to improve the gene pool of cattle offspring.
• If a cow is on average producing 1,800 liters of milk per year and it is artificially inseminated with a bull who’s mother and grandmother averaged, were producing for example, 10,000 liters of milk per year, then the cow’s female offspring will have the genetic potential to produce the average of the two (10,000 + 1,800)/2 = 5,900) and thereby slowly improve the milk production capability generationally.

This is where Shahzad really explained the social impact of the business idea. In the Pakistan agriculture sector, over 75% of livestock owners are poor farmers owning less than four cows.

The cost of importing high quality bull semen doses costs between $75-$100 and is essentially unaffordable to rural, dairy farmers who own 2-5 cows per household. Shahzad gave the example of a local farmer, Mohammad Butta, who owns two cows and has a family of five. Mohammad milks the cows in the morning and then sets off to work his fields. With a family of five and a household income of $75 per month, he cannot afford the high cost of imported semen dosages. So by producing semen doses locally and making it affordable to the rural livestock farmer, Jassar Farms has the potential to increase incomes of farmers from increased milk yields.

This is the first Acumen Fund investment in agriculture and specifically in the livestock and diary space and it will be interesting to see the value and impact this new business innovation may yield.

Where do you live - in a house, an apartment, a condo, a dorm room? Is that an easy question to answer? If so, you’re in the minority worldwide - especially in a country like Pakistan, where more than 30 percent of the population lives in squatter settlements and an even larger percentage is effectively shut out of the home ownership market due to speculation, land prices and a difficult bureaucracy.

Affordable housing - and how best to provide it for low-income customers - is something Acumen Fund has been exploring for years now - especially in Pakistan. Along the way, our team has discovered some things that work, and many more that don’t. While these learnings made for great intra-team discussions and e-mails, we felt it was time to start sharing what we know - and what we don’t know - with our sector at large.

Along these lines, be sure to check out the latest additions to our Knowledge Center. Aun Rahman, Pakistan Country Director, and I recently completed a paper entitled The Challenges of Expanding Saiban: Scaling Affordable Housing for Low-Income Communities in Pakistan. In it, we describe how an entrepreneur named Tasneem Siddiqui has extended land title and housing to tens of thousands of previously un-served families. We also explore how Saiban - an Acumen Fund investee - is expanding into different geographies and the early lessons learned from this expansion.

The Pakistan team is also hard at work behind the camera. We now have two new videos to share, “My Story: Jawad Aslam, Class of 2008 Fellow” and “From Squatters to Homeowners”. Both videos follow Acumen Fund 2008 Fellow Jawad Aslam as he works to help build a community at Khuda Ki Basti 4, outside Lahore.

I was in Pakistan for the first week of March, mostly spending time with the Acumen team and its close advisors. This time, unlike my last two trips, I stayed put in Karachi, where Acumen’s Pakistan office is based and did not get to Lahore (the city where the reprehensible attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team occurred on March 3rd) On two prior trips, I have visited Khuda-ki-Basti 4 (KKB-4), Acumen’s low cost housing investment near Lahore.

Although that development is still in a relatively early stage, there are 100 families living there today, a thriving primary school, a small general store and a secondary school in the works. KKB-4 is on the move. On my last trip in May I was happy to see the immense progress made in the few months since I had first visited. I could better imagine what it would be like when the housing plots were fully sold, the houses built, the shops and mosque opened—in short a real self-contained community.

On this trip, I was able to visit Khuda-ki-Basti 3 (KKB-3), a mature housing development outskirts of Karachi in which Acumen made a small investment several years back. KKB-3 (near Karachi) was the inspiration for KKB-4 (near Lahore) and are both brainchildren of Tasneem Siddiqui, the lead developer. I went with Shuaib Siddiqui (no relation), a Pakistani-American who has been working in our Karachi office for the last 18 months as a portfolio associate. Shuaib, along with Aun Rahman our Pakistan country leader, has become expert in the area of housing for the poor and is the relationship manager for our KKB-4 investment.

The drive to KKB-3 took about 45 minutes from Karachi center and when we arrived at the entrance, public buses plied the road. Other developments and commercial establishments crowded the area. Shuaib explained that, 8 years back when the development was just getting started, the area was a wasteland with virtually no roads or buildings.

We walked into the building which had originally been the sales office and now serves as a community center and management office. It was lined with photographs documenting the inception and progress of the development starting 8 years back. The original would-be buyers of land plots were required to live in temporary homes for two weeks before being accepted as buyers and members of the community. This procedure was designed to test their mettle as serious buyers and builders.

We then walked down the central artery of the development—I should say town because it is a teeming, vital town of 25,000. All of the plots have been sold and most have been built up with small single family homes. There is now a thriving secondary market in houses, as the improved land has shot up in value. Some of the poor laborers who were early buyers have sold at a substantial profit and have moved into a higher socio-economic class. Teachers and other professionals are starting to buy these houses and move in (real-estate prices in Karachi are sky-high and there is severely limited availability). And while most of the houses are very simple, a few have second and third floors and spectacular gardens.

We visited a primary school, one of 12 in the town; this one was built by The Citizens Foundation. The school was clean, open and attractive and requires a payment of a modest tuition fee. We visited briefly with the principal of the school who explained that because demand is so high, the school is run on a split session with half the students coming in the morning and half in the afternoon. Other primary schools in the town are even less expensive or free. When we visited later with the manager of the entire development, Akthar Sb, he explained that there is nearly 90% school attendance at the primary level—I had wondered aloud about this as there were many children walking about and playing during what seemed to me to be normal school hours. This was due to the split sessions, Akthar Sb explained.

However, the statistics for attendance at the secondary level drop off significantly, as many children in their early teens are expected to contribute to the family coffers. Given that school attendance is mandatory only until age 10, overcoming this attitude and getting parents to understand the value of secondary education is a long slow battle.

We visited a vocational school for older children and young adults, a clinic for women and children (which sold condoms on a prominently posted price list), a vet shop (mostly focused on goat care), a Catholic church, a vegetable farm, several small textile manufactures. We saw stores selling a vast variety of goods. We saw but did not visit several mosques. There are no banks are within KKB-3, but some can be found just outside in other developments which have sprung up close by.

In short an entire ecosystem has been formed out of empty land near a densely packed city with desperate housing shortage and an enormous population of poor residents. Those who have been able to make the leap now live in a community which provides access to their basic needs: clean water, power, sewage treatment, local government, education, health services and employment opportunities (1/3 of the residents of KKB-3 work within the town). Seeing possibility realized gave me hope and vision for our work at KKB-4, and a real sense of excitement for its future.

With Pakistan often among the top headlines on The New York Times front page (and usually not in a flattering way) – we are heartened to see the most recent issue [Dec – Jan 2009] of Blue Chip Magazine, a leading business magazine in Pakistan, carry a cover story on our very own Jacqueline Novogratz and the investments Acumen Fund has made in Pakistan.

Our most recent intra-office debates revolve around the question of how to support and encourage social entrepreneurship - let alone find the solid business ideas that are providing services at the BoP - so we at Acumen Fund are excited to see positive news of on-the-ground initiatives and social businesses that often operate in the most challenging environments and landscapes. The story really is around social entrepreneurs like Roshaneh Zafar, Tasneem Siddiqui, and Dr. Sono Khangharani who “have seen possibilities where other people see hopelessness.”

Also featured in the same issue of Blue Chip is Roshaneh Zafar , President of Kashf Foundation, who recently launched Kashf Microfinance Bank Limited (KMBL) in October 2008. KMBL is an investment of Kashf Holdings Private Limited, the parent holding company in which Acumen Fund has also invested.

In the five months since operations were launched, Kashf Microfinance Bank has set up 18 branches and is serving 20,000 microfinance clients. But with the microfinance industry facing a challenging period in Pakistan due to the macroeconomic environment and political instability, the innovation of the original group lending methodology is now facing a setback. There is a need to innovate in microfinance services beyond the group lending methodology commonly used by microfinance institutions in Pakistan.

With the launch of the new Kashf Microfinance Bank, Kashf has begun individual lending and savings mobilization and now provides savings products to women from low-income communities. Roshaneh discusses the pioneering work Kashf has been doing at the BoP and Acumen is proud to support Kashf and the microfinance sector in Pakistan.

We all want to be able to say, “This is the house my father owns.” This dream is floating all over the world. Pitrus Saab, early resident of Khuda Ki Basti 3.

I recently visited Khuda Ki Basti 3, a low-income housing development 2 hours away from the city centre of Karachi. I first learned of Khuda Ki Basti (”God’s Settlement”) and the incremental development model when I met Tasneem Siddiqui of Saiban during a research project in 2005. I was ushered in an office by Mr. Siddiqui’s assistant (his only staff at the time) where he sat at his desk, shrouded by mountains of papers and books. Though he was extremely busy and seemingly understaffed, he made himself available to speak to me. Mr. Siddiqui is the sort of person who inspires people. Not because he is a great story teller with heart warming anecdotes that leave you with a good feeling. No, he is inspiring because he takes a no-nonsense approach to a problem that is colossal and overwhelming both in its scale and by its nature.

Without a piece of land on which you can raise your family, sleep at night and call your home, it is difficult to find the stability you need in your life to propel yourself forward. No one should be denied the opportunity to attain this stability and prosperity. Almost all people understand this. However there are very few people who will roll up their sleeves and try to get something done about it. This is especially true in an environment like Pakistan where public officials are a part of the problem, not solution. (Pakistan was ranked 134th out of 180 countries by Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index - which is not a good ranking.)

My report recognized that, without government cooperation, there is no method of scaling any successful models in housing. However, it also acknowledged the reality – that public sector solutions are usually public relations rhetoric within a larger political game. As a result, government-initiated projects do not often reflect the reality of the issues. For example, as has been documented by Saiban extensively, the age-old government approach of creating elaborate “sites and services” schemes in Pakistan ends up inflating the cost and price of housing far beyond the reach of base of the pyramid, and yet we continue to hear of initiatives based on this model.

In his inauguration speech at the National Assembly on 29th March 2008, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani announced his coalition government’s agenda, including a plan to build one million homes annually targeted towards the lower income sector. Such grandiose plans that are removed from the reality of the current and historical housing reality are not uncommon - especially when they come during times of crises (in this case both economic and political).

Tasneem Siddiqui is known internationally for his work in low-income housing - he has been the recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, The Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service and nominated for several others. What is somewhat disheartening is that even today, despite his reputation and the successes (KKB has been replicated in three areas of Karachi and currently in the process of development in Lahore) of the incremental development model, government cooperation (in the form of subsidized land) remains the biggest bottleneck to solving the housing and squatter settlement crisis in Pakistan.

Though consultation with Mr. Siddiqui and Saiban is often part of protocol during various government-led initiatives, they have still not been able to get their model officially adopted. A Saiban employee told me that while officials praise Saiban’s efforts and achievements in the field during meetings and conferences, off-the-record discourses usually involve an official asking very plainly “Meray liye faida kahan hai?” (“Where is the benefit for me?”). It is easy to see how anyone with good intentions might be discouraged. But as the perseverance of Mr. Siddiqui, his colleagues at Saiban and of the residents of Khuda Ki Basti 3 demonstrated, determined ideals will get you long way.

In my next blog post, I’ll talk about how two of the earliest residents of KKB 3 and its very model taught me the meaning of patient capital. For now I’ll end on a note that nags at the back of my mind whenever I think of the achievements of Mr. Siddiqui in such an onerous environment. How much is the success of a movement dependent on its figure head? We at Acumen Fund like to talk about the sustainability of our advocacy for social change, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, how do you go about succession planning for revolutionaries – especially when it is their reputation and clout that opens doors in such a dramatically politicized environment like Pakistan?

I met Roshaneh Zafar; Roshaneh met Khairoon Apa. By the power of deductive reasoning, I have therefore met Khairoon. Right?

Of course, that’s not how the world works - the truth is that I’ve never been to Pakistan, and I’ve never met the “Ted Turner of a small village near the Bay of Bengal” as Roshaneh describes Khairoon. I did have the pleasure of meeting Roshaneh, however, and she left a lasting impression. Her passion for microfinance is contagious; she believes deeply in the power of credit to bring dignity and choice to a formerly disempowered underclass - to people like Khairoon Apa.

So, how do I know Khairoon? After all, I’ve still not been to Pakistan…but I feel like I have after reading a recent article authored by Roshaneh, the founder and CEO of Kashf Foundation. In the article, entitled Female Empowerment and the Promise of Microfinance, we learn Khairoon’s story, about “a woman who started her life owning only one sari that she would wash from one side wrapping the wet end around herself since she did not have the resources to buy another.”

I urge all members of the Acumen Fund community to take a few minutes on this Saturday to read Roshaneh’s words. You may even meet someone new in the process.

Over the past three weeks, I have been traveling to each of Acumen Fund’s offices to recruit the 2010 class of Acumen Fund Fellows. It’s been an amazing opportunity to spend time with our teams and also meet with some of the companies Acumen Fund has invested in - and the people they serve (pictured, left).

Two weeks ago, I joined a group that included Aun Rahman, Acumen Fund Pakistan Country Director, Dr. Sono Khangarani and Saqib Khan, respectively the CEO and COO of Acumen Fund investee Micro Drip to visit Hyderabad in the Sindh region of Pakistan. Micro Drip sells drip irrigation systems to smallholder farmers in Pakistan (check out the company’s web site as well). My colleague Sasha Dichter took a similar trip earlier this year to a different part of Pakistan (Thar), and reflected on What It Means to be Patient: Drip Irrigation in Pakistan’s Thar Desert.

It was the Sunday before a 3-day Eid celebration, and the traffic leaving Karachi was noticeable, even to me (a Karachi novice). Then again, I couldn’t complain. Even the traffic in Pakistan is colorful, what with intricate designs adorning all manner of transport from the smallest rickshaws to buses and large-haul trucks.

But today, the color came not just from trucks, but from our non-human counterparts sitting in traffic. As part of the Eid celebration, families sacrifice an animal to share; as such, many vehicles were transporting goats and cows bound for slaughter; even camels played their part, pulling families along the highway. Later that evening, on our way home, I saw one guy in a rickshaw, his knees up to his chin as his feet rested on two goats, stacked atop one another on the floor of the rickshaw, much like one might stack up suitcases for a long family road trip.

I was eager for the road trip. It was a chance to get out of Karachi, where the inability to simply walk around freely must surely become stifling; it was also a chance to see more of Pakistan’s countryside. The day was facilitated very effectively by National Rural Support Program (NRSP). NRSP is (in Aun’s words) the ‘big brother’ of TharDeep Rural Development Program – the parent organization of Micro Drip – and has been providing agri-specific support to farmers for over 20 years.

In the past few years, NRSP has been offering micro-lending options in addition to agri-services, and the villages we met - like these farmers, pictured at left - with have organized around these micro-loans. The farmers that we met were not users of drip irrigation; in fact, the difficult task of selling drip systems to farmers was a key outcome of the meetings for me.

Many of these farmers have taken on loans between Rs10,000 and Rs30,000, and what we heard from them is that while these loans help them to operate without total dependence on a middle man – ‘Arti’ in Urdu – they barely cover the cost of inputs, let alone any of the other household costs the farmers incur on a daily basis.

Our objective for the day was simple: to listen to farmers. We wanted to hear directly their key concerns, constraints and cost burdens in order to gain a deeper understanding of where drip irrigation might play a role in increasing farm productivity. From a broader perspective, we were also interested in what we should be thinking about as Acumen Fund moves forward with our new agriculture portfolio. I can’t help thinking that my modest report is going to be complimented by a deeper and more colorful analysis in Jacqueline’s journal, so I’ll stick to facts and basics and attempt to relay the key insights we heard from these farmers.

The farmers are incredibly wise. Any solution that Micro Drip – or any other enterprise looking to solve the problems of smallholder ‘productivity’ – puts forward must be designed via an ongoing process of endless discussion with farmers. They know that drip irrigation needs a constant water supply; today, they are lucky to have access to flood irrigation from the canals once a week. Naturally, farmers are skeptical of drip’s impact.

They know that they are lucky to get 3 hours of electricity a day with which to pump the water from their wells, and even that they pay the landlord for – and it’s still cheaper than diesel. ‘Loadshedding’ has become such a common phenomenon throughout the rural areas that, despite the fact that they were speaking to us in their local Sindhi, the English word was common to all.

These farmers are keenly aware that, in 2008 alone, the price of inputs such as fertilizer has risen from Rs500 to Rs1300 on the black market despite the standard rate being Rs600. Their market access is limited to the back market through their historical relationships with Artis (middle men) leading them to hoard fertilizer, which in turn drives the price up more.

They know that even if their yields do increase, it’s often difficult to find a market for their product. This was confirmed in one village where we saw vast piles of cotton (pictured at left), brown and wasting because there was no one to buy, no where to sell. And finally, they know that the loans allow them to cover the costs of these inputs, but do not allow them to break the cycle of debt that the landlords and the Artis further entrench. If only the loans were larger, and the definition on ‘productivity’ broadened even a little, then they might be able to diversify their income sources, break their dependence on a crop that might easily be devastated by a flood or other natural disaster. A larger loan would allow them to buy new clothes, educate their children, pay for healthcare and truly improve their standard of living.

Dr. Sono knows the right questions to ask. He is in his element and it’s an honor to see him in action; he’s the only one of us who can speak directly to the farmers in Sindhi. The questions he asks all three villages get the same unanimous replies: 1) Do you think the cost of inputs is going to come down any time soon, if at all? No is the clear answer. 2) Do you think water will get any easier to get a hold of? Again, no is the immediate consensus. 3) What do you think is the best way to deal with these issues and allow you to become more productive? That, the farmers say, is the billion rupee question!

Dr. Sono discusses drip as an option, although he admits that without solving the bigger infrastructure question that would provide a more reliable water supply, it may not be the best solution for these farmers just yet.

One can’t help but be struck by the deepening and systemic tragedies Pakistan has fought throughout 2008: the continued lack of true leadership and the IMF intervention whose impact raises many more questions on the horizon. There are undoubtedly equally tough times are ahead here. But taking the time to listen to these farmers, to see Dr. Sono’s quiet manner of marketing with truth, and the deep seated commitment of the Acumen Fund Pakistan team (who are all complete rock stars) as well as the commitment I’ve witnessed this week from Jacqueline, Aun, Hunter Boll and Stuart Davidson, I feel a warming sense of hope that by partnering with and learning from local entrepreneurs like Dr. Sono, we might just gain the insights and the humility to give more farmers what they really need: the ability to determine their own definition of productivity and the dignity of providing for themselves.

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.

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.