Download 29 Sept MF in Mountainous Tajikistan

Invitation to the Microfinance Club UK event
in collaboration with Allen and Overy LLP
Microfinance in High Mountainous
and Rural Eastern Tajikistan
Sadrudin Akbarali
Senior Manager, Aga Khan Agency for MicroFinance
On Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 6.30-8.00pm
Venue: Allen and Overy, One Bishops Square, London E1 6AD
(map below)
Registration from 6.15pm; talk starts at 6.30pm sharp followed by refreshments.
MF Club UK members can register for the event.
If you are not a member yet, please join through our membership page.
RSVP: Please register online ASAP and no later than 5pm on Monday 28th September by
login at: www.mfclubuk.org and go to the section "Register for an Event".
Summary
In 1995 Tajikistan was, by reference to the Poverty Index, in the bottom 5% out of 180
countries. Within Tajikistan, the Eastern Region known as Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous
region (GBAO) was in a worsening situation: no road links to the capital, Dushanbe; 97%
mountainous; entire population on humanitarian assistance; over 70% unemployed or under
employed; rampant inflation; numerous IDPs (internally displaced persons) etc.
The ability to move from a command economy under the Soviet system to a more open and
market-oriented economy was an onerous task, with legislative, institutional and cultural
obstacles, compounded by civil war and natural disasters. The financial system was weak
and the banking sector performed poorly and needed reform. Banks were unable to attract
deposits or other types of funds and bank credit was very low at 10% of GDP.
How would poverty alleviation interventions be formulated in this environment and how would
they be made sustainable?
The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) decided to undertake the challenge and
establish Enterprise Support Facility in GBAO in 1996 and in stages transform it to the First
Microfinance Bank Tajikistan (FMFB-T) serving the entire country.
AKDN is a group of development agencies with mandates ranging from health and education
to architecture, culture, microfinance, rural development, disaster reduction, the promotion of
private-sector enterprise and the revitalisation of historic cities. http://www.akdn.org/
principal shareholder of FMFB-T is AKAM (see below).
The
The Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM); a not-for-profit, non-denominational,
international development agency created under Swiss law, is headquartered in Geneva.
It is governed by an independent Board of Directors. The Chairman of the Board is His
Highness the Aga Khan.
Since its establishment in 2005, AKAM has taken over 25 years of microfinance
activities, programmes and banks that were administered by sister agencies within the
Aga Khan Development Network. The underlying objectives of the Agency are to reduce
poverty, diminish the vulnerability of poor populations and alleviate economic and social
exclusion.
The vision for AKAM is best expressed in a speech by His Highness the Aga Khan
“There are those who enter the world in such poverty that they are deprived of both the
means and the motivation to improve their lot. Unless they can be touched with the spark
which ignites the spirit of individual enterprise and determination, they will only sink into
apathy, degradation and despair. It is for us, who are more fortunate, to provide that spark.”
Speaker:
Sadrudin Akbarali is a Senior Manager, Micro Finance Programmes with
AKAM. He has extensive first-hand experience of initiating, developing
and implementing microfinance programmes. His experience includes
(from 1996- 2000), Manager of Enterprise Support Facility in the
mountainous regions (Pamir Mountains) of Tajikistan. He designed the
facility in 1996; established a network of 17 branches & facilitated the
graduation of the MFI to National Microfinance Bank. (2001- Present)
Sadrudin has been responsible for starting and developing microfinance Programmes in
9 countries; attaining operational sustainability within three years for the Central Asia and
Middle East activities; providing operational oversight and facilitating expansion and
graduation of some of the programmes to licensed MFIs.
LOCATION MAP
[Please come to Reception on the Ground Floor in plenty of time so that you can
make it to the presentation suite for a prompt start. Thank you]