The MIX Market reached an important milestone last week when Sana’a Microfinance Project (Azal), from Sana’a, Yemen, became the 500th microfinance institution to post a detailed profile on the MIX Market website, (www.mixmarket.org).

Azal is a small non-governmental organization established in 2002 to provide financial services to the poor in Yemen. At the end of 2004, Azal reports it had total assets of US$237,000, and approximately 1,250 active borrowers. It had an average loan balance per borrower of US$114, 70% of its loans were for US$300 or less, and 60% of its borrowers were women. Azal’s funds come largely from the Social Fund for Development in Yemen, and it is looking for further support in the forms of loans in local currency, financial guarantees, capacity-building grants, and donations.

Azal & National Microfinance Foundation (NMF), a fellow Yemeni MFI to recently join the MIX Market, represent the latest wave of institutionalization in the Yemeni microfinance sector. Microfinance projects changing legal status to become formal microfinance institutions for clearer governance and to attract external investment is a trend in Yemen and elsewhere, and the MIX Market is a perfect vehicle to assist this process - institutions seeking to have global recognition of their achievements and to present their work to investors, come to the MIX.
 
Both institutions participated in a recent course given by the MIX partner for the MENA region, Sanabel, addressing the importance of transparency for local MFIs and giving them practical training in industry best-practice reporting developed by the MIX. The course was co-sponsored by Sanabel, the Social Fund, and the MIX, and is the result of a year-long partnership between the MIX and Sanabel to boost transparency in the region's microfinance sector. This effort brings together the MIX's global industry standard systems with Sanabel's local industry knowledge and outreach.

Azal’s profile is one of over 230 microfinance NGO profiles you can find in MIX Market, along with those for 46 banks, 100 non-bank financial institutions, 82 cooperatives/credit unions, 13 rural banks, and 28 other microfinance institutions, from over 80 developing countries. The MIX Market’s unique databases capture MFI data from institutions ranging in size from $3 billion in assets and over 3 million clients, down to institutions with $1,500 total assets and 800 savers with an average savings balance of $1 each.