MFI Report

BACKGROUND:

Microfinance plays a vital role as an anti-poverty instrument, and through scaling up microfinance we can accelerate poverty reduction. Based on this premise, JAKAS started its microfinance activities in rural areas under a project in 1995. After partnering with PKSF in 1997, the organization gradually evolved into a microfinance institution. JAKAS is now implementing a microfinance program in rural and urban areas both with the ultra poor and other marginalized groups. It places special emphasis on the extreme poor to address both their immediate and long-term needs and to integrate them into mainstream development.

MAIN CHALLENGES:

-Dependency on external funds
-Increasing number of microfinance competitors
-Clients' dependence on the black market
-Overlapping with other MFIs
-Unstable social and political situation
-Limited risk mitigation support through risk fund/insurance
-ME maximum ceiling TK 1.5 lac, which is lower than our competitors' prevailing ceiling in the market
-Natural disaster Ocultar