MFI Report

Background:
The TYM Fund was founded in 1992 by the Vietnam Women’s Union in order to help implement the poverty alleviation programme of the Government. It originally followed the Grameen banking model adapted to the specific context of Vietnam. During its 20 years of operation, TYM has assisted more than 100,000 poor women in overcoming poverty, participating in community activities, and achieving a better social status. Today, TYM has over 74,000 women members in 10 Northern Vietnamese provinces. Starting with its second branch in 1995, TYM has developed a separate organization structure and uses only professional staff for its operations. In 1998, the Fund was transformed from a “project” into a regular Department of the Vietnam Women’s Union. As of January 2006, TYM Fund became a separate legal entity (“Public Enterprise”), governed by a Board of Directors. In August 2010, State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) granted TYM the licence to become the first official microfinance institution in Vietnam under the Government Decree on Microfinance (Decree 28/165 Along the process of development, TYM has received financial and technical support from a number of international organisations such as ACT, CARD, OXFAM America, German Savings Banks Foundation, CORDAID, Ford Foundation, Rabobank Foundation and others. Since 2006, TYM has started to borrow significant amounts from social investors.
Challenges:
TYM’s registration with the SBV created new opportunities: TYM is now allowed to raise savings from its members and the public and to borrow from banks and investors. Among the drawbacks are many new bureaucratic procedures and the obligation to pay 20% corporate income tax. New challenges also arise from higher demands by more mature clients. TYM will focus on capacity building and training of staff, product development, improvements of governance and organisation and diversification of its funding sources in order to reach its target of 185,000 clients by 2016. While professionalizing as institution, TYM will maintain its social commitment to helping low income women in close cooperation with the Women’s Union. Cacher