MFI Report

KMKO ‘Bereke’ was registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan immediately after acceptance of the law on microcredit organizations of 6 March 2003. The founders and base personnel of the organization were employees of the UNDP project on microcredit for women in the Semipalatinsk region, which was created in Semipalatinsk by the Almaty office of UNDP in 1997. ‘Bereke’ entered into operation of the current project in 2003 and during 2004-2006 the financial resources and client base of the project were transferred to ‘Bereke’. All activities of the transformation of the project’s activities into an NGO were fixed in the form of an agreement between UNDP and KMKO ‘Bereke’. The framework of the national NGO charter led to the loss of some borrowers in the initial period in connection with restrictions in the law “On microcredit organizations” on special clients for MFIs. However, during the period of transformation, ‘Bereke’ managed to preserve a large portion of borrowers of the project and to increase the quantity of borrowers of the fund, and also to considerably build up the credit portfolio by means of capitalization of idle cash, successfully taking to audit household-financial activities and through an international rating in the ACCION CAMEL system. ‘Bereke’ is a member of AMFOK and participates in the annual conferences of the MFC for the CEE and NIS. While preserving the mission of the UNDP project, ‘Bereke’ considers its priorities providing credit to women and low-income populations, and also the geographical widening to rural regions and new regions of the northern part of Kazakhstan. During 2006, it is planned to open 2 branches and servicing a portfolio higher than 2,000,000 USD. The main problems of ‘Bereke’ at the current moment are a) lack of representatives of the international level in the field of microfinance in the composition of the governing board; b) restrictions to reach grants and subsidized financing resources, which are necessary for the continued institutional growth and maintaining competitive ability in the developmental period for ‘Bereke’; c) MIS improvements; d) weak legislative base for the development of microfinance services and products. Hide