Citigroup Announces Winners of 2006 Microentrepreneur Awards in Pakistan

The provision of micro-financing facility to the marginalised section of society is not a workable solution for poverty alleviation until it was supported by a well-planned mechanism of health, education, sanitation and legal facilities is ensured to the same at the grassroots level, said Dr Isharat Hussain, Chairman of the National Commission for Government Reforms (NCGR), on Thursday.

Poverty is a major challenge that we are facing, he said. Different theories have been presented in the past to alleviate poverty. Some argued to concentrate more on rural areas development. Others opined that the government must acquire macro-economic stability to fight this menace, he said while addressing an award giving ceremony ‘Micro-entrepreneurship Awards 2006’ organised by the Citigroup Foundation – a philanthropic arm of Citigroup – and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF).

There is a need that micro-credit banks, other organisations and the government must adopt an integrated approach. There could be no alleviation of poverty if we go ahead with concentration only micro financing, he added.

He said that the total number of borrowers was only one million in the country in 1999, mainly the privileged class. In 2006, this number has increased to 4.2 million and more and more borrowers are from middle-income group. The micro financing banks can be established with equity of Rs 100 million at district level, Rs 250 million for establishing bank on provincial level and Rs 500 million for setting the micro credit bank at the national level. In Bangladesh, there are only three banks, which are providing micro-credit, and the number of borrower has exceeded 23 million while the recovery of loans is around 95 percent. In Pakistan this number is not more than 800,000 as far as the small loans are concerned.

Kamal Hayat, Chief Executive Officer PPAF the number of borrowers for small loans has increased to 800,000 in 2006 from just 50,000 in 2000. He said that the target of one million borrowers in 2007 would be achieved.Zubyr Soomro, Managing Director and Country Officer Pakistan Citigroup said that poverty was permanent problem. Micro financing is workable solution. This has proved itself to be so in most of the countries like Bangladesh and some in Latin America. There is a need to create awareness by using latest information technology.

The twenty winners were formally announced at the ceremony. The winners and runners up in ten categories were given awards by Dr Ishrat Hussain, former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan.

The Members of Awards Advisory Council including Faryal Gauhar, former UN Goodwill Ambassador, Aazar Bhandara, Economic Growth Advisor US Aid, Babar Aziz, Director Finance Save the Children (US), M.R Khan, Financial Management Consultant, Seema Aziz, Chairperson CARE Foundation, Ayesha Muzaffar, senior financial analyst IFC, micro-entrepreneurs, representatives from microfinance institutions as well as important officials from the ministries, central bank, diplomats, dignitaries and members of the screening committee were also present on this occasion.

The advisory council selected 10 winners and as many runners up in each of the 10 categories after several rounds of screening and field interviews. The two top prizes for the categories of Best Male Micro-entrepreneur and Best Female Micro-entrepreneur were awarded to Mr Anopo (Tharparkar) and Ms Ghazala Yasmin (Faisalabad) respectively. Other awards were given to winners and runners up in the four ‘Best Rural Micro-entrepreneur’ and four ‘Best Urban Micro-entrepreneur’ categories. The winners received prize of Rs 2 million. The award programme is a global effort by Citigroup Foundation, taking place in more than 20 countries. ´

Daily Times- Micro-financing needs basic infrastructure: Dr Ishrat