Kashf Foundation Skoll Awardee Profile

Organization Overview

Key Info

Social Entrepreneur Roshaneh Zafar

Year Awarded 2007

Issue Area Addressed Economic Opportunity, Education, Health

Sub Issue Area Addressed Financial Services, Women's and Girls' Education

Countries Served Pakistan

Website www.kashf.org

Twitter handle KashfFoundation

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KashfFoundationOf ficial

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/kashffoundati on

About the Organization Kashf Foundation was established in 1996 as the first specialized microfinance institution in Pakistan to cater to the needs of low-income women micro entrepreneurs through a suite of holistic products and services including micro-credit, micro-insurance (both health and life insurance), financial education, business development services, and social advocacy interventions. Since 1996, Kashf has disbursed over Rs 100 billion to over 2.6 million low income families. Kashf has a current client base of more than 500,000 clients across its network of more than 300 branches in 60 districts across four provinces. Kashf Foundation has also established a strong footprint in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) in the provision of non-financial services to low-income households. Its services have included equipping women entrepreneurs with financial education knowledge, providing them knowledge on business management techniques, and raising awareness among men, women, and youth on various women-centric social and economic issues prevailing in the society.

Impact

To date, Kashf Foundation has served more than 500,000 clients and disbursed more than 100 billion rupees. Clients who have gone through the business management training program report a 51 percent increase in monthly profits after taking a loan, and 83% of self-employed clients felt that their capacity to handle their business has improved. According to a recent impact assessment, 99percent of clients attribute increased profits to their Kashf loan, 69 percent of women reported increased authority regarding household budget/expenditure, and 50 percent of clients reported improved quality and quantity of food consumed by girls and women post-loan.

Path to Scale

Kashf scales its program directly to reach more communities and strengthens its offerings through links with national and international organizations.

Social Entrepreneur

Through a chance meeting with Muhammad Yunus, Roshaneh Zafar was inspired to quit her job and establish the Kashf Foundation in 1999. Believing that the Grameen model could help empower women both economically and socially, Roshaneh ignored warnings that a microfinance program focusing on women would not work in Pakistan. Starting with her own family’s funds and a volunteer workforce of five women, Roshaneh drove her colleagues to distant villages to start microfinance centers. Kashf was the first specialized microfinance program in Pakistan to specifically target women from low-income communities, and evolved to become the first wealth management company for women from low-income households. Women improve the economic status of their families by building entrepreneurship and financial management skills, gaining access to business loans, and obtaining micro-insurance services to reduce exposure to financial risk.

Equilibrium Overview

Current Equilibrium

In Pakistan, 1/3 of households are at or below the poverty line. Gender disparities in Pakistan are the worst in Asia, and women are disproportionately represented among the poor due to systemic discrimination and entrenched socio-cultural barriers that prevent women and girls from participating fully in society (they are often cut off from access to financial services and economic activity). Low-income households are extremely vulnerable to financial shocks arising from unplanned health and medical emergencies, and are often unable to pay hefty upfront costs for available insurance. The poor do not have the financial literacy skills required to responsibility access credit markets and improve their livelihoods.

New Equilibrium

In the new equilibrium, improved access to financial services (from micro-credit to insurance) in Pakistan significantly improves the livelihoods of low-income women and their families. Women are educated and empowered to utilize financial services in expanding their entrepreneurial ventures, improving economic outcomes for their households, and generating employment opportunities for their communities in the process. Low-income households are able to rebound from turbulent periods and emergencies through increased access to affordable health and life insurance. The poor are equipped with the requisite financial literacy skills to optimize their borrowing practices.

Innovation

The Kashf Foundation is a leading “wealth management company” in Pakistan focused on expanding financial access to poor households, especially those headed by women. The organization focuses on enhancing the role that women can play in improving the economic status of their families by (1) building their entrepreneurship skills through providing access to business microfinance loans, (2) reducing family level contingencies by providing micro- insurance services that reduce exposure to financial risk, (3) improving their financial management skills by delivering financial education training classes, and (4) improving gender equity by providing male-targeted gender discrimination workshops. Kashf operates physical branches across the nation (except Balochistan given security conditions) that provide this suite of innovative products and services (primarily demand-driven) for its clients, as described below: Micro-Credit: Existing Business Loans (“Kashf Karobaar Karza”) – General support loans (1 year term, maximum size of PKR 60,000) disbursed to groups of 3-5 borrowers for expanding new and existing businesses.New Venture Loans (“Kashf Ibtida-e-Karobar Karza”) – Start-up loan (1 year term, maximum size of PKR 30,000) provided to help women who have a specific skillset and desire to start a new business.Emergency Credit Line (“Kashf Aitebar Karza”) – Renewable credit line (1 year term, maximum size of PKR 40,000) for existing clients to expand and grow their businesses during financially volatile periods.Upcoming products include: Education Finance – Providing credit to low-cost private schools to support capacity building (e.g. infrastructure improvements, teacher training, enrollment, girls’ education, etc.).Sector- Specific Loans – Customized loans to businesses based on their production and demand cyclesSavings Product – Exploring ways to help build savings for Kashf clients, from setting up bank kiosks at Kashf branches to mobilize savings to requesting approval from Pakistan’s central bank to work as an agent to mobilize savings across branches of a commercial bank. TBD Micro-Insurance: Life Micro-Insurance (“Kashf Zindagi Bima”) – In collaboration with one of Pakistan’s oldest insurance companies, Kashf provides affordable life insurance policies to all clients that cover outstanding balances on Kashf loans at time of death of the borrower and/or her spouse, plus PKR 5,000 in funeral expenses for the family.Healthcare Micro- Insurance (“Kashf Sehatmand Zindagi Bima”) – Pilot low-cost health insurance program to help clients cope with times of medical duress, currently being revised to ensure maximum coverage, increased panel hospitals to ensure convenience, and a staggered premium collection system which ensures that clients do not have to pay a hefty upfront fee. Capacity Building / Financial Literacy: Basic Financial Literacy Training – Workshops delivered by Kashf’s Business Development Officers (BDOs) to potential clients prior to loan disbursement to help them use credit more effectively by educating them on the basics of borrowing, debt management, savings, client rights, and legal considerations.Systematic Financial Education Training – Extensive community-based workshop that covers 4 key financial management topics (Savings, Budgeting, Debt Management, Financial Transactions)Media Outreach – Utilizing mainstream media (including a 15 episode TV series entitled Rehaii and 8 public service messages) to present the case for female economic development as a route to economic self-sufficiency, catalyzing efforts to treat women more equitably and eradicate gender discrimination.Business Incubation Lab - Generic business management training and cluster-specific support services (especially in the textiles and livestock sector) to female clients. The program also focuses on creating market linkages of clients with vendors and existing mentors. Equality / Rights Training: Kashf-trained educators provide workshops and training sessions with communities (targeting husbands of clients and adolescent boys) to directly create awareness about gender discrimination and help change mindsets about building a more equitable society. Kashf is differentiated in the following ways: One of the largest microfinance providers focused on empowering low-income women in Pakistan.Uniquely diverse range of product and program offerings that empower women, from micro-insurance to financial management training.Pioneer in Pakistani microfinance- first MFI in to become financially sustainable (2003), first to obtain an investable credit rating (2004), first to provide specialized services (e.g. micro-insurance) targeting low-income women, first to be certified by the Smart Campaign (2015). Questions from Skoll: What do the “Economic Empowerment Program” and "Asset Lending Program" entail?

Ambition for Change

Providing high quality and sustainable microfinance services to low-income families and micro- entrepreneurs to enhance financial capabilities, alleviate household poverty, and enable all, especially women, to become active agents of social and economic change.