Asasah:
Asasah Logo

Founded in Pakistan in 2003 by Ms Tabinda Jaffrey, Asasah’s promise is to “eradicate poverty by enhancing micro-productivity of poor households.” With 29 branches and over 41,000 cumulative active clients, Asasah believes that if executed properly, microfinance can create a lasting impact on households. Although Asasah makes women the primary credit recipient, they target the entire household, requiring both spouses to be jointly responsible to uphold the organization’s terms. In addition to the household lending method, Asasah follows Grameen Bank’s group lending methodology to ensure that the right people are receiving the credit and training that they need. Asasah has proven their success by having 0% portfolios at risk, doubling their number of active clients every year, being rated with 5 stars by the Mix Market and being a partner of Kiva.

Highlights:
-Portfolio at Risk: Asasah has maintained its portfolio quality and has zero delinquency.
-Partnerships: Asasah is the first NGO-MFI in Pakistan to partner with commercial financial institutions and has to date formed several partnerships with commercial institutions, donor agencies, international NGOs and network organizations.
-Joint Credit Rating: Asasah is the first microfinance organization in Pakistan to be jointly rated by JCR-VIS and Microfinanza.
-Governance: As Asasah’s strategic partner, Save the Children US has two seats on Asasah’s board and bottom-up planning approach.

About Jerry Ostradicky

I work in Advertising Operations at Zillow, but LOVE microfinance. I'm always interested in startups, especially non-profits, reach out to me if you're working on anything cool!