NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Perhaps this is the reason why Pakistan Microfinance Network (PMN) Chairman Nadeem Hussain believes that an impressive growth of 20-25% per annum for the past many years has still not made the country’s microfinance industry ‘relevant’ in the fight against poverty.

Consistent ‘organic growth’ in the microfinance industry in recent years has resulted in 3.1 million active micro-borrowers. With 30 million customers as the potential size of the microfinance market, the current penetration rate stands at only 11.4%.

It means even if the industry continues its organic growth at the same rate going forward, the number of active borrowers will still hover around six million in 2018.

According to Hussain, the microfinance industry needs ‘interventions’ at multiple levels in order to achieve the customer base of 10 million by 2018. Addressing the inaugural session of the 8th Microfinance Country Forum held on Tuesday, the PMN chairman outlined his plan to achieve ‘exponential growth’ through rapid customer acquisition and enhanced funds to finance the industry.