KARACHI: Pakistan Microfinance Investment Company Limited (PMIC) has set up and launched ‘Institution Development Fund’ for providing support to the companies would not normally meet PMIC’s financing requirements.

According to PMIC, designed with an inclusive approach in mind, the Institution Development Fund (IDF) encourages lending for new organizations that work on women’s financial inclusion, provision of financial services in KP and Balochistan, and even for startups that deploy digital financial services and have developed mechanisms and technologies to reduce cost of delivery of financial services.

This is yet another welcome step by PMIC to encourage new players to participate more actively in bringing about financial inclusion, and to facilitate the provision of financial services to underserved communities across Pakistan. Startups and organizations in their nascent stages in Pakistan are in need of an institution or source of funding that supports them and offers them the path to prosperity, and the IDF has been tailor-made to cater specifically to those companies.

PMIC CEO Yasir Ashfaq said PMIC firmly believes in a proactive approach to the exploration and development of new business models and delivery mechanisms in order to truly realize its purpose of enabling a financially inclusive Pakistan.

Through PMIC network of more than 23 microfinance providers in more than 65 districts of Pakistan, more than 80 percent of the borrowers are women. PMIC also focuses development of women centric financial products and initiatives leading to financial inclusion, financial literacy, empowerment and sustainable livelihoods for women contributing towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 and the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021