New Outreach Record
FINCA International reached a major new milestone in January 2007 by surpassing the 500,000-client mark for the first time in the organization's history. FINCA notched client outreach growth of over 22 percent in one year across its network of 20 country programs, providing life-changing loans to our clients to invest in their businesses so they can better feed, house, and educate their families. From Russia to Malawi, from El Salvador to Kyrgyzstan, FINCA’s microfinance programs are touching the lives of nearly 2.5 million children and adults* in the families of our clients around the world.
| Rupert Scofield, FINCA’s executive director, said, “All of us at FINCA are very proud of reaching this important milestone, but we are not resting on our laurels. The demand for our microfinance programs is constantly expanding, particularly in countries—like Haiti, Afghanistan, and Democratic Republic of Congo—that have been devastated by war, natural disaster, and disease. To meet this need, we have launched an ambitious five-year plan to expand our outreach to one million low-income entrepreneurs by the end of 2010. And we are continually exploring new products, services and methods to broaden and deepen our outreach around the world.” |
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In 2006, FINCA Mexico became the first affiliate in the history of the FINCA network to reach over 50,000 clients, earning FINCA's "Golden Tree" award to honor its achievement. The program now has over 64,000 clients—a greater than sixfold increase from just three years ago. FINCA Ecuador became the second program in the organization’s history to surpass the 50,000-client milestone; it currently has close to 51,500 clients. FINCA Azerbaijan closed the month of February with close to 52,600 clients, becoming the third program to earn the award. A number of other FINCA affiliates are poised to break the 50,000-client mark and earn the now-coveted “Golden Tree” award, including the programs in Kyrgyzstan (over 38,600), Tanzania, (nearly 43,000) and Uganda (nearly 45,000).
Two of the organization’s fastest growing microfinance programs—FINCA Afghanistan (over 31,000 clients) and FINCA Democratic Republic of Congo (nearly 18,000)—are also among its newest, both having launched in 2003 in two of the planet’s most war-ravaged countries, and now creating hope for their clients amid desperate conditions.
* Based on an average of 4.932 family members per household for each FINCA client.
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