Financial Inclusion Challenges in Pakistan - 80% of Pakistan's 250 million people are financially excluded [3] - 11 trillion rupees are outside the formal sector [4] - Over 40% of agricultural produce is wasted due to lack of storage [4] - 266 billion children are out of school [5] - Microfinance reaches less than 1 million households despite 30 years of formal microfinance [8][9] Institutional Landscape and its Limitations - Pakistan has approximately 35 commercial banks and 12 microfinance banks, plus nearly 40 non-bank financial institutions [7] - Microfinance serves about 12 million microloans, but only around 4 million unique clients [7][8] - Larger microfinance institutions serve only two to three lakh (200,000-300,000) clients, significantly less than institutions in Bangladesh and India [9] Required Institutional "Killer Apps" - Capital: Need for a spectrum of capital, including tier one and tier two capital, for non-bank financial service providers [12][13] - Funding: Need for diverse funding sources beyond shareholder capital, including capital markets activity (retail TFCs, commercial papers, etc) [14][15] - Risk Predicates: Safety nets like collateral (gold), first loss guarantees, and party passive guarantees are needed to encourage lending to vulnerable populations [16][17] - Technology, Product Strategy, and Channel Strategy: Leveraging Pakistan's high teledensity (around 120 million unique SIMs) and the NADRA database for KYC/AML [20] Banking as a Service (BaaS) - Banks need to evolve from product providers to ecosystem enablers, offering "banking as a service" [21] - BaaS involves banks becoming platforms where fintechs and digital companies can access funding and scale [24] - This can enable instant access to financing for e-commerce merchants and women entrepreneurs [24]

By offering collateral-free loans, microfinance in the country has lifted millions out of poverty. But after years of rapid growth, it may be in trouble https://t.co/7JrFvRtsgC ...

Economic Empowerment & Social Impact - A person invested 10,000 Naira in someone who then built a 10 million Naira business, highlighting the potential impact of small investments [1] - Redirecting funds spent on religious pilgrimages (estimated at 15 trillion Naira) towards youth empowerment could benefit over 10 million youth in Nigeria [6][12] - Microfinance initiatives, inspired by a Pakistani model, aim to provide interest-free loans (around 500,000 Naira per participant) to empower youth, with a focus on Islamic principles and financial responsibility [8][9][10] - The initiative partners with a bank to guarantee loan returns and ensure the sustainability of the program, with the bank sharing profits to cover operational costs [10] - The speaker advocates for teaching people how to earn a living rather than simply providing them with food, emphasizing empowerment over charity [11] Education & Resource Allocation - A case study revealed that only a small percentage (20 out of 4,800) of secondary school students had textbooks, leading to low university admission rates (5%) [4] - 7 million Naira was used to purchase 9,600 textbooks for secondary school students, resulting in a significant improvement in academic performance (65% pass rate) [4] Financial Analysis & Resource Utilization - Nigerians spent 725 billion Naira on Hajj and approximately 15 trillion Naira (15% of 10 trillion) when combined with Umrah pilgrimages [6] - The speaker's family spent 10 million Naira for a 10-day trip to Saudi Arabia, prompting a re-evaluation of spending priorities towards addressing local needs [2]

Djamo Finances has secured a microfinance license from the Central Bank of West African States, allowing the Ivorian fintech to operate as a microfinance institution in Ivory Coast https://t.co/6igr3XO0eD ...