ACCA hosts event on Dr Amjad Saqib's Akhuwat aims in the UK.

• Position: Muhammad Amjad Saqib meeting in Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib, the founder of the Islamic micro finance company, Akhuwat, met with Alan Hatfield, executive director for strategy and development at ACCA's London headquarters on 12 July 2019.

Dr Saqib was in London to speak at an event organised at the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and also wanted to meet with the global professional body to discuss his organisation's initiatives to promote literacy and micro finance in Pakistan, and around the world.

In Pakistan, micro finance is proving popular amongst the growing SME sector; SMEDA, the country's SME development authority, calculates that nearly 90% of companies are SMEs, most of them operating in the informal sector, so the demand for micro finance is also growing.

Alan Hatfield said of the meeting: "It was fascinating to hear first-hand from Dr Saqib about the aims of Akhuwat, and about how it has grown over the years. Dr Saqib and his team are clearly passionate about the aims of the business, and of how micro finance can help SMEs grow and thrive in Pakistan. The micro-credit industry is proving popular in many countries around the world, offering innovative and accessible ways to fund SMEs. It...