AKHUWAT FOUNDATION - PIONEERS IN PROVIDING INTEREST-FREE MICROFINANCE.

Byline: AHSAN NISAR

Akhuwat Foundation is a non-profit company established in 2001 and registered with SECP. Akhuwat aims to alleviate poverty by creating a bond of solidarity between the affluent and the marginalized. Their goal is to develop and sustain a social system based on mutual support. They extend a helping hand to the poverty-stricken by providing interest-free loans so they can start a business and become self-reliant. Other than having more than 700 branches in almost all cities of Pakistan to conduct its operations of distributing Qarz-e-Hasna - interest-free loans - Akhuwat also uses places of worships, like mosques and churches to disburse credit.

The primary tool being used by Akhuwat Foundation is micro-credit in a Shariah-compliant manner, that is they give interest- free small loans to the unbanked, underprivileged families. Since 2001, they have disbursed more than USD 500 million among 2.5 million families through their network of 770+ branches all across Pakistan. It is important to mention that the recovery rate is an astounding 99.93%, something unheard of in conventional banking.

Akhuwat's vision is to create a poverty-free society, a society that is embedded in a strong bond of solidarity between the affluent and the marginalized. A society where all have an equal socio-economic opportunity to sustain and grow. Akhuwat has ventured into education services as well. They have adopted more than 300 schools of the Punjab government that are providing free education to above 50,000 students. Akhuwat has established a free residential college for boys in Lahore and a biotech research facility in Faisalabad. Akhuwat University is also planned to be launched soon.

Their donor-base is very wide and encompasses people from various backgrounds. It definitely transcends geographic boundaries as they are supported by individuals from all across Pakistan and the world over, including Canada, the US, Europe, the UK, the Nordic Region, and the Middle-East. Not only people from even the most marginalized financial segment are supporting them but on n the other end of the spectrum, some of the leading members of the business sector have been ardent...