Successor Organizations
Ensuring Long-Lasting Impact Through Legacy Organizations
Afghan Rural Finance Company (ARFC)
Afghanistan
The Afghan Rural Finance Company (ARFC) was founded by ACDI/VOCA in March 2007 as a nonbank financial institution registered as a limited liability company under the USAID-funded ARIES project. As of December 2009, ARFC became a standalone company with over $17 million in capital owned and managed by ACDI/VOCA. ARFC is one of the few financial institutions in Afghanistan that provides loans to small and medium-sized Afghan-owned and -operated enterprises, and plays an important role in the economic development of the country. ARFC provides loans that range from $20,000 to $200,000 or more for terms up to 36 months. ARFC is currently managed and run by a local Afghan team. ACDI/VOCA, as the shareholder, provides supervision and control at the board of directors level and technical assistance at the operational level.
Agrocapital
Bolivia
In 1982 ACDI/VOCA worked with a Bolivian government agency to form Agrocapital, a nonprofit foundation for lending in rural areas. Agrocapital inherited a troubled loan portfolio and a legacy of rural lending failures, but in just five years of operation it changed the general perception that rural lending in Bolivia was not feasible. Agrocapital’s loan portfolio grew from under $1 million to more than $10 million over its first five years, and realized an on-time repayment rate of 97 percent. Agrocapital’s rapid and solid growth, fostered by ACDI/VOCA technical assistance and training, demonstrated that rural customers repay their debts as well as urban borrowers and that rural financial institutions can be both profitable and self-sustaining. Agrocapital continued to grow, with its portfolio reaching more than $25 million in 2009. In recent years, the government of Bolivia has pressed Agrocapital to return some of its initial funding, which resulted in a contraction in borrowing by the foundation. Despite these challenges, with strong management Agrocapital remained profitable in 2011, with a high-quality portfolio (portfolios at risk due to payments past due more than 30 days were less than 1 percent).
Al-Thiqa
Iraq
Al-Thiqa was founded by ACDI/VOCA in 2004 under a grant from the Coalition Provisional Authority to provide a source of rapid credit to stimulate business investment and create employment in the private sector. With a portfolio outstanding of almost $29 million extended to 14,671 clients (October 2011), today Al-Thiqa is the largest Iraqi-registered and -managed microfinance institution serving micro, small and medium enterprises in the country. Al-Thiqa has brought economic opportunities to entrepreneurs in eight governorates of Iraq—Sulaymaniya, Erbil, Dahuk, Kirkuk, Diyala, Ninewa, Baghdad and Salah ad Din. With all-Iraqi management since 2006, Al-Thiqa offers conventional and Islamic loans as well as individual and solidarity group loans in urban and rural areas, on a sustainable basis. The quality of the loan portfolio is very good, and the institution is operationally self-sufficient and financially sustainable. Al-Thiqa has received various awards from the USAID Provincial Economic Growth Program (Tijara) and the Microfinance Information Exchange for transparency in information disclosure.
Bai Tushum Financial Foundation
Kyrgyzstan
USAID, ACDI/VOCA and Swiss Caritas contributed a total of $1.2 million in capital to help establish the Bai Tushum Financial Foundation, now called Bai Tushum & Partners Micro Credit Co., in September 2000. Bai Tushum was originally a consolidation of three independent credit programs in Chui, Osh and Jalalabad that were plagued with high delinquency and a variety of legal issues. Upon the completion of the program in August 2005, Bai Tushum had branches in Osh, Jalalabad and Bishkek and 10 suboffices throughout Kyrgyzstan. It was operationally and financially sustainable and had an outstanding loan portfolio of $5.6 million extended to almost 3,000 borrowers. ACDI/VOCA has continued to provide technical assistance to Bai Tushum, which is now acknowledged as one of Central Asia’s leading financial institutions. Currently, Bai Tushum & Partners Micro Credit Co. maintains almost 27,000 active clients and a portfolio of $59.5 million with a high-quality loan portfolio. With an attractive return on investment of 21 percent, as of October 2011, Bai Tushum & Partners has attracted equity investments from leading international investors like Triple Jump, Blue Orchard and ResponsAbility. In 2011 Bai Tushum & Partners obtained a license for taking deposits and is now in the process of applying for a banking license. More information is available at www.baitushum.kg/en and on MIX Market. In 2010 the company was one of the first in Central Asia to obtain the “β+” rating for social mission implementation from the international agency M-CRIL, confirming effective management and commitment to mission.
Belun
East Timor
BELUN is a nonprofit organization that was created in 2004 to support and strengthen civil society in East Timor. Its mandate is to serve communities within East Timor, develop the organizational capacity of its partners, reduce tensions and prevent conflict. BELUN assists partners in implementing projects across a multiplicity of development sectors, including agriculture, education, environment, health, infrastructure, media, sports and recreation, and water and sanitation. BELUN’s partners include more than 120 community-based organizations and nongovernmental organizations across all of the country’s districts. Through these partnerships, BELUN works to reinforce and consolidate areas of strength and competence while addressing challenges faced by the organizations themselves and by the communities in which they work. To do this, BELUN has five teams located in five strategic sites throughout the country: Ainaro, Baucau, Dili, Maliana and Oecussi. This facilitates communication and interaction with BELUN’s remote and isolated partner base and improves monitoring and evaluation of partner activities. Ultimately, BELUN hopes that, through its efforts, the increased organizational capacity of civil society in East Timor will translate into improved service delivery across sectors and will lead to increased economic independence and reduced tensions throughout the country. In its programming, BELUN administers a small grants program, using donor-provided funds, to provide resources for particularly innovative and promising initiatives that are sustainable and that contribute positively to vibrant communities.
Bereke
Kazakhstan
Bereke is a public association formed to address the highest priorities of communities in the areas of civil society development, essential infrastructure, social services and employment needs in order to ease ethnic tensions and prevent conflict in southern Kazakhstan. The association, which was established as a successor to ACDI/VOCA’s Community Action Investment Program, works with community partners that are conflict-prone due to ethnic tensions resulting from a perceived lack of equal access to municipal financial resources and a high rate of unemployment, especially among university graduates. The region has witnessed an upsurge of activities of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, in particular. Bereke provides training in community mobilization, leadership, strategic planning, business development, fundraising, project sustainability, public awareness/advocacy campaigns and healthy lifestyles, as well as technical and engineering consulting and information dissemination activities for communities, nongovermental organizations, private businesses and government entities.
OJSC KredAgro
Azerbaijan
In response to the lack of capital available to small- and medium-scale farmers in rural Azerbaijan, ACDI/VOCA established CredAgro in July 2000 under a grant from USAID. Since then, it has served the people of the former Soviet republic as a leading nonbank credit institution. In 2010 the institution was renamed OJSC KredAqro. It operates 13 branches and nine suboffices in Baku, Shaki, Zagatala, Balakan, Gakh, Tovuz, Aghstafa, Gazakh, Guba, Khachmaz, Goychay, Ismailli, Lenkoran, Masalli, Jalilabad, Bilasuvar and Sumgait. At the end of 2011, KredAqro had more than $32 million in outstanding loans to more than 16,000 borrowers.
East African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA)
Uganda
To accelerate the development of a fine coffee sector in eastern Africa and increase the region’s export to the U.S. and other countries, ACDI/VOCA partnered with the Specialty Coffee Association of America/Specialty Coffee Institute (SCAA/SCI) to implement the Specialty Coffee Promotion in Eastern Africa (SCOPE) program from 2002-2006. The program helped to establish and strengthen the capacity of the East African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA). In particular, SCOPE helped the EAFCA Secretariat to plan, manage and promote activities, recruit new members, develop relationships with partners, donors and members, and eventually become financially self-sustainable. As a membership organization, EAFCA promotes partnerships and networks among those interested in high-quality coffee production, processing and marketing in the eastern Africa coffee-growing region. EAFCA represents farmers, exporters, importers, retailers, roasters and coffee professionals from Europe, the Americas, Asia and 11 countries in eastern and southern Africa, and coordinates market initiatives. Since 2004 EAFCA has sponsored an annual African Fine Coffee Conference and Exhibition to promote high-quality coffees and provide a forum for exporters to negotiate and enter into contracts with roasters, buyers and retailers. Other membership benefits include market linkages, promotional opportunities, quality enhancement programs and regional policy advocacy. Training workshops and regional meetings encourage best practices and information sharing throughout the network.
Frontiers, LLC
Kyrgyzstan
In August 2004, ACDI/VOCA established Central Asia’s only locally based wholesale lender to the microfinance sector, Frontiers LLC, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. As a direct result of its strong growth and a commitment to cost containment, Frontiers became operationally self-sufficient well ahead of projections. By the end of 2011, its return on investment stood at 14.7 percent and its outstanding loan portfolio had reached $15 million. Including a million dollar investment in a Tajik MFI, it was serving 70 microfinance institutions and credit unions in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO)
India
IFFCO is a proud member of ACDI/VOCA and well it should be. The largest fertilizer producer in Asia and one of the largest in the world, the co-op traces its existence to a report written by ACDI in 1967 on the Indian fertilizer market. A team headed by Don Thomas, later president of ACDI, recommended a $125 million project to create the new venture, which was aimed at making India self-sufficient in food production. It was funded by U.S. agricultural cooperatives, USAID, the British Ministry of Overseas Development and the Dutch government, with a total of $40 million. American cooperatives alone raised $1 million. The government of India and Indian cooperatives invested $85 million. Thomas served as president of Cooperative Fertilizers International, which was created to provide U.S. co-op expertise and assistance for the project's construction of two modern large-scale fertilizer plants. The founding of IFFCO arguably ranks as one of the most effective projects ever undertaken with USAID funding.
KazMicroFinance LLC (KMF)
Kazakhstan
Founded by ACDI/VOCA originally as the Kazakhstan Community Loan Fund, the renamed KazMicroFinance LLC was the country’s first nonbank financial institution and, until 2001, the sole microenterprise institution that could legally disburse loans and report directly to the Kazakh Central Bank. KMF is a microfinance company offering high-quality, affordable services to small business and potential entrepreneurs that want to start or improve their businesses. It supports business development through credit and training, primarily to women-owned microbusinesses. KMF applies a group solidarity model that is tailored to local economic and social conditions. KMF’s 2011 portfolio stood at $53 million with 46,600 active clients, 75 percent of whom are women. Its portfolio-at-risk rate is an exceptionally low .07 percent.
Kosh Araket
Kyrgyzstan
Kosh Araket is a registered nongovernmental organization successor of ACDI/VOCA's USAID-funded Community Action Investment Program (CAIP). Kosh Araket’s primary objectives are to promote civil, economic, social and cultural rights and freedoms, and to foster the development of community activism. Kosh Araket works with informal and formal local leaders through a grassroots and holistic approach to community development in conflict-prone, vulnerable and marginalized areas. Kosh Araket provides informational support to former CAIP partner communities and communities working with other local and international organizations on current legal, economic and social issues. Kosh Araket also provides consulting and technical training services in various aspects of community development, including social mobilization, project proposal writing, leadership and teambuilding, organizational development, strategic planning, business development, project maintenance and sustainability, public awareness and advocacy campaigns, association development and healthy lifestyles activities for youth.
MicroInvest/Arvand MDO
Tajikistan
The microloan fund MicroInvest is one of the leading nonbanking financial institutions of Tajikistan. From the date of establishment in 2002, MLF Microinvest has pursued understanding, satisfaction of requirements, and expansion of mutually advantageous cooperation with its clients within the framework of the Fergana Valley Regional Microlending Project implemented by ACDI/VOCA. The mission of MicroInvest is to improve the standard of living and create new opportunities for social and economic development by providing financial and technical services to Tajikistani entrepreneurs. In 2008 MicroInvest, in association with Frontiers (51/49 percent), invested a large majority of its assets in a new for-profit company, Arvand MDO. The company has a license to capture savings and offer other financial services to underserved rural borrowers not traditionally targeted by commercial Tajik banks. Arvand currently has more than 15,000 active loans to borrowers located throughout the Tajik side of the Ferghana Valley, and its loan portfolio is over $11.6 million. Arvand MDO’s major achievements include high standards of service, client-responsive product design and easy access to various communities through rural suboffices. Arvand maintains a high quality loan portfolio that is fully operational and financially sustainable. Women entrepreneurs make up 43 percent of its clients. Arvand attracted many prestigious social debt investors and is currently seeking capital social investors to finance further development of its services. More information is available at www.microinvest.tj/arvand.
National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi (NASFAM)
Malawi
NASFAM is a member-owned, democratically governed, nonpolitical organization that provides business services to its smallholder farmer members. Founded on the principles of collective action and self-reliance, the organization works to empower farmers at the grass-roots level, encouraging them to form cohesive village-based clubs and associations in order to realize increasing agricultural returns and contribute to economic development. Today NASFAM represents over 100,000 farm families.
Ukrainian Agricultural Finance Development Foundation (UAFDF)
Ukraine
UAFDF is a nonprofit organization established and registered in 1999. A legacy organization of ACDI/VOCA, UAFDF's primary focus is microlending to agricultural enterprises. It also provides technical consulting services, training and organizational support to private enterprises. Working in cooperation with government agencies, nongovernmental associations and enterprises, UAFDF is introducing new mechanisms and improved lending techniques (including participatory loan processes and competitively based credit practices) and enhancing the skills of banks, credit unions and borrowers to build a sounder and more efficient financing infrastructure.
