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AGFUND opens bank for the poor in Sierra Leone |
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The Bank of Innovation and Partnership (BIP) a micro finance institution targeting the poor, with support from the Arab Gulf Program for Development (AGFUND) which is chaired by HRH Prince Talal of Saudi Arabia, has started operations in Sierra Leone. BIP though not yet officially launched has already started benefiting the people of this country.
The CEO of AGFUND Nasser Bakr Al-Kahtani in a press release from Riyadh Saudi Arabia on the 16th of December 2011, said AGFUND “model” for fighting poverty through micro loans is “derived from the vision and initiative” of Prince Talal. This he said is focused on establishing banks for the poor in the Arab world.
AGFUND has established banks for the poor in Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain and Syria and is also planning to set up banks in Lebanon and Syria targeting 5million beneficiaries by 2015. The Sierra Leone project is the first in Africa. Speaking to Awoko Business in Freetown on Wednesday Ayman Albarawi General Manager of BIP said the AGFUND funded project is here on the invitation of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma.
The Bank he said targets poor people who cannot access financial services provided by main stream financial institutions as exclusion of the poor from the financial system is now widely accepted globally as a major factor contributing to their inability to participate in national development process and the economy.
http://www.awoko.org/2012/01/13/agfund-opens-bank-for-the-poor-in-sierra-leone/
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