Roshaneh Zafar founded the Kashf Foundation, a microfinance organization in Pakistan, to help women escape poverty. Today, it is Pakistan’s third largest microfinance institution, with loans totaling $22 million and a 98% recovery rate. Zafar speaks to Arabic Knowledge at Wharton on how she founded her institution and how microfinance has improved the lives of Pakistani women. She also describes a serendipitous encounter with a Nobel Prize recipient and how that bond helped launch her endeavors.
Roshaneh Zafar founded the Kashf Foundation in Pakistan to help women get out of poverty. Zafar has reached 1 million female entrepreneurs with mentorship assistance and a US$10,000 loan from Dr. Mohammed Yunus, creator of the Grameen Foundation in Bangladesh and laureate of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his work. The program now has 300,000 active clients.
Zafar started the group in 1996. It took her six months to persuade the first client to borrow. She eventually earned the women’s trust by maintaining her appointments, regardless of rain or high water. Kashf issued the sector’s first pro-women spending credit in 1999. It was the first microfinance organization to offer microinsurance services in 2001, when it partnered with one of Pakistan’s oldest insurance companies. It became the first microfinance institution to achieve financial sustainability in 2003. Four years later, the Kashf Foundation closed more than US$36 million in commercial transactions with major local and international banks. Today, it is Pakistan’s third largest microfinance institution, with loans totaling $22 million and a 98% recovery rate.
Zafar was granted the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s highest civilian award, for her contributions to development and women’s empowerment. She also received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2007.
Zafar graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and has a master’s degree in development economics from Yale University. Speaking to Arabic Knowledge at Wharton, Zafar discusses how she founded her institution and how microfinance has improved the lives of Pakistani women. She also describes a serendipitous encounter with a Nobel Prize recipient and how that bond helped launch her endeavors.
