Our History

The OXUS Group was created starting from July 2005 in order to take over the microfinance activities previously carried out by ACTED (the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development), a Paris based non-governmental organisation that was founded in 1993.

Microfinance at ACTED

Independent, private and not-for-profit, ACTED respects a strict political and religious impartiality and operates according to principles of non-discrimination and transparency. Throughout the years, ACTED has become one of the leading French NGOs; it is currently active in 32 countries, employing 4000 members of staff who are implementing 300 programs per year both in emergency relief and development projects. At present ACTED’s programs in the field reach out to around 3 million beneficiaries.

In 1997, ACTED launched its first microcredit project in Tajikistan’s Vakhsh valley, using microfinance as an efficient tool to help its beneficiaries achieve sustainable economic development. Gradually, development programs and microcredit became complementary instruments within ACTED’s strategy. Even emergency relief projects were sometimes coupled with microcredit operations in order to help beneficiaries generate their own income. As the living standards of its beneficiaries increased, ACTED developed longer term projects and expanded its microfinance activities.

The creation of the OXUS

In 2005 ACTED separated its microfinance operations from development and relief programmes, hence launching the creation of what has become the OXUS Group. This decision resulted from a double objective: on the one hand to comply with the evolving national regulations on microfinance, and on the other to encourage donors and progressively investors to fund OXUS microfinance programs.

As a result, 2005 saw the creation of OXUS Development Network (ODN) and of our first microfinance institution (MFI), OXUS Tajikistan. Since then, two other OXUS MFIs have been created and began disbursing microcredit loans: OXUS Kyrgyzstan in 2006 and OXUS Afghanistan in 2007. OXUS Holding was set up that same year to serve as an investment vehicle for the Group. More recently, the OXUS Group registered new MFIs in Uzbekistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. OXUS DRC is expected to begin its activities in the first quarter of 2012.

To this day, the OXUS Group has disbursed nearly 133,000 loans microfinance loans amounting to US $ 97.9 million.

Key dates:

  • 1997: ACTED launches its first microcredit project in Tajikistan’s Vakhsh valley, using microfinance as an instrument to achieve sustainable economic development;
  • 2002: ACTED establishes microfinance as one of its eight pillars of activity;
  • July 2005: OXUS Development Network is created to enable ACTED to separate its non-profit activities from its microfinance program;
  • October 2005: Oxus Tajikistan is registered before the Tajik Ministry of Justice;
  • February 2006: OXUS Kyrgyzstan is created, following the same pattern as for OXUS Tajikistan;
  • May 2007: Creation of OXUS Afghanistan, a greenfield MFI supported by the Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA);
  • July 2007: OXUS Holding is set up in Luxembourg to provide the OXUS Group with an investment tool;
  • April 2008: One new OXUS MFI is registered in Uzbekistan;
  • 2010: A new dynamic of development is launched with the evaluation of new markets across Sub Saharan Africa, Middle East and South Asia.
  • 2011: One new OXUS MFI is registered in Democratic Republic of Congo.
July 2005: OXUS Development Network is created to enable ACTED to separate its non-profit activities from its microfinance program