Oxus Microfinance Network

History

OXUS Afghanistan was created in 2005 with funding from the Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA), a Government Apex agency set up by international donors in 2003 in order to develop the microfinance sector in Afghanistan.

OXUS Afghanistan was able to build on ACTED’s experience and past programmes in the country, in particular a micro-loan initiative to provide farmers with seeds and tools for sowing. By January 2007, OXUS Afghanistan had become a registered company under Afghan law.

 

Operating in Afghanistan

As a result of over 30 years of conflict and civil war, Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries. As of today 36% of the Afghan population lives below the national poverty line, 35% is officially unemployed and the HDI index stands at 0.349. At the same time, state institutions are weak, the security situation is challenging and transportation and communication infrastructure is very limited. Nonetheless, with the help of the international community, the Afghan economy has seen significant recovery with GDP growing steadily and standing at 8.2% at December 2010, while the socio-economic situation is improving, particularly in the regions under the authority of the central government.

Due to the low penetration of commercial banks in rural areas –hardly 1.76 commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults- and the lack of microfinance institutions (MFIs), Afghanistan is an extremely promising market – more than most other Asian countries. With a population of just over 26 million and a growing economy, many micro entrepreneurs and small and medium sized enterprises are in need of funding and investment. So far, few MFIs have been as successful as OXUS in providing financial services to customers who are often receiving their very first loan.

   

Key indicators

Geographical reach

Despite difficulties to operate in the field, OXUS Afghanistan operates 9 branches across the country and is today ranked fourth microfinance provider in portfolio terms. Since inception and as of June 2011 OXUS Afghanistan has disbursed 62,735 loans worth US $ 31.4 million.

 

 

Products and clients

To date OXUS Afghanistan offers four different product types:

• Collateral-free group loan product ;
• Small personal loan product ;
• Individual loan product ;
• Small and medium enterprise loan product ;

At present two thirds of the loans disbursed by OXUS in Afghanistan were disbursed to small credit groups. Individual business loans are also particularly successful because OXUS’ clients working in trade or commerce favour the higher degree of flexibility offered by these products. At present most of OXUS Afghanistan clients are small traders or shopkeepers (83%), while others produce handicrafts (8%) or work in the agricultural sector (7%). In the meantime, over 37% of OXUS’ clients in Afghanistan are women.

   

Management team

David Payne – Chief Executive Officer

David Payne is a graduate of Indiana State University. He has spent 16 years working in the financial sector in the United States. During this time he spent twelve years as a CEO. He has most recently completed an assignment in Ghana as the Chief Operations Officer for Opportunity International Saving and Loans, LTD.; serving the microfinance community with deposits, loans, training, and transformational programs. His dedication to serving others and using his experience to train, teach, and develop leaders has given him a strong desire to come to Central Asia. This is why he committed to joining OXUS group as the CEO of OXUS Afghanistan.

 

Junior Ata Gyamfi – Chief Operation Officer

Junior Ata Gyamfi – graduated from DeVry University with BSc in Telecommunication Management and an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management, all in the United States. Junior has about 14 years experience in bank as a regional Relationship Manager, head of SME, head of credit, general manager and assistant vice president in international firms such as Bank of America, US Bank, SunTrust Bank,-United States; and Opportunity International, Beige Capital and Goldman Capital – Ghana. He has also attended and facilitated many trainings and workshops on effective credit delivery and management in Microfinance. Junior joins Oxus Afghanistan in 2012 as a Chief Operations Officer.  

Nizamuddin Amiry – Chief Financial Officer

Nizamuddin AMIRY has done Matriculation from Rawalpindi Public School & College in 2005, A-Levels from The City School in 2007 and currently studying professional level of ACCA(The Association of Chartered Certified Accountant). In February 2008 he joined PricewaterhosueCoopers (PwC) an audit firm as auditor where he gained experience in audit and financial management especially in MFIs. He joined OXUS Group in June 2011 as a Chief Financial Officer of OXUS Afghanistan.

 

Contact

OXUS Afghanistan

Taimani, District 4#, Street 4#, House 10, Kabul Afghanistan

Tel: (+93) 7522 031 738/739