ACCION Microloan Portfolio Reaches $1 Billion in 2005, Providing Lending to 1.5 Million Poor Annually

ACCION International today announced that the active loan portfolio managed by its microfinance partners rose above $1 billion in 2005, for the first time in ACCION’s history. In just over three years, ACCION has more than doubled its active loan portfolio and doubled the number of poor entrepreneurs served each year.

“ACCION has made significant strides in addressing world poverty,” reflected Maria Otero, ACCION International president and CEO. “In the last five years, we’ve seen the number of clients served by our partners in the developing world grow to 1.46 million per year. By comparison, it took 20 years to reach 450,000 clients per year. The growth of the portfolio, and our expansion into India and new countries in Africa, has allowed us to significantly broaden our scope and extend our mission — building strong, sustainable microfinance institutions around the world.”

“But there will always be more to do,” Otero continued. “Our objective by the end of 2008 is to more than double again the number of clients served by our partner network, or to reach three million active clients annually. At that growth rate, our active loan portfolio is also expected to double, to $2 billion, in that time.”

ACCION’s strategic plan over the next three years calls for continued work with commercial banks and other financial institutions to help scale microfinance solutions to reach millions more poor in new regions; create new innovations and technologies that make microfinance even more cost-effective; and continue to provide a leadership role for the industry.

A unique solution to poverty, microfinance enables the entrepreneurial spirit and will to succeed that exists in all people, regardless of their financial means. With the interest paid on each loan helping to fund other clients’ future loans, it provides a self-sustaining and scaleable means of making financial services available to the world’s poor.