Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Spring 2007 : Progressing Towards Thousands More
Progressing Towards Thousands More: Spotlight on Morocco
Approximately one in five Moroccans—six million people in all—live in poverty and a majority of the female population is illiterate.
Under the leadership of Nourredine Ayouch and Aziz Benmaazouz, Foundation Zakoura was founded in 1995 with a vision to reverse these trends. Today, Foundation Zakoura is the second largest microfinance institution (MFI) in the Arab World, serving 330,000 clients and offering them legal support, health care programs and literacy classes.
This Moroccan MFI will significantly multiply its impact by providing microfinance to 41,000 new families thanks to a $10.6 million loan from local bank Société Générale Marocaine de Banques. This loan was facilitated by a $5 million guarantee from the Grameen-Jameel Initiative for the Arab World, shared equally between the Grameen Foundation Growth Guarantees Program and the Mohammed Jameel Fund. The guarantee and resulting loan represent the largest transaction for the Grameen-Jameel Initiative, an alliance between Grameen Foundation and the Abdul Latif Jameel Company to advance microfinance in the Arab world.
Grameen Foundation’s innovative Growth Guarantee Program aims to bridge the gap between MFIs’ need for capital to expand and serve more people, and local capital markets. In its first year, the Growth Guarantee Program provided guarantees that mobilized close to $25 million from local banks for MFIs around the world, with nearly two thirds going to partners in the Middle East and North Africa.
To read more about Foundation Zakoura in Factors that Contribute to Exponential Growth: Case Studies for Massive Outreach to the Poor and Poorest, contact development@grameenfoundation.org.
Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Print Newsletter : Spring 2007 : Progressing Towards Thousands More
Grameen Foundation uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people. With tiny loans and financial services, we help the poor, mostly women, start businesses and escape poverty. Our global network of 55 microfinance institution (MFI) partners including our Growth Guarantee partners has touched more than 34 million people in 24 countries. In addition, we introduced and now sustain technology initiatives (Mifos and Village Phone) in Cameroon, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, bringing our total country outreach to 28.
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