Kashf Foundation is registered as a Non-Banking Micro Finance Company regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. Kashf was set up in 1996 as the first specialized microfinance institution of Pakistan. Over the years, Kashf has successfully carved out a distinct and unique niche for itself in the microfinance sector at home and abroad by offering a suite of holistic innovative and transformative products and services to low-income households, especially women. Kashf offers appraisal-backed individual lending to its clients along with other non-financial services to have a transformative impact at the household level. Kashf believes in creating an enabling environment for women micro-entrepreneurs and is committed to creating products and services driven by client needs and demands which leverage on lessons from successful models from across the world. Kashf’s main spheres of intervention include; (1) financial services, (2) insurance and safety nets, (3) capacity building trainings, and (4) social advocacy interventions.
In Pakistan, the face of poverty is female, with one-third of homes at or below the poverty line.
Kashf is the first wealth management company for women from low income households.
Roshaneh Zafar and Kashf have catalyzed a transformation where men and women are equal partners in development,
Kashf clients are able to spend 13 percent more on education and 22 percent more on health care.
Providing high-quality and sustainable microfinance services to low-income families and micro-entrepreneurs to enhance financial capabilities, alleviate household poverty, and enable all, especially women, to become active agents of social and economic change.
Kashf scales its program directly to reach more communities and strengthens its offerings through links with national and international organizations.
Managing Director, Kashf Foundation
Through a chance meeting with Muhammad Yunus, Roshaneh Zafar was inspired to quit her job and establish the Kashf Foundation in 1999. Believing that the Grameen model could help empower women both economically and socially, Roshaneh ignored warnings that a microfinance program focusing on women would not work in Pakistan. Starting with her own family’s funds and a volunteer workforce of five women, Roshaneh drove her colleagues to distant villages to start microfinance centers. Kashf was the first specialized microfinance program in Pakistan to specifically target women from low-income communities, and evolved to become the first wealth management company for women from low-income households. Women improve the economic status of their families by building entrepreneurship and financial management skills, gaining access to business loans, and obtaining micro-insurance services to reduce exposure to financial risk.
To date, Kashf has disbursed over 5.5 million loans amounting over PKR 173 billion to women micro-entrepreneurs. Clients who have gone through the business management training program report a 51 percent increase in monthly profits after taking a loan, and 83 percent of self-employed clients felt that their capacity to handle their business has improved. According to a recent impact assessment, 99 percent of clients attribute increased profits to their Kashf loan, 69 percent of women reported increased authority regarding household budget/expenditure, and 50 percent of clients reported improved quality and quantity of food consumed by girls and women post-loan.
