Choudhury visits Lifebank Group
World's top microfinance exec exhorts local MFI
The big wheel in global microfinance was recently in Iloilo to visit the Lifebank Group based in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo.
Md. Shafiqual Haque Choudhury is the founder and president of ASA-Bangladesh, the world's largest sustainable microfinance institution that stemmed from the humble country of Bangaldesh in 1978. In 2000, the Lifebank Group became ASA's partner and since then, the strong affiliation between the two microfinance institutions has successfully been bringing forth their advocacy in poverty reduction.
Vicente Perlas, M.D. Head for Microfinance of Life Bank Foundation, Inc. together with VP Dr. Charrie Perlas; Joseph Perlas, Coordinator for Social Services; the Management Committee and Lifebankers welcomed Choudhury in his first visit in Iloilo for the year 2006. Vital information and jovial exchanges were done over a sumptuous lunch at the Iloilo Golf and Country Club, Sta. Barbara, Iloilo.
Choudhury recalled the onerous beginnings of ASA. Gaining its freedom from Pakistan only in 1971, Bangladesh was one of the most underprivileged countries in Southeast Asia.
The perfect time and space for social advancement presented itself, and a loud call from disadvantaged Bangladeshis inspired Choudhury to act on his passion to help his fellow countrymen.
ASA was born in a classroom Choudhury borrowed from a school dispossessing even the simplest equipment like a typewriter. He had to borrow one too, so he could write his communications to start a microfinance institution. But how something so small became the world's largest and most respected MFI is no mystery for Choudhury.
"From a little seed you will grow into something big. When you dream you have to believe in it," Choudhury shares his weapon of success with Lifebankers.
Today, ASA is recognized as an International Technical Service Provider (ITSP) under the United Nation's Development Programs (UNDP) in the Philippines and Nigeria. Its cost-effective Sustainable Microfinance Model is implemented in different parts of the world like Indonesia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Jordan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Peru , Nigeria and of course, the Philippines, where the Life Bank Group is ASA's partner. The latest mark on ASA's record is its soaring memberships in its microfinance program in Bangladesh alone reaching to about six million.
The Life Bank Group and ASA will continue to build the ladders of social and cultural change through its progressive microfinance programs.
(E-mail the Assistant to the President for Communication and Information at francesbyoung@yahoo.com.ph for more information on the Lifebank Group and its Initiatives for Comprehensive Sustainable Development.)