I found learning about social entrepreneurship on November 15 in our COMM 101 class very interesting. One thing that I wanted to look into was micro-financing. I have read about it before and decided to learn more about it.

I stumbled upon ASA Global which is rated number 1 micro-finance institution in the world by Forbes.com. I was amazed to learn that ASA has a total number of 3,183 branches.

On December 2009 ASA’s the total amount of money that ASA has lent out was US$ 5,418 million with an outstanding amount of US$ 457 million from the previous year. That is amazing!

ASA Global takes pride in having had financially assisted over 7 million people in Bangladesh and other places around the world. ASA clients are 71 %  female. The rate of recovery of the loans they lent out is an astounding  99.64%.

Their mission statement is: “to support and strengthen the economy at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid by facilitating access to financial services for the poor, marginalized and disadvantaged.”

ASA Global seems to have shown the world that there is a thriving financial market among the poor. By lending the money to the poor ASA does not only generate profit but also allows poor families to start their own businesses, foster financial independence and promote economic growth in the developing world.

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