The LOLC Group, through its new micro finance company, LOLC Micro Finance Ltd, is targeting 100,000 micro finance borrowers before 2010, according to a top company official.
"Presently there are 22,000 borrowers and we plan to increase our borrowers to 100,000 in two years," Ravi Tissera, CEO of LOLC Micro Finance told The Sunday Times FT on the sidelines of a press conference to launch the company on Tuesday. He said the company is the first-ever Central Bank approved micro finance company.
Mr. Tissera said the company is very active in the post-conflict areas in the East such as Batticoloa, Amparai, etc. "A credit guarantee of US$ 5 million from USAID, a donor agency, was given to us recently and out of this US$ 4 million need to be invested in these areas while the balance have to be invested in Monaragala, Polonnaruwa and Badulla,” he said.
The product portfolio of the company is designed to cover key areas such as dairy farming, agriculture, skills enabling and small businesses. He added that staff recruitment for the company is done from the villages.
Arno de Vette, Senior Investment Officer of FMO, a Dutch based micro finance company that is a 20 % shareholder in the company, said FMO will provide a package of equity, convertible loans and senior loans totalling US$ 10 million. “Besides this we will provide capacity development to upgrade staff, products and systems,” he said.
He said that FMO has introduced Lanka Orix to PRASAC, a micro finance institution in Cambodia, in which both FMO and Lanka Orix are shareholders. “The financial crisis in the world, followed by an economic crisis at the moment is serious and will have impact for Sri Lanka too. Strict guidance by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka is essential,” he said.
He said that a sound credit policy to keep the non performing loans low and maintaining sufficient provisions is important. |
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