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Welcome to IMFI.org!
IMFI.org is the web portal of the Iraq Micro-Finance Industry. The purpose of this portal is to provide a centralized location in which Iraqi microfinance interests can be shared, discussed, and researched. It will also act as a launch pad for those interested in microfinance from a broader sense by providing content and links to the greater microfinance community.
Visit frequently and please contribute with your feedback, suggestions, and most importantly, content of value and interest to the Iraq Microfinance Industry.
Thank you. |
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Entrepreneurs Thrive as Microfinance Loans Disbursed in Iraq Reach $200 Million
Thursday, June 04 @ 00:19:54 PDT by fyelda (47 reads) |  
Faris is a veteran of the Iraq-Iran war who was injured and lost one leg in battle. Upon returning home to Tikrit he took a job as a carpenter in a small shop to provide for his wife and four children. Keen to start his own business and improve the life of his family, he approached in early summer this year the local microfinance institution that was established in 2007 with funding and support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Faris obtained a $2,000 loan, bought electric equipment and hired an aide to help him deal with the workload generated by new customers. “We live bet-ter now, and I am happy”, says Faris. “Even if I stand on one leg only I will keep working to offer a better life to my family”, he says.
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Iraqi Microfinance Institution Starts Loans Repayment through Private Bank
Tuesday, June 02 @ 00:23:54 PDT by fyelda (44 reads) | A transformation in the repayment mechanism of microfinance loans is taking place in Sadr City, where small business owners are beginning to use local private banks as a means to repay loans taken from the Al Bashaer microfinance institution.
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Indigenous Microfinance Institution Opens New Office
Tuesday, June 02 @ 00:22:40 PDT by fyelda (47 reads) | The Al Bashaer microfinance institution expanded its network of credit in June with the new branch opened in Yusfiya, Baghdad. The opening ceremony was attended by a number of sheiks from the area and included the disbursement of the first loan to the first client in the neighborhood. Al Bashaer currently covers 14 districts of Baghdad and has disbursed, since its inception in August 2006, over 1,700 loans worth in excess of $2.6 million. The number of Al Bashaer outstanding loans as of June 30th, 2008, was 1432.
For more information
about the Al Bashair microfinance organization or this trial program please
contact microfinance@tijara-iraq.com.
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Iraqi Business Owners Gain Stability and Success with Loans from a Local Microfi
Thursday, May 28 @ 05:40:09 PDT by fyelda (57 reads) |  Al Bashaer, a registered Iraqi non-profit organization, has been providing small business loans to the Baghdad business community since 2006. Created with the support of Tijara – a USAID funded economic growth and development program - as well as the Baghdad embedded Provincial Reconstruction Teams (ePRTs), it is rapidly becoming self-sustaining. As of November 2008, 14,972 loans totaling $26,757,902 had been disbursed since the program’s inception. The loans have helped Iraqis renovate and expand their businesses, boost their customer base, purchase new technology and improve their quality of life.
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Widow Starts Sewing Business in Her House
Thursday, May 28 @ 05:35:07 PDT by fyelda (39 reads) | Sahira is a widow who takes care of her child and also of her brothers who were injured in the war. With a small loan of $1,500 she started a business – sewing and packaging bed covers – and she hired two young women to help her. “I am very happy and proud of me, as I started selling a lot and I make good money that helps me and my family”, says Sahira.
Picture caption: Sahira turned one of the rooms of her house into a small sewing shop where she works together with her two employees.
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Iraqi Microfinance Institutions Learn Strategic Planning for Sustainability
Thursday, May 28 @ 05:34:27 PDT by fyelda (55 reads) | Forty-four Iraqi professionals, representing ten microfinance institutions and one Small Business Development Center, attended the Strategic Business Planning Workshop delivered in Erbil by the USAID-funded Tijara project from November 17 to November 19. The event was facilitated by the Erbil-based International Negotiation Institute (INI), which guided participants through the process of planning for sustainability.
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Microfinance Loan Helps Car Electrician Rescue His Business
Thursday, May 28 @ 05:28:55 PDT by fyelda (52 reads) | Hassan has repaired cars for twenty years. He comes from a poor family and he had to drop out of school to start working at the age of ten. It took him seventeen years to gather enough money to start his own business in repairing electrical wiring for cars; he bought a small shop and tools in 2005.
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Group Lending Workshop, Erbil, 2-7 May 2009
Tuesday, May 19 @ 01:18:13 PDT by fyelda (64 reads) | Several Tijara staff of the Microfinance Component from Baghdad and Erbil along with Senior Loan Officers and Branch Managers from the three big MFIs in Iraq; CHF, Relief International and Al-Thiqa held the Group Lending Workshop from 2-7 May 2009 in Erbil. There were 24 participants, including the international consultant who facilitated it and came all the way from Colombia where the group lending approach has been mastered there and across much of the rest of Latin America over the past 30 years. Group lending is one of the key deliverables of these three MFIs vis-à-vis their grant agreements with Tijara.
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Human Resource Management Training 15-19 March 2009 in Najaf
Sunday, February 22 @ 21:12:06 PST by fyelda (208 reads) | Tijara is glad to announce that it is conducting training on Human Resource Management from 15-19 March 2009 in Najaf. The training will run from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm.
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