Financial Inclusion & Karandaaz’s Women Ventures Program Bad Credit & Recommendations

Abstract

The following is a consultancy provided to Karandaaz Pakistan by Mohsin Ashfaque Khan (an MBA student of NUST Business School) to better improve their flagship gender financing program titled “Women Ventures” (WV). The WV program represents one of the largest financing platforms for women-led/owned/managed businesses in Pakistan, both in terms of the principal amount committed to these businesses, and the number of businesses in the portfolio. It started out as an annual challenge round in 2017 and took place 3 times (in 2017, 2018, and 2019) before being institutionalized as a program in 2020, where applications were reviewed on a rolling basis. This document aims to describe the rationale for Karandaaz Pakistan’s intervention in financing women-led/owned/managed businesses in Pakistan, the details of financing provided under the WV program, and the issues being faced by Karandaaz Pakistan in running the program in the foreseeable future. Additionally, the document also provides certain recommendations for the improvement of the WV program and to ensure the addition of healthy businesses in the WV portfolio. This document is intended to be viewed and used by Karandaaz Pakistan and the defense committee of NUST Business School. It is stressed that the information inside this document, especially the terms of financing provided by Karandaaz, the details of the contract between Karandaaz Pakistan and the beneficiary women-led businesses, and the issues being faced by Karandaaz Pakistan from the existing portfolio businesses be kept highly confidential.