JAMII BORA TRUST
Background: Jamii Bora Trust began in 1999 when several former beggars and slum dwellers asked Ingrid Munro, then head of the African Housing Fund, to help them improve their lives. She agreed, and since then, a once-small savings matching program has grown into a nationwide microfinance institution (MFI) with truly ambitious growth and impact goals.
Leadership: Jamii Bora is led by its founder and director, Ms. Ingrid Munro.
Jamii Bora Trust thanks Unitus for their vision and trust in us as an institution. We will accomplish great things together and look forward to an exciting partnership.
Product offerings and clientele: Jamii Bora Trust’s financial products include loans for small businesses, land, housing, and education. Jamii Bora Trust also offers life and health insurance, including services for HIV-positive clients. Jamii Bora means “good families.” Their holistic approach to poverty alleviation includes alcohol rehabilitation, orphan outreach, and street beggar transition programs. These services result in high loan repayment rates and positive changes in clients’ standards of living. Jamii Bora Trust targets the very poor living in urban and rural Kenya; their dozens of branches serve clients in virtually all major Kenyan cities. Jamii Bora Trust is broadening their services by developing Kaputei, a housing community where clients can buy homes with mortgage payments similar to rents paid in the slums (about $20 per month).
Highlights and growth strategy: When Unitus partnered with Jamii Bora Trust in July 2004, Jamii Bora Trust was the fastest-growing MFI in Kenya; they reached more than 70,000 clients in their first 5 years. Jamii Bora Trust demonstrated their first profitable quarter in Q1 2004. Jamii Bora Trust is unique in that new staff are almost all previous borrowers or close relatives of borrowers. Jamii Bora Trust is also distinct in that approximately one third of their loans are to men.
Meet a Jamii Bora Trust client: Susan is HIV positive, but now that she has access to medical insurance and microcredit loans, Susan is able to provide for her children and buy the drugs that are keeping her healthy.
