WHY EAST AFRICA?

Across the globe, microfinance has helped millions of the working poor achieve greater economic self-reliance. In the last two years alone, from 2006 to 2008, our partners increased their client base from 1.5 million to over 7 million families worldwide.

Much of that growth has sprung from southern India, where many microfinance institutions (MFIs)—including the majority of our partners—have undergone incredible expansion over the last several years. While putting our Acceleration Model to work in support of this growth, we’ve gained valuable experience and learned how to be even more effective in scaling high-impact microfinance—our partners are adding new clients 7 times faster than the industry average.

Now Unitus is focusing this knowledge and hard-earned expertise on East Africa, one of the poorest regions on the planet. Of the 762 million people living in Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 556 million live on $2 a day or less. In Kenya, one of the world’s poorest countries, over 58% of the population lives on less than $2 a day. This leaves millions of people living in poverty without the tools to improve their situation.

Tujijenge Tanzania

Last October, Unitus partnered with Tujijenge Tanzania, an ambitious and promising MFI working to provide microcredit loans and other financial services in Tanzania. With Unitus’s support, Tujijenge is following an aggressive growth plan to expand into four new regions and reach 46,000 poor clients over the next three years.

Jamii Bora Trust

Tujijenge joins Jamii Bora Trust, our first East African partner, in bringing change to the region. Since becoming a Unitus partner in 2005, Jamii Bora has grown from 70,000 clients to over 220,000 today. Their innovate approach  includes the world’s first eco-housing development geared toward micro-entrepreneur clients working their way out of the slums.

Huge Regional Potential

These East African partnerships clearly demonstrate the untapped potential for growth that exists in the midst of Sub-Saharan Africa’s extreme poverty. Yet microfinance in Africa is estimated at reaching just 4 percent of families in need.

With the launch of our East African office, Unitus will target our resources on catalyzing microfinance in this high-need region that is poised for growth. Building upon our experience in fueling the once-nascent microfinance sector in India, Unitus will bring a wide range of industry expertise, capital access, strategic consulting, and a network of practitioners, entrepreneurs, and investors to fuel effective, sustainable growth for East African microfinance and create much-needed economic opportunities for the working poor.

In the coming months, Unitus will focus on selecting and partnering with a broad range of high-potential MFIs in Kenya and Tanzania (ranked 148 and 159 out of 177 countries in UNDP’s Human Development Index) in order to help them increase efficiency, reach more micro-entrepreneurs, and facilitate the development of a wide range of innovative financial products and services designed to meet the needs of the working poor.