BRAC Liberia Microfinance Company Limited, the largest microfinance provider in Liberia operating 32 branches in 8 counties and providing financial services to more than 46,000 clients, has received the 2021 Achievers Award from a local newspaper in Liberia.
In a press release issued in Monrovia on January 25, 2022, the X-Ray newspaper, through its Managing Editor, Orlando Chea, said the selection of BRAC Liberia as the microfinance organization of the year 2021 was based on the organization’s work and contributions to society, which have made transformative impact in helping under-privileged and vulnerable population groups address food security in Liberia.
Chea said commercial banks give money to big clients that can afford to pay back interest in a timely manner, while BRAC patiently work with its rural poor clients to pay interests on their loans and provide training to their clients, which include pre-disbursement orientation through financial literacy program activities.
Also, he said, at the height of COVID-19 outbreak in Liberia, the organization introduced a two-month moratorium, which was free of interest payment, while at the same time paying 100% of staff salaries. During that period the organization sent out SMS messages to clients informing them that there was no need to pay.
Commenting further, Chea stated that the company played an important role to keep up economic activities in Liberia during the Ebola outbreak and was one of the participating financial institutions for the Post Ebola Reconstruction Project, coordinated jointly by the Central Bank of Liberia and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning and funded by the World Bank.
He expressed thanks and gratitude to BRAC Microfinance Company Limited, headed by its CEO, Khaled Morshed, and his team of dedicated staff, majority of whom are Liberians, for the level of achievement made so far. “They have built a solid reputation in the area of microfinance,” he continued.
Receiving the award, CEO Khaled Morshed thanked the management of the X-Ray Newspaper for making the observation, and disclosed that the largest and important component of BRAC’s intervention in Liberia has been through microfinance, which has considerably improved the livelihood of thousands of Liberians.
He explained that BRAC Liberia Microfinance delivers financial services in a way that is transparent, fair and safe, adhering to the Universal Standard for Social Performance Management and the Clients Protection Principles, placing client’s wellbeing at the center of everything they do.
BRAC Liberia Microfinance Company Limited (BLMCL) started operation in Liberia in 2008 with the mission to provide financial services responsibly to people living in poverty, especially women, living in rural and hard-to-reach areas, to create self-employment opportunities, build financial resilience and harness women’s entrepreneurial spirit. BLMCL is now the largest microfinance provider in Liberia. As of December 2020 it had almost 40,000 active borrowers, 97% of whom are women, and had disbursed over US$75 million in loans since its inception.