Kashf Foundation

Kashf Foundation
کشف فاؤنڈیشن
FormationJune, 1996 (24 years ago)
FounderRoshaneh Zafar
Founded atLahore, Punjab, Pakistan
TypeNGO
Purpose
HeadquartersLahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Region
Pakistan
Services
Official language
Urdu
COO
Mr. Kamran Azim
Websitekashf.org

Kashf Foundation (Urdu: کشف فاؤنڈیشن) is a non-profit organization, founded by Roshaneh Zafar in 1996.[1] Kashf is regarded as the first microfinance institution (MFI) of Pakistan that uses village banking methodology in microcredit to alleviate poverty by providing affordable financial and non-financial services to low income households - particularly for women, to build their capacity and enhance their economic role. With headquarters in Lahore, Punjab, Kashf have regional offices in five major cities and over 200 branches across Pakistan.

Recipient of many accolades, particularly in microfinance sector, it was awarded Microfinance Excellence Award by the Grameen Foundation and won the AGFUND Second International Prize for Microcredit, competing against 95 countries.[2] In 2008, Kashf was ranked no. 34 among the Top 50 MFIs of the World by Forbes.[3] In 2016, Kashf became the first MFI of Pakistan to win a European Microfinance Award for Microfinance and Access to Education.[4]

  1. ^ Zulfiqar, Ghazal M. (September 6, 2017). "From Kashf Foundation to Kashf Microfinance Bank—Changing Organizational Identities". Asian Journal of Management Cases. 14 (2): 94–114. doi:10.1177/0972820117713595 – via CrossRef.
  2. ^ "Second Category Prize - AGFUND". agfund.org. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  3. ^ Swibel, Matthew. "The 50 Top Microfinance Institutions". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  4. ^ "Kashf Foundation becomes first Pakistani institution to win an EMA". Daily Pakistan Global. Retrieved 2018-03-21.