ACCA hosts Amjad Saqib in UK

LAHORE: Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib, the founder of the Islamic micro-finance company, Akhuwat, had a meeting with Alan Hatfield, Executive Director for Strategy and Development at ACCA’s London headquarters.

Dr Saqib spoke at an event organised at the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. He also held a meeting with the global professional body and discussed his organisation’s initiatives to promote literacy and microfinance in Pakistan, and around the world.

In Pakistan, micro-finance is proving popular amongst the growing SME sector; SMEDA, the country’s SME development authority, calculates that nearly 90% of companies are SMEs, most of them operating in the informal sector, so the demand for micro-finance is also growing.

Alan Hatfield said the meeting was fascinating to hear first-hand from Dr Saqib about the aims of Akhuwat, and about how it has grown over the years. Dr Saqib and his team are clearly passionate about the aims of the business, and how micro- finance can help SMEs to grow in Pakistan. The micro-credit industry is proving popular in many countries around the world, offering innovative and accessible ways to fund SMEs.

Dr Saqib said, “Since 2001, Akhuwat has opened over 850 branches in 486 cities/towns across Pakistan, enabling over 3.5 million families to become self-reliant by extending interest-free loans worth more than £400 million. Now, through Akhuwat University, we will be providing higher education without any tuition fee to support the upward social mobility in the country. ACCA and Akhuwat share the same values and we will continue working together to promote financial inclusion and access to world-class education in Pakistan.” ***