Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance

Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance is an micro financing agency of the Aga Khan Development Network.

Microfinance is the provision of a broad range of financial services, for those who often do not have access, such as - deposits, loans, payment services, money transfers and insurance products - to low-income households to help them raise their income levels and improve their quality of life.

AKAM was formally inaugurated in February 2005 by His Highness the Aga Khan and the former president of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn. The not-for-profit agency was created under Swiss law and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. It is governed by an independent Board of Directors chaired by the Aga Khan. AKAM brings together the fincancial services programming of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), at the lower end of the ladder, unifying and consolidating their objectives and principles of development under one institutional umbrella.

The agency belongs to AKDN’s social development branch, and as such AKAM operates in both rural and urban areas, seeks to alleviate poverty by helping to improve incomes and quality of life through various programmes, initiatives, and partnerships. Today, AKAM operates in developing countries including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Kenya, the Kyrgyz Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan and Tanzania and provides various microfinance opportunities whose “versatility allows it to be adapted to the needs and circumstances of the poor in urban and in rural environments.”

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