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		Winners of Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards 2007 Announced in Islamabad

12 of 20 Best Microentrepreneur Awards Go to Women – 20 Additional Awards for Loan Officers

Islamabad – ”It’s not easy to hear your children cry from hunger at night,” recalls Soomran Bhanbro, who lives in Khairpur district, Sind. Soomran’s husband, an unskilled wage laborer, earned very little and hardly enough to feed, clothe and shelter their seven children. Today Soomran’s reality is starkly different – four microloans and five years later she is the successful operator of a medical supply business and employs two contractual staff to aid her. Starting off modestly with midwife services, Soomran expanded her line of work and now her children study in a school nearby and she owns a small house.
Najab Shaheen lives in Chakwal, Punjab. Before she received her first loan from NRSP she was supporting a family of nine on less than Rs.2000 a day through multitudes of odd jobs. Najab’s one advantage was a high school education – armed with this she was able to approach the local “community organization” (CO) that worked primarily as a resource base for men in her village. From here she learned of microcredit and the rest as they say is history. Not only was Najab able to start a school for young girls but she also invested in livestock and draws not one but two incomes. Now she not only provides for her family but, inspired by her own changed circumstances, has established her own CO – a forum that meets regularly to highlight and address successes and issues in overcoming poverty respectively – in a bid to help others like her.

Before receiving a Rs. 6,000 microloan five years ago to start her own catering business, Kishwer Sultana of Lahore lived in a shack with her six children. She had no furniture except for her worktable and her children cried from lack of food. Five years to the day and Kishwer is sending her four oldest children to a good “English” school and owns a three story house which has a TV, a fridge, a deep freezer and most recently a microwave oven. Before her microloan, her children were malnourished but now she says “they look as children should – healthy and happy.”

Soomran, Najab and Kishwer are among the 20 winners of Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards program 2007 who have all, with a little help from microfinance, altered their circumstances in spite of the overwhelming disadvantages of poverty. Organized in collaboration with the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) in Pakistan and funded entirely through a Citi Foundation grant, the awards program seeks to recognize, reward and celebrate the successes of exceptional men and women who, through creativity, resourcefulness and the intelligent use of microfinance effected positive change throughout their communities.

These 20 winners and their respective loan officers were formally announced at a special ceremony in November 2007 in the presence of Advisory Council members, Citi Country Officer & Managing Director, Citi Pakistan, Zubyr Soomro, and chief guest Dr. Ishrat Husain – former Governor of the State Bank, and representatives of the government, social and corporate sectors.

Launched in August 2007, the program received more than 385 nominations from Punjab, Sind, Balochistan and the North West Frontier Provinces. The process of short listing involved several rounds of screening, field interviews as well as the final jury round with the Advisory Council. Held a day before the ceremony, the jury round was followed by a two hour long training session on Business Best Practices. A total of ten winners and ten runners up in ten categories were selected and prizes were awarded as follows:

• National
  1. Best Female Entrepreneur: Ms. Sifat Gul (First Microfinance Bank) Chitral
  2. Best Male Entrepreneur: Mr. Mr. Muhammad Ilyas (Center for Women’s Cooperative Development,(CWCD), Lahore
  Best Regional Urban Entrepreneur
  1. Ms. Nawlee (Thardeep Rural Development Prograom, TRDP), Umerkot Mr. Akhtar Ali (Sind Women’s Welfare Society, SWWS) Swabi Mr. Liaqat Ali (Narowal Rural Development Program, NRDP), Narowal
  2. Mr. Doongar Mal (Sindh Agricultural & forestry Workers Coordinating Organization, SAFWCO), Sanghar
• Best Regional Rural Entrepreneur
  1. Ms Zahra Khadim, (Orix Leasing Pakistan), Lahore Ms. Venus Waris (Save The Poor), Essa Nagri Ms. Zainab (Community Support Concern, CSC), Lahore
  2. Ms. Shamshad (Community Support Concern, CSC) Lahore

The top four winners were also asked to give commemorative plaques to the advisory council members and the chief guest as a mark of respect for their achievements.

Speaking at the occasion Doongar Mal regional award winner said, “This feels like a dream – the prize, the chance to meet such influential people, being interviewed by the press – I am overcome by gratitude for the organizers of this program.”

Member Advisory Council and Head Social Enterprise Development Centre at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) S. Mubashir Ali said, “The candidates we interviewed all had one thing in common – an overriding desire to better themselves – it has been a privilege to be associated with this program. Kudos to Citi and PPAF.”

At the launch of the awards, Dr. Ishrat Hussain said, "This award program is a good initiative and will go a long way in creating awareness for financial mainstreaming of microcredit programs. Poverty alleviation is not an easy task and microfinance is a globally proven tool to help in poverty eradication and we are deeply committed to encouraging and recognizing its role in Pakistan's social development through this program."

Citi Country Officer and Managing Director Zubyr Soomro said, “The award program is a global effort by Citi Foundation, taking place in more than 20 countries. The Microentrepreneurship Awards program has been taking place in Pakistan for the past three years and its greatest success lies in increasing awareness of the important role that micro-entrepreneurs play in their local economies and the significance of microfinance as a tool of poverty alleviation.”

Citi Pakistan has been very active in the promotion of “soft” initiatives aimed at expanding the microfinance sector. Earlier this year it organized a training of trainers program titled “financial education for the poor” in liaison with international NGOs “Microfinance Opportunities” and “Freedom from Hunger” besides awarding PKR 4.2 million in grant money to Kashf Foundation and Tameer Foundation Trust. Citibank N.A Pakistan has also arranged the first commercial funding transaction for Kashf Foundation, paving the way for MFI’s to access commercial funds in future. Citi Foundation's grants are awarded primarily in three areas: Financial Education, Educating the Next Generation, and Building Communities and Entrepreneurs.