PAMF
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PAMF, La Premiere Agence de Microfinance, is an institution with a lot of experience acting in West Africa, having originally set up organisations in Mali and Burkina Faso. It then opened a further organisation in the Ivory Coast.
During this time, the Ivory Coast was still characterized by an extremely challenging political environment and internal conflicts. Many microfinance institutions and banks closed during this period, but the fact that PAMF managed to remain open has enabled it to build a good reputation with the country’s population and has enabled it to attract more clients.
The political situation has now stabilised and is more propitious for microfinance institutions. With the relative peace, the country has returned to growth and there have been considerable reforms including more of a focus on the financial inclusion strategy. This has proved beneficial for PAMF.
PAMF’s underlying objectives are to reduce poverty, diminish the vulnerability of the poor and alleviate economic and social exclusion. The ultimate aim is to improve quality of life by helping people to increase their incomes, become self-reliant and gain the skills needed to graduate into mainstream financial markets. It has a particular focus on those working in agriculture, animal husbandry and with small businesses. PAMF’s ideology of helping dynamic populations excluded from finance by normal banks has led to it becoming the preferred financial partner for many ivorians in the countryside and poor urban areas.
At the moment most of PAMF’s activities are focused on the North of the country, but it hopes to cover more territory soon through its mobile banking projects.
