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About Us
AMIZ is a network of microfinance institutions that are working hard to provide financial services to small businesses in Zambia.
Our aim is to support microfinance development in Zambia through advocating and lobbying for a conducive environment in terms of laws, policies, regulations, cost of doing business, entrepreneurial culture, access to affordable finance, cadre of trained local staff, and other factors critical to development of microfinance in Zambia.
To achieve this we work with microfinance institutions, banks, other Financial Service Providers, Development Finance Institutions, development actors, donors, business associations, government, regulators, and services providers to the microfinance sector.
Services Offered
Advocacy &
Lobbying
AMIZ advocates for appropriate changes in legal and regulatory environment to ensure its members operate competitively. We create awareness among policy makers, development partners, and the general public about the role of microfinance in economic development.
Data Collection &
Dissemination
In order to monitor performance and growth of members, AMIZ collects quarterly data which is shared with its member microfinance institutions and stakeholders.
Training &
Knowledge Share
AMIZ provides its members with training to enable them build staff skills and management systems necessary for them to remain competitive in an ever-changing dynamic environment.
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Stay up to date with what is going on in the microfinance industry in Zambia with our quarterly newsletter.
Our Objectives
1. Professional Standards
To establish and maintain professional standards of microfinance conduct among member microfinance institutions and the industry in general.
2. Representative Body
To be a coordinating and representative body for member microfinance institutions.
3. Business Development
To facilitate sustainable business development services to microfinance institutions.
4. Lateral Learning
To strengthen lateral learning among practitioners.
5. Lobbying
To lobby government, donors and other stakeholders on issues of law, enabling environment, and support programmes for microfinance as well as the need to develop strong and dedicated micro entrepreneurs in order to spur sustainable microfinance development.
6. Knowledge Share
To disseminate and exchange information on key issues related to microfinance.
7. Encourage Best Practice
To support best practices and innovative techniques utilized by microfinance institutions in Zambia.
Microfinance Industry
Microfinance is a type of banking service provided to unemployed or low-income individuals or groups who otherwise would have no other access to financial services. While institutions participating in the area of microfinance most often provide lending, many banks offer additional services such as checking and savings accounts and micro-insurance products, and some even provide financial and business education. The goal of microfinance is to ultimately give impoverished people an opportunity to become self-sufficient.
Without microfinance, these groups may have to resort to using loans or payday advances with extremely high interest rates or even borrow money from family and friends. Microfinance helps them invest in their businesses, and as a result, invest in themselves.
The benefits of microfinance extend beyond the direct effects of giving people a source for capital. Entrepreneurs who create successful businesses, in turn, create jobs, trade, and overall economic improvement within a community. Empowering women in particular, as many microfinance organizations do, may lead to more stability and prosperity for families.
Source: Investopia
Our Members
AGORA Microfinance Zambia
Agora Microfinance Zambia is a microfinance institution dedicated to serving low-income, rural households in Zambia with appropriate financial products.
Our mission is to contribute to the economic well-being of the poor through effective provision of appropriate financial services. AMZ has 11 branches around Zambia. Of these branches 9 are in rural areas.
- Plot No. 57A Lukanga Road, Off Zambezi Road Roma, Lusaka.
- +260 211 847838
Betternow Finance Company
Our vision is to impact financial services through responsible and inclusive lending for change, create a better future for small business owners and improve people’s quality of life by enhancing their financial status.
- Plot No. Lus/1146, 15 Lagos Road, Rhodes Park, Lusaka
- +260 211 295 281
FINCA Zambia
The global mission is to alleviate poverty through lasting solutions that help people build assets, create jobs and raise their standard of living.
FINCA has 14 branches around Zambia. Of these branches 6 are in rural areas.
- Plot No. 22768, Great East Road, Lusaka, Zambia
- +260 971 245429
Entrepreneurs Financial Centre
Our mission is to be a preferred financial services partner for micro and small medium-sized entrepreneurs and enterprise (MSMEs).
EFC has 8 branches around Zambia. Of these branches 1 is in Chipata which is categorised as rural.
- 2nd Floor, Pangea House, Great East Road, Lusaka, Zambia
- +260 211 233 137/38
Madison Finance Zambia
Madison Finance Company Limited was established in 2004 and is a Deposit Taking Financial Institution that is regulated by the Bank of Zambia.
MFinance was granted a licence to operate as a deposit taking micro finance institution in August 2014 and is now taking deposits from corporates as well as individuals. MFinance also provides a wide array of loan products to micro, small and medium sized entrepreneurs as well as pay-roll backed financial products and services.
- Plot No. 318 Independence Ave, Lusaka
- +260 211 252248/49
Microloan Foundation
The MicroLoan Foundation is a UK-based microfinance charity that gives small business loans to women in Malawi and Zambia in Southern Africa. The main objectives of the organisation is poverty alleviation and gender empowerment, and consequently its main focus has been on the women living in the rural areas, who make up majority of the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Microloan Foundation has 13 branches and all of them are in rural areas.
- Plot No. 346 Salama Park, 4th Street Chelstone Green, Lusaka, Zambia
- +260 211 355 738
Vision Fund
Vision Fund Zambia is a leading microfinance institution established as a subsidiary of Vision Fund International, a global microfinance institution operating in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East/Eastern Europe. Working together, we provide the foundations for local economies to flourish in healthy and safe communities.
We provide financial services to people who would otherwise have little or no access to credit. The well-being of children, families and communities in Zambia is our main focus. We serve the country’s poorest people by helping them start or grow their own businesses through loans of just a few hundred dollars.
- Plot No. 6810, Chiwalamabwe Road, Olympia, Lusaka.
- +260 211 225 146
Goodfellow Finance Limited
Goodfellow Finance Limited, established in 2017 is a registered microfinance institution with the Bank of Zambia that strives to add value to the Zambian economy through provision of financial services to individuals both in public and private sector as well as agricultural sector and Small to Medium Enterprises.
- Plot No. 4448/8, Chaholi Road, Rhodespark Lusaka.
- +260 211 238 719
Kwacha Loans
Kwacha Loans is a community lending initiative that provides financial services in Lusaka province. Since its incorporation, the kwacha team Strives to help people get Loans using their cars as a security and enables them to keep driving their vehicles while they are servicing their Loans.
- Plot No. 35258, Kasalu Road, Kabulonga, Lusaka
- +260 971 110 914
FMC Finance
FMC Finance Zimbabwe was established and registered as a microfinance institution in January 2010. It has now grown across borders with a branch network of 26 represented in all the four corners of Zimbabwe, our Headquarters being in Harare and its further 4 branches being in Zambia, where it started operating in 2016.
FMC Finance’s core business is micro-financing, offering financial assistance to individuals and SMEs alike. Guided by its core values of Innovation, Professionalism, Integrity, Respect & Teamwork, FMC Finance is pursuing its vision to be the best in class Micro-Finance Institution that provides professional and flexible financial solutions to its chosen customers.
FMC Finance employs over 150 staff, and places strong focus on fostering a culture of learning.
- Stand 25 & 26 Nkwazi House, Lusaka
- +260 965 156 072
Unifi Credit Zambia
Unifi Credit Zambia’s products help people to achieve even more, and to move forward despite life’s setbacks.
Unifi aims at assisting people in a way that they might not have expected from a lender and that makes them go: “Wow, that was easy!”.
Our goal is to redefine personal credit with innovations that will make life easy for 1 million clients by 2025
- 1 Chila Road, Kabulonga, Lusaka
- +260 211 360 600
Micro Finance Zambia
Micro Finance Zambia Limited is a registered deposit taking Non-Bank Financial Institution regulated and supervised by the Bank of Zambia. The company’s core business is the provision of credit facilities and various financial services to both the formal and informal sectors. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Mara Zambia, the company leverages on the strong brand and equity capacity of its parent company to deliver affordable products and services to the mass market and Small and Medium Enterprises.
- Suite 2 Stand No. 19028/B, Mulungushi Building, Great East Rd, Lusaka
- +260 211 236 936
ASA Microfinance Zambia Limited
ASA microfinance Zambia Limited (ASA Zambia) is a for-profit, non-depository Microfinance Institution, operating as a lending company since 2019, regulated by the Bank of Zambia.
ASA Zambia is a subsidiary of ASA International, one of the world’s largest international microfinance institutions in the world.
Our objective is provision of microfinance loans for business purpose to low-income entrepreneurs with the objective to improve financial inclusion and realise socioeconomic progress. Our loans provide an alternative to low income entrepreneurs without access to credit from traditional banks. We provide these loans using the ASA Model. The ASA Model was introduced by Md. Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, co-founder of ASA International, who sadly passed away in February 2021.
- Plot 1454, Makishi Road, Northmead Lusaka
- +260 960 000 000
Moneta Finance Limited
Our Moneta Family puts these values into practice. Browse our blog and experience story after story of who we are.
Moneta Finance Limited is a registered credit provider whose focus is to provide finance to Zambian individuals working in both the private and public sectors. Moneta Finance formerly known as PD Finance is a wholly owned Zambian company incorporated as a microfinance institution under the Patents and Company Registration Agency (PACRA) on the 4th of June 2009 registration number 78972 and is also duly regulated by the Bank of Zambia as a non- deposit taking financial institution. Moneta is well established positioned in the microfinance sector offering unsecured term loans to formally employed individuals, invoice discounting to emerging Zambian entrepreneurs and growth capital to small –medium and micro enterprises. Moneta prides itself as one of the financial revolutionaries in personal finance and the pioneers of instant salary backed loans which do not require collateral. Moneta Finance operates with a head office in Lusaka and strategic branches in Kitwe, Chingola, Kabwe, Mufulira and Solwezi.
- Stand 7, Shop 1, Morton House, Cairo Road Lusaka
- +260 211 227 001
Pangaea Add Capital
Pangaea ADD Capital Finance Limited is a financial provider located in Ndola, in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. The company opened its doors to the public on the 1st April 2019 and is managed by a team of competent staff as a financial provider with the principal objective of providing financial services to small and medium enterprises. Pangaea ADD Capital is fully licensed by PACRA and the Ministry of Finance under the money lenders act of Laws of Zambia. The company is tax-compliant and Workers Compensation Certified.
- Suite 14, 1st Floor, Watch It Grow Building, Buteko Avenue, Ndola
- +260 966 854 919
Inde Credit Company Limited
Inde Credit Company Ltd. helps Zambian SMEs unlock their growth potential by providing them short- and medium-term capital
At Inde Credit we aim to be a trusted consulting and financing partner for SMEs, by offering a comprehensive package of financing solutions that give small and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to grow operations and achieve their long-term visions.
Throuh more than 1,300 facilities provided to 200 clients over the past 4 years, we have experienced first hand how our services enable our clients to grow at an accelerated pace.
Inde Credit is a Bank of Zambia licensed Non-Bank-Financial Institution (NBFI) founded in 2013. We are headquartered in Kitwe with a second office in Solwezi.
We make Zambian business work.
- Plot No. 7732, 3rd Floor, Block 2, ECL Business Park, Freedom Avenue, Kitwe
- +260 212 231 854
Rural Finance Expansion Programme - RUFEP
Our Sponsor
RUFEP targets to increase access and use of financial services by poor rural men, women and youth by 140,000 households. Performance indicators for this target includes; (i) the number and percentage of the adult population actually using financial services and, (ii) a decline in the cost of borrowing for productive purposes for rural clients.
Under the strategic partnership component with AMIZ, RUFEP is working towards making the Association a main provider of capacity building to its member MFIs. Furthermore, RUFEP hopes to build the capacity of Financial Service Providers (FSPs) and also fuel financial inclusion in rural areas through the partnership with AMIZ.
- Plot No. 34810, Ground Floor Mount Building, Thabo Mbeki Road, Lusaka
- +260 211 254 613
Our History
The establishment of AMIZ was a result of an Action Research Programme that was introduced in Zambia in June 1996. This programme was funded by the World Bank and implemented by local microfinance institutions (MFIs), which looked at microfinance capacity to help nascent institutions as there were at the time to integrate industry best practices. This group of MFIs called the “Zambia World Bank Action Research Champion Team (in short “the Champion”) was composed of six MFIs who were on an alternating basis responsible for the co-ordination and implementation of various projects of the Action Research programme.
Following this project AMIZ was established in March 1998. Initially, its role was to coordinate but later the association took on lobbying and advocacy activities as the need for public awareness about microfinance grew. Sensitization of Members of Parliament on the role of microfinance was another important activity that had to be undertaken because it was important for them to have understanding of some of the policy complexities when it came to poor people and access to financial services. Before long in 2003 – 2005 there was already consultative dialogue with the Bank of Zambia as regards the formulation of microfinance regulations, which were passed in 2006. This was an important step in the formalization of microfinance.
During its formative years AMIZ worked with SIDA of Sweden, and Hivos of the Netherlands; both of whom supported the young institutions to establish itself. During the time AMIZ rolled out a programme to support capacity building in MFIs particularly focusing on staff training as some of the MFIs were transforming from NGO-MFIs into financial institutions with a vision of attaining long term sustainability.
In Association with the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management
The Team
Webster Mate
Executive Director
Pumulo Muchuu
Finance Director
Gilbert Mbewe
Data Analyst
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News
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Downloads
Collateral - The 5 C's of Credit Analysis
Microfinance institutions like other lenders also require collateral, but as noted by Wilkinson (2013) microfinance clients, who largely constitute poor and low-income people do not possess the type of assets that are usually acceptable as collateral e.g., property such as buildings, land, machinery, inventory, vehicles, homes, fixtures, etc. Therefore, microfinance in its attempt to innovate has introduced what are termed “collateral substitutes”, and these are:
Request for Proposals (RFP)
The Association of Microfinance Institutions of Zambia (AMIZ) is an association of microfinance institutions (MFIs) involved in the provision of pro-poor financial services to micro, small and medium enterprises as well as underserved or financially excluded populations and households.
Capital - The 5 C's of Credit Analysis
In this article we continue with the discussion on the 5 Cs of Credit which began in the last two articles. So having discussed Character and Capacity in the last two articles, we now turn to the third element of the 5 Cs of Credit, which is Capital.
Capacity - The 5 C's of Credit Analysis
Capacity measures the borrower's ability to repay a loan by comparing income against running debts (Sharma and Kalra, 2015). The ratio is computed by adding up total monthly debt payments, which are then divided by the borrower's total monthly income.
Character - The 5 C's of Credit Analysis
Credit analysis or assessment is the process of determining whether to extend credit or loan to a customer (Ross et al, 2002). The process involves two steps, namely: gathering relevant information on a customer and determining the customer’s creditworthiness.
New Classification & Provisioning For Microfinance Loans
In 2018, the Bank of Zambia introduced Microfinance classification and provisioning directives through Government Gazette Notice No. 892 dated 2nd November of 2018. The directives contained therein brought about a change in the way licensed microfinance institutions (MFIs) are to treat the classification and provisioning for loans.
AMIZ Strategy Brief
Overview of the strategy behind the five pillars that drive the Association of Microfinance Institutions of Zambia. The presentation covers information dissemination, advocacy, training, standards, and networking
AMIZ Membership Application Form
To apply to join the Association of Microfinance Institutions of Zambia, kindly download the application form and forward it to us at info@amiz.co.zm
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Plot #: 4645, Zambia National Council for Catholic Laity, Tito Road, Rhodes Park, Lusaka, Zambia.