Cissy DeLuca, Field Support Specialist, Asia
Please join Kiva in welcoming Pt. VisionFund Indonesia to the Kiva family! This exciting addition gives our lenders access to microfinance clients on the island of Java - expanding our reach further from our current presence in West Timor and Bali.
With their head office based in Jakarta, VFI operates in the two largest Indonesian cities; Jakarta and Surabaya. They currently have 7 branches and hope to have 11 by the end of this year. VFI is a Christian venture capital owned by Mitra Masyarakat Sejahtera (MMS) and WorldVision Indonesia. The organization has been involved in micro financing activities since 2000 under MMS. In 2010, VisionFund Indonesia was set up as the legal structure for implementing microfinance.
Pictured: VFI head office management and staff with Cissy DeLuca
VFI provides microloans ranging from $50 - $600 to almost 7,000 clients. The majority of their lending is to solidarity groups of 5 or more members and 98% of their clients are female.
During my recent visit with them I was able to spend time with the head office staff, branch managers, loan officers and some of their clients. The head office staff was trained on Kiva's system and policies. The branch staff was trained on how to explain Kiva to clients in accordance with Kiva's policy that all clients must sign release waivers. VFI will start their partnership with Kiva by posting clients from the Cilincing branch in Jakarta.
Pictured: Staff at Cilincing branch before meeting with first Kiva clients
Indonesia is a country spread across thousands of islands in the Pacific Ocean. With a population of over 240 million people, about 13% of the population lives below the poverty line and nearly 40 million people still lack access to financial services. (Sources: CIA Factbook and Micra Indonesia).
Please welcome Pt. VisionFund Indonesia to Kiva by funding their loans on our website!
