In Pakistan, economic development projects under the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) umbrella range from tourism promotion, including eight hotels, to financial project companies.
In more marginalised and isolated communities, the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (an initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation) undertakes activities to diversify income sources, so that rural households can generate greater incomes and manage financial uncertainty more successfully.
The Programme also supports community-based savings groups that reduce financial barriers to accessing health services, and thousands of physical infrastructure projects that have a transformative effect on the quality of life in these remote reaches.
AKDN institutions in Pakistan have provided financial services for more than 80 years. These range from community savings groups in rural areas to the branches of the First MicroFinanceBank Ltd and two of the most well known financial institutions in the country, HBL and New Jubilee Insurance.
AKFED has investments in a variety of institutions in the banking sector. They include a controlling interest in Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Pakistan’s largest private bank, which was acquired through a government privatisation programme in 2004. The Bank, which was incorporated in 1941 in Bombay, became the first commercial bank to be established in Pakistan in 1947, and is currently the leader in the corporate banking market. HBL has over five million retail customers and total assets of over US$ 8.5 billion. A pioneer in the introduction of new products such as automated teller machines and other consumer services in the Pakistani market, HBL has more than 1,750 branches and is present in 25 countries across five continents.
Insurance
Insurance operations in Pakistan are conducted through two publicly-listed companies: New Jubilee Insurance, the country’s third largest insurance firm, offers general insurance services. New Jubilee Life offers life and pension products
The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) promotes tourism by building and managing hotels, resorts and lodges that contribute to economic growth in an environmentally and culturally sensitive manner. Operating under the brand name Serena, TPS owns and manages hotels in East Africa and Asia.
Rural households benefit from having a wide range of income sources that help them to manage uncertainty more successfully. Accordingly, the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) has supported skills development, vocational training and market development to generate employment opportunities outside the agriculture sector.
Over 1,500 people (95% women) have received technical skills training, and 14,122 people (97% women) vocational skills training. The Government of Pakistan, Trocaire, and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Islamabad support the work to increase opportunities for employment and self-employment in the non-farm sector and contribute to increased household incomes.
Many people in the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP)’s programme area face considerable challenges in accessing relevant and affordable financial services. Over the past 36 years, AKRSP has addressed this issue and worked to improve financial inclusion in a variety of ways.
In profoundly isolated and remote reaches, physical infrastructure can have a transformative effect on quality of life. Over the past two decades, AKRSP has supported 3,800 infrastructure projects that have benefitted over 300,000 households.
