Micro Finance Program

Micro finance Program is the core program of all DUS activities. DUS has been implementing its major program in partnership with Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) since 2000. It provides collateral free micro-credit to its around 40K+ group members where 97 percent are female. Under this program, DUS has savings scheme for poor women who has no access in mainstream banks due to lack of capital and assets.  Most of the targeted beneficiaries of DUS are poor women, marginal farmers and small micro entrepreneurs. Major borrowers are women who used these loan funds to promote various income generating activities for their earnings and employments. As a result, micro finance program has positive impact on poverty reduction especially at grass rote level, income enhancement, consumption, the promotion of rural businesses, education and health and finally the empowerment of women and their employment in rural island communities.

Jagoron: Jagoron is the name of a credit instrument of PKSF to initiate household based enterprise development in Bangladesh. As a Partner Organization of PKSF, DUS is implementing this program which is now comprised with Rural Micro finance and Urban Micro finance. Rural Micro finance is that types of loan which allows rural women to finance their small scale agriculture production at homestead level. RMC Loans are allowed as working capital loans to promote poor and disadvantaged households in income earnings. RMC loan range from 10K to 59K to allowed for one year and service charge is 24% (Reducing Balancing Method)/12.0% (Flat Rate Method) per year. The weekly savings of RMC members are 10/= per week.

Another program under Jagoron is Urban Micro finance which allows Urban Poor People specially women to operate their economic activities in small scale. UMC loans are promoted for small business promotion in urban areas. UMC loans are allowed as working capital loans to promote poor and disadvantaged households living in urban slams. UMC loan range from 10K to 59K to allowed for one year and service charge is 24% (Reducing Balancing Method)/12.0% (Flat Rate Method) per year with 50/= savings per week.

DUS is operating Jagoron through 27,022 group members where 23,560 are female and 3,462 are male.

Sufolon: PKSF launched Seasonal Loan (now known as Sufolon) programme in the year 2006 and from the groundbreaking programme of PKSF, DUS is covering a major part of the yearly loan disbursement. Since its inception, this unique loan product has created tremendous impetus for the investment of different IGAs such as crop cultivation and processing, livestock, fisheries, agro-forestry agro-processing etc. The provision of the loan repayment in a single installment after the sale of the product has made it very popular among the borrowers, especially those engaged in beef fattening and crop cultivation.

DUS has operated Sufolon Loans where the range from the need based but up-to 50K are allowed for one year which service charge is 24% (Reducing Balancing Method)/12.0% (Flat Rate Method) per year. Now DUS is operating total 16 groups where 1,031 are female and 165 are male groups in this section.

Buniad: Previously this was named as Ultra Poor Loan Support which is aims to incorporate the extreme poor women households living under poverty line.  In order to incorporate the poor in savings and credit program, DUS has implementing this program in the furflang char areas of Noakhali and Bhola district. This programme promotes small farming, Poultry & Duck rearing, Kitchen gardening with health support program to the most vulnerable women household families. DUS has enrolled 3,520 members from new accreted charlands and hard to reach areas of Hatiya island. 3,457 are female member and rest 63 are male members.

Agrosor: Micro Enterprise is now renamed as Agrosor. This loan is assessed on the basis of household cash flow, business projections and the reputation of the old borrowers. The Agrosar borrowers are expected to generate equity and wage labor employment. ME loans range from 60K to 100K are allowed for one year which service charge is 24% (Reducing Balancing Method)/12.0% (Flat Rate Method) per year with minimum Tk. 50-Tk. 100/= savings per week. Now DUS is operating total 5,543 where 3,440 are female and 2,103 are male borrowers in this section.

Microenterprise Development Project (MDP): With a view to further strengthening PKSF’s Microenterprise development program, PKSF has launched a new project titled “Microenterprise Development Project (MDP)” with the financial and technical assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). MDP is designed to assist micro-entrepreneurs throughout the country carrying out environmentally sustainable and financially viable enterprises. The project aims to include an additional number of 40,000 micro-entrepreneurs under PKSF’s enterprise development program that has a present program participant base of 1.3 million at the end of 2017. This project has been designed with PKSF’s business cluster development approach. MDP loans range from 60K to 100K are allowed for one year which service charge is 24% (Reducing Balancing Method)/12.0% (Flat Rate Method) per year with minimum Tk. 50-Tk. 100/= savings per week. Now DUS is operating total 433 where 282 are female and 151 are male borrowers in this section.