Portfolio Spotlight: Advans Myanmar
Expanding financial access in underserved communities in central Myanmar
On October 7, 2019, MCE made a debt investment of $1,000,000 in Advans Myanmar, a microfinance institution founded by Advans Group in 2015 with the mission to provide easily accessible financial services to underserved clients in Myanmar. The organization is the newest affiliate of the broader Advans Group, a global microfinance network currently operating in nine countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The microfinance institutions in the Advans Group seek to strengthen local businesses, create jobs, and improve living standards through the provision of financial products and services.
Advans Myanmar opened its first branch in April 2017 in the Mandalay region of central Myanmar. The institution has since experienced impressive growth and now serves more than 48,470 borrowers across thirteen branches in the Mandalay and Sagaing regions. Advans Myanmar is unique among Advans Group affiliates because of its regional partnership with AMRET, the largest affiliate of the Advans Group and one of the leading microfinance institutions in Cambodia. Both Advans Group and AMRET provide technical assistance to Advans Myanmar, ensuring the effective and sustainable growth of the institution.
Advans Myanmar offers three core products to its clients:
- Village banking loans for small-scale producers, farmers, and micro-traders in rural areas;
- Small group loans targeted at micro and small business owners in urban and peri-urban areas; and,
- Individual business loans for more mature enterprises.
Advans Myanmar’s goal is to increase financial inclusion by converting its borrowers from their reliance on informal money lenders (which are expensive, unreliable, and destructive) to more formal financial institutions in the hopes of stimulating economic and social growth in the country. Myanmar is the poorest country in Southeast Asia as measured in GDP per capita (World Bank 2018). Among its 54 million inhabitants, 69% live in rural areas and only 23% have an account at a financial institution (Global Findex 2014). In order to address this issue directly, Advans Myanmar goes the extra mile to provide “doorstep” service — loan officers facilitate disbursements and repayments in highly remote areas to ensure accessibility and convenience for rural communities.
Advans Myanmar is the first of the Advans Group affiliates to offer a village banking product, which underpins the institution’s strategy to increase penetration in rural areas of the country. The clients of these village banking loans are often farmers and micro-entrepreneurs with a monthly family income of just $100 — $600. Advans Myanmar plans to provide more tailored products across the agriculture value chain as the institution grows in order to better serve its agricultural clients.
As of April 2019, Advans Myanmar had a loan portfolio of equivalent in USD 18.85 million serving 48,470 borrowers, 81% of whom were women and 52% of whom lived in rural areas. Advans Myanmar joins two other microfinance institutions in MCE’s portfolio, Proximity Finance and AMFIM. MCE is proud to support such highly impactful institutions that are promoting financial inclusion and sustainable economic development throughout Myanmar.
Photos by Advans Myanmar.
