Ameen s.a.l.

Lebanon

September 11, 2011

As part of an ongoing effort to fully migrate risk ratings to our new and enhanced risk rating system, Kiva has conducted a re-assessment of the level of risk posed by this institution.

During this re-assessment, our analysts were able to gather updated operational and financial information about the institution, as well as speak with key members of the staff.

The information gathered during this process, together with the Kiva's new risk rating system and half-star support, has led us to revise Ameen's risk rating from 5 to 4 stars. The analysts have found that Ameen's risk variables, reviewed in the new risk rating model, were most representative of a 4-Star rating.

We have prepared a blog post with more information on Kiva's new and enhanced risk rating system, along with a chart showing the relative magnitude of the overall changes for Kiva's portfolio. To view that, please go here: http://www.kiva.org/updates/kiva/2011/09/07/kiva-risk-ratings-now-with-half-stars.html.

Ameen has been informed of our analysts’ findings and their corresponding change in rating.

Original Partner Description:

History

Ameen s.a.l. has been a major player in the Lebanese Microfinance sector since 1999. Originally, a micro-credit program created by CHF International, Ameen evolved to become Ameen s.a.l. in 2003, a Lebanese services company. In 2007, Ameen s.a.l. registered with the Central Bank of Lebanon to become the first Lebanese financial institution specialized in Microfinance.

Mission

Ameen s.a.l. is the first registered Lebanese microfinance institution that provides responsible financial services to microentrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises (SME), and salaried employees. Ameen services its clients across Lebanon both directly as well as in partnership with banks. Ameen’s objective is to help its clients start and develop their businesses and improve their quality of life.

Vision

Financing for a better Lebanon

Ameen’s dedicated and professional staff operates in partnership with its bank partners to serve clients in 73 branch locations throughout Lebanon. Ameen is also engaged in direct-lending. Since its inception, Ameen has provided high-quality financial services to over 46,000 borrowers and disbursed over 90,000 loans totaling more than US $130 million.

Services

Business Loans
Designed for Micro Entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the Business loan helps to support and advance clients’ business activities. Clients with both informal and formal sector businesses make use of this loan. The Ameen Micro Entrepreneur Loan ranges from US $300-$5,000 and the Ameen SME Loan ranges from US $5,100-$15,000.

Consumer Loans
The Ameen Personal loan is intended for a wide range of personal consumption including weddings, automobile purchase, travel, education and healthcare. Loan amounts range from US $300-$5,000.

Housing Loans
Housing Loans for the home improvement of an applicant’s residence are intended for the renovation, rebuilding, repairing or expanding for the resident's premises. Ameen offers two types of housing loans—one for small improvements that ranges from US $300-$5,000 and one for larger renovation and construction projects that ranges from US $5,100-$15,000.

ICT Loans
The Ameen Information and Communication Technology (ICT) loan targets ICT driven businesses and start ups in rural and peri-urban areas in Lebanon. Ameen delivers these loans in partnership with Cisco systems. The loan amount ranges from US $300-$10,000. Ameen has invested in a specialized unit to focus on micro credit for rural ICT entrepreneurs to support this innovative loan product.

Kiva Loans
Ameen offers Kiva loans as a separate product to support micro enterprises. The loan amount ranges from US$300-$1,200. Ameen has formally integrated Kiva into its organizational process, including hiring a coordinator specifically to manage Kiva loans. With Kiva’s 0% interest capital, Ameen has been able to offer lower interest rates on Kiva loans and is able to disburse Kiva loans faster than any of its other micro loan products.

Partners

Bank Partners
Ameen's objective to enhance the institutional capacity of private commercial banks to deliver microfinance products was accomplished by partnering with institutions that have a reputation for quality, outreach and interest in the Microfinance sector:

International Partners
Ameen’s social and financial goals, professionalism, and commitment to excellent service and quality have enabled it to develop many high level international partnerships:
•   Kiva: The world's first person-to-person micro-lending website
•   USAID: U.S. Agency for International Development
•   Mix Market: A global information platform on Microfinance
•   Sanabel: Microfinance Network of Arab Countries
•   OPIC: Overseas Private Investment Corporation
•   CISCO/Partnership for Lebanon: To provide needed resources to assist the reconstruction effort in Lebanon by supporting technology infrastructure projects.
•   Relief International: A humanitarian non-profit agency that provides emergency relief and assistance to vulnerable communities worldwide.
•   IESC/VEGA: A non-profit organization using private sector volunteers to assist economic growth around the world.

Awards

•   Certificate of Transparency, The Mix Market (2003,2004,2005,2006,2008, 2009)
•   MIX Global 100 Composite Ranking (2008 and 2009) The Mix Ranking includes the top 100 profitable microfinance organizations that achieve the highest results in outreach, efficiency, and transparency. •    For the last two years, Ameen s.a.l. has managed to keep its place moving up the rankings from #87 in 2008 to #17 in 2009
•   Best Micro-Entrepreneur of the Year, Sanabel Microfinance Network (2008)
•   YMCA-Citigroup Micro-Entrepreneurship Awards (2007 to 2010)

Highlights and News

September 2007 – Ameen s.a.l. becomes the first regulated Microfinance institution in Lebanon.

July 2008 – Ameen s.a.l. wins a US $500,000 interest-free loan from Cisco systems to support ICT-driven businesses and job creation in Lebanon’s rural and semi-urban communities. In 2010, the loan was transformed into a grant given the successful performance under the program.

January 2009 – Ameen s.a.l. is selected by the Sanabel Arab Microfinance Network to participate in a social audit review.

May 2009 - Ameen s.a.l. receives a performance award from the Sanabel Microfinance network for its inclusion in the Mix 100 Global Composite Ranking as one of the top performing microfinance institutions in the world.

July 2009 - Ameen s.a.l partners with the International Executive Services Corps (IESC), the United Stated Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Volunteers for Economic growth Alliance (VEGA) to establish the Lebanon Investment in Microfinance (LIM) program aimed at supporting start-up and existing micro-enterprises focused on agribusiness, ICT, or tourism.

March 2010 – Ameen s.a.l. participates in Kiva’s pilot initiative to gather social performance data using the Cerise social audit tool.

December 2010 – Ameen s.a.l. undergoes a financial and social rating conducted by a private independent rating firm, Planet Rating.

Get involved with Ameen as a member of the Ameen Lebanon Kiva lending team! Lend to an Ameen micro entrepreneur today!

Why Kiva Works With Ameen s.a.l.:

Ameen's partnership with Kiva has allowed them to offer loans to a more down-market subsection of the Lebanese population than they were traditionally serving. Their Kiva loans have a faster turn-around time (from loan application to disbursal), and they are also offered at an APR that is between 1 and 3% lower than the other loans in their portfolio. Here is how this works: Ameen makes use of a service model methodology wherein they maintain partnerships with four of the main commercial banks in Lebanon. Through these partnerships, they provide the banks with expertise in appraising microentrepreneurs for loans, and in return the banks puts forth the capital (either all or 50% of it) for the loan disbursal. Credit committees for these "non-direct" loans are a joint effort between Ameen and commercial bank staff, and the risk of the loans is also shared. Over 70% of Ameen's loans are administered in this way, and their partnership allows the banks to experiment with microlending and learn key appraisal methodologies. For the Kiva portfolio, Ameen lends "directly" to entrepreneurs - in other words they use the capital Kiva provides to fund these loan disbursements, and do not partner with third-party banks. Loans in the Kiva portfolio are generally smaller than those in the non-direct lending portfolio, and loan applications are also able to be turned around much faster (1-3 days) than their non-direct lending portfolio (5-7 days) because the credit committee for Kiva loans is solely Ameen staff, while the bank partnership loans must include members of Ameen and also the local bank. To date Ameen has intentionally kept their Kiva portfolio loans small so as to ensure that they reach a subset of clients that are otherwise largely ignored. Ameen is a market leader in Lebanon, and is one of the two major players (the other also being a Kiva partner) in the microfinance space. They are the first MFI in country to be regulated by the central bank, and are working hard for inclusion of microentrepreneurs in the formal banking space.

Repayment Performance on Kiva

	This Field Partner	All Kiva Partners
Start Date On Kiva	Sep 16, 2008	Oct 12, 2005
Total Loans	$3,133,500	$280,866,475
Amount of Raised Inactive Loans	$0	$8,475
Number Of Raised Inactive Loans	0	16
Amount of Paying Back Loans	$1,264,000	$76,717,975
Number Of Paying Back Loans	941	92,492
Amount of Ended Loans	$1,869,500	$204,140,025
Number Of Ended Loans	1,722	280,128
Delinquency Rate	3.42%	2.44%
Amount In Arrears	$28,502	$1,253,784
Outstanding Portfolio	$832,764	$51,303,862
Number of Loans Delinquent	161	11,530
Default Rate	0.05%	1.12%
Amount of Ended Loans Defaulted	$917	$2,280,201
Amount of Ended Loans	$1,869,500	$204,140,025
Number Of Ended Loans Defaulted	4	6,779
Currency Exchange Loss Rate	0.00%	0.00%
Amount of Currency Exchange Loss	$0	$12,824
Refund Rate	1.47%	1.25%
Amount of Refunded Loans	$46,175	$3,520,925
Number Of Refunded Loans	29	4,156

Loan Characteristics On Kiva

	This Field Partner	All Kiva Partners
Loans To Women Entrepreneurs	28.63%	74.89%
Average Loan Size	$1,180	$389
Average Individual Loan Size	$1,181	$618
Average Group Loan Size	$850	$1,631
Average Number Of Entrepreneurs Per Group	2	8
Average GDP Per Capita (PPP) in Local Country	$5,900	$3,403
Average Loan Size / GDP Per Capita (PPP)	20.00%	11.42%
Average Time To Fund A Loan	12.59 days	3.96 days
Average Dollars Raised Per Day Per Loan	$93.72	$98.13
Average Loan Term	11.76 months	9.26 months

Journaling Performance on Kiva

	This Field Partner	All Kiva Partners
Total Journals	877	131,523
Journaling Rate	48.05%	39.37%
Average Number Of Comments Per Journal	0.04	0.16
Average Number Of Recommendations Per Journal	0.72	4.21

Borrowing Cost Comparison (based on 2009 data)

	This Field Partner	Median for MFI Peers in Country	All Kiva Partners
Average Interest Rate and Fees Borrowers Pay (Portfolio Yield)	18.72%	25.70%	36.11%
Average Partner Return On Assets (Average Profitability)	0.86%	2.8%	-1.45%
Average Loan Size (% of Per Capita Income)	13.00%	11.00%	43.69%

Country Fast Facts

Country:: Lebanon
Capital:: Beirut
Official Language:: Arabic (official), French, English, Armenian
Population:: 3,925,502
Avg Annual Income:: $5,900
Labor Force:: agriculture: NA% industry: NA% services: NA%
Population Below Poverty Line:: 28%
Literacy Rate:: 87.4%
Infant Mortality Rate (per 1000):: 23.39 deaths/1,000 live births deaths
Life Expectancy:: 73.15 years