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CAMEC Nationale, Tonus Balimaya and Gueleya Kunbe lead the movement for transparency in Mali

Published on June 13, 2011

LANCASTER, PA USA & BAMAKO, MALI June 14, 2011 – CAMEC Nationale, Tonus Balimaya and Gueleya Kunbe are the first microfinance institutions to participate in the Transparent Pricing Initiative in Mali by submitting microloan product information and pricing data. Through this commitment to transparency and client protection, these institutions have established themselves as leaders in the Malian microfinance market. To date, 11 additional institutions in Mali have followed their lead by beginning the data submission process.

MFTransparency launched the Transparent Pricing Initiative in Mali in February 2011 with widespread support from a range of industry actors. Working in partnership with the Association Professionnelle des Institutions de Microfinance au Mali (APIM Mali), MFTransparency began the Transparent Pricing Initiative in Mali with a training workshop in Bamako. This workshop was attended by many industry leaders, and provided participants with training on issues related to transparency and consumer protection.

CAMEC Nationale is a socially engaged institution active in all regions of Mali. CAMEC showed its commitment to transparency by completing the data collection process in record time.

Tonus Balimaya was the second institution to finalize the data collection for Mali. The institution provides credit and savings products in rural areas, tailored to the local population with loan documentation issued in local languages.

Gueleya Kunbe, third to submit, is a young microfinance institution. Initially, Gueleya Kunbe was created to help underprivileged children. They began their microfinance activity as a way to address the needs of the families of these children. As a new institution, Gueleya Kunbe is eager to implement best practices, beginning by participating in the Transparent Pricing Initiative in Mali.

MFTransparency awards transparency certification to all MFIs who submit data and commit to educating their clients on pricing. This consists of both a certificate to be displayed in the MFI’s offices as well as a seal of transparency logo to be used on the MFI’s marketing materials and website. All MFIs in Mali who have yet to submit their pricing data to MFTransparency are encouraged to do so, to show their clients, the Malian microfinance market and the international microfinance community their commitment to transparency.

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About MFTransparency

MicroFinance Transparency is an international non-governmental organization founded in 2008 with the purpose of facilitating transparent markets through pricing disclosure, education and policy advisory. MFTransparency represents an industry movement toward transparent practices and responsibility. Based in the United States, the group has organized transparent pricing efforts in nearly 30 countries on four continents, including 15 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. For more information please visit www.mftransparency.org.  Grameen Bank’s Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Elizabeth Littlefield, former CEO of CGAP, as well as nearly 800 industry professionals and organizations have committed to transparent pricing by endorsing MFTransparency and its initiative. For information on MFTransparency staff, please see Who We Are.

About the Transparent Pricing Initiative in West Africa

The Transparent Pricing Initiative in Mali is part of a broader project throughout West Africa. This project is focused on 8 countries in West Africa: Senegal, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Mali, Niger, Guinea Bissau and Cote d’Ivoire. These eight countries have been selected for their growing microfinance industries and their close partnership under the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). In July 2010, MFTransparency launched the Transparent Pricing Initiative in Senegal and Burkina Faso, and is now completing the data collection phase of these projects as well as those in Togo, Benin, Mali and Niger. As the industry leader in microfinance pricing methodology and transparency, MFTransparency facilitates training on costs and pricing of microloan products, pricing data collection and publication, and the development and dissemination of educational materials throughout West Africa.

More information

To submit data to the Transparent Pricing Initiative in Mali, please contact:

Mélina Djre
MFTransparency
[email protected]

For questions relating to this press release please contact:

Jordan Filko
MFTransparency
[email protected]

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