TAKeo - Kandal branch grand opening ceremony

On December 26, 2008, CREDIT held its Takeo- Kandal branch Grand Opening Ceremony under the direction of the president, Mr. Lay Sokha, Bati district governor and Mr. Chan Mach, CREDIT’s General Manager.

The ceremony was also attended by CREDIT staff and management, district and deputy district governors, chiefs of communes, chiefs of villages, and other guests totaling nearly 400 people.
“I warmly welcome the presence of CREDIT in Bati district Mr. Lay Sokha said, “I would like to ask CREDIT to study potential clients before disbursing the loans to prevent problems.” The governor also said that clients will significantly benefit from loans provided by CREDIT if they use them on the right things.

Mr. Chan Mach, General Manager of CREDIT, said that as of November 2008, CREDIT has more than 33,000 clients and loans outstanding of about USD $20 million. Specifically, CREDIT’s Takeo- Kandal branch has recently separated from CREDIT Phnom Penh branch and now this branch has 3 sub branches under their supervision: Takhmao sub branch, Bati sub branch and Sa Ang sub branch. Now, CREDIT’s Takeo- Kandal branch has approximately 1,700 clients with the loans outstanding totaling more than USD $1.3 million. In the future, the branch will expand its operations to other districts of both provinces, Kandal and Takeo.

Mr. Chan Mach also states that cooperation from authority, along with continuous development of Cambodia’s infrastructure in rural areas will help reduce the costs associated with running a microfinance institution in these areas. Cooperation and infrastructure improvements will enable CREDIT to provide quicker services, maintain low interest rates, and be able to reach more people in need of loans in hard to reach rural areas.

battambang branch grand opening ceremony

On December 12th, 2008, CREDIT held its Battambang Branch Grand Opening Ceremony under the direction of president, Mr. Chhom Bunkhorn, deputy provincial governor, Mr. Tim Amstutz, CREDIT board chairman, and Mr. Chan Mach, CREDIT’s General Manager.

The ceremony was attended by CREDIT staff and management, CREDIT partner organizations, district governors, chiefs of communes, chiefs of villages, and other guests totaling nearly 400 people.
“I warmly welcome the presence of CREDIT in Battambang province which is currently seeing strong growth in many sectors, especially small and medium businesses. These business owners, such as those in the sectors of arts and crafts, small restaurants, etc, need small loans to fulfill their capital needs,” said by Mr. Chhom Bunkhorn, deputy provincial governor.

He strongly states that the success of microfinance depends on many factors, such as good services, proper loan assessment, authority cooperation and partnerships with development organizations.

CREDIT currently has about 400 staff and an outstanding loan portfolio over USD $18 million. It has (with) over 32,000 clients who are mainly living in rural areas throughout 9 provinces/cities.  As of October 2008, its Battambang branch had an outstanding loan portfolio of over USD $1.2 million with over 1,300 clients throughout 7 districts.

“Since its establishment in 2003, CREDIT has been continuously growing in all sectors. CREDIT has been actively providing families opportunities to start and expand their businesses, enabling people to improve their family’s standard of living. In the future, CREDIT will offer other financial services in order to fulfill its clients’ needs. It is working on becoming a full capacity institution with the ability to mobilize savings from the public in the near future. Mobilizing savings will increase stability of CREDIT, creating eternal sources of funds which can be further lent to its clients,” said by Mr. Chan Mach, CREDIT’s general manager.

Mr. Chan Mach also states that all levels of cooperation from authority, along with continuous development of Cambodia’s infrastructure in rural areas will help reduce the costs associated with running a microfinance institution in these areas. Cooperation and infrastructure improvements will enable CREDIT to provide quicker services, maintain low interest rates and be able to reach more people needing loans in hard to reach rural areas.