VisionFund Zambia: Bringing Hope to the Hopeless

Vision Fund Zambia under the leadership of Simon Ziba is a deposit taking microfinance institution, 91% owned by VisionFund International and 3.1% by World Vision Zambia Ltd, with a rural focus targeting the economically active low income entrepreneurs who are excluded by traditional financial institutions mainly in the underserved rural areas. VisionFund Zambia has been in operation since 2003 having been incorporated in 2002 and helping towards reducing the number of the unbanked members of the society

VFZ currently has a network of 12 branches plus 9 sub branches, totaling to 21 locations largely dotted in rural areas in 8 out of the 10 provinces in Zambia (except Luapula Province and Western Province), serving 17,159 clients with a portfolio value of K70,337,000, impacting 58,001 children. VFZ has a staff compliment of 177 committed employees.

VFZ is one of the recognized MFIs driving the financial inclusion agenda in Zambia and enjoys a warm relationship with the regulator (Bank of Zambia) and the Zambian Government through programs in partnership with institutions such as RUFEP under the Ministry of Finance, Zambia. Overall, a strong partnership (integration) with World Vision Zambia Limited (WVZ) has been key in delivering rural financial empowerment through the various WVZ programs such as ANEW and THRIVE in the WVZ Area Programs (APs). VFZ also collaborates with GIZ mainly on technical capacity building to enable VFZ provide agricultural and rural finance efficiently and is also implementing the SaTF 3pin model savings group a rural banking strategy which is a precursor to deposit and savings business in partnership with MasterCard Foundation.