Indonesia holds a special place for Opportunity. It’s where our founder, David Bussau, made the first loans. The intention then was to help transform lives by giving a hand up, not a hand-out – so people could work their way out of poverty. This intention remains our mission today.
Much has changed in the way microfinance is done today. We're in Jakarta – meeting with some business and community leaders and the technical advisor, MicroSave, to consider new models for serving people in poverty.
There’s an interesting aspect to microfinance here; apart from the government-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), there are few large microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Indonesia. BRI claims to be the largest and most profitable MFI in the world, but its focus is mainly the densely populated areas of Java. The absence of other large MFIs has been due in part to the regulatory environment, a shortage of skilled managers and the economic geography in areas not served by BRI (Indonesia has over 13,000 islands). The result has been a lack of funding to Indonesian microfinance.
Indonesia’s population that lives in poverty is everywhere, with higher proportions in the outer islands and greater absolute numbers in Java. Technology, including the use of mobile telephone banking, allows operating costs to be reduced, making it possible to serve those living in rural and hard-to-reach areas. The regulatory environment is also changing. New structures are emerging and there are new opportunities for foreign involvement. And there’s a growing awareness of the need for corporate social responsibility.
Opportunity has a great partner in the remote east of Indonesia, Tanaoba Lais Manekat (TLM). Its 30,000 clients make it the fifth largest MFI in the country. It has grown dramatically in the last two years through a combination of skilled staff, good processes aided by technology and technical assistance, and funding from Opportunity and others. The learnings from TLM can now help drive scale elsewhere.
It’s exciting to consider what can be achieved. It’s a new start.
Robert Dunn
CEO
Opportunity International Australia
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