KfW Senior Vice-President Doris Kohn visits MFBA

Baku, 1 March 2007. Ms Doris Kohn, Senior Vice-President of the German Development Bank KfW, visited Micro Finance Bank of Azerbaijan’s Sumgait branch today. Ms Kohn was accompanied by a delegation from KfW that included KfW Azerbaijan Country Director Mr Reinhold Strauss, and KFW South Caucuses Regional Manager Mr Christian Calov. The Delegation met with the staff of the branch and visited several small businesses who have received loans from MFBA.
At the conclusion of the visit Ms Kohn said ‘I think that the development of the Micro and Small business sector is key to the future of Azerbaijan – it provides jobs and income to the majority of the people. KfW is glad to support MFBA as on of the leading providers of loans and banking services to Micro and Small businesses in Azerbaijan.’
This was Ms Kohn’s first visit to Azerbaijan and the highest ranking KfW mission to come to the country. KfW’s mission is to improve the economic and social conditions of the people in developing countries. It is one of the leading foreign investors in Azerbaijan and is a shareholder of MFBA, supporting the bank for its role in financing micro and small business.
MFBA’s mission is to be the leading provider of financial services to privately owned Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME) in Azerbaijan, and one of the leading Banks in the country. It strives to be the ‘House Bank’ for MSME, offering them and their owners all necessary financial services, such as loans, current account and savings facilities, and payment services. The operations of MFBA strive to achieve the highest banking standards in particular with respect to efficiency, customer satisfaction, transparency and accountability.
MFBA is 100% foreign owned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, by KfW and the German consulting company LFS Financial Systems GmbH.