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VisionFund Cambodia was established as a limited liability micro-finance institution (MFI) in 2004, following the success of World Vision's micro-enterprise development (MED) program.
Almost simultaneously, VisionFund International, a global micro-finance capital fund, was established to allow World Vision to expand micro-lending to poor people who have good business ideas but no capital to see them through.
 VisionFund Cambodia is a separate, World Vision owned, governed and managed micro-finance institution that provides small loans to the 'entrepreneurial poor'. Operating since early 2001 (initially through MED programs), it is predominantly a rural micro-finance provider but is beginning to provide micro-finance to the poor who live and work around the Phnom Penh metropolitan dump.
All VisionFund Cambodia clients are based in communities where sponsorship also exists. Here they are already benefiting from clean water, healthcare, primary education, agricultural training for secure food production, vocational skills training and infrastructure development. These are the macro-foundations on which micro-businesses begin to flourish.
Thanks to international investment, VisionFund Cambodia is able to provide loans which range between US$20 and US$250, therefore enhancing the sources of affordable, convenient and accessible finance.
Through activities including noodle-making, water jar production, pig-raising, vegetable gardening and village shop management, people, and especially women, are breaking the hand-to-mouth cycle of poverty.
VisionFund Cambodia’s main lending methodology is Community Bank loans. It also offers smaller group lending (Solidarity Groups) for clients with increased capitalisation needs (US$125 – US$1000) and Individual Lending.
As of December 2006, VisionFund Cambodia has over 35,000 active clients. Our average loan size per client is around US$170.
VFC measures its success in social terms. This includes moving clients to the next economic tier. These tiers are categorized as: the poorest of the poor, poor, and the not-so-poor. VFC loans positively impacting 240,000 dependent children in 31 of the poorest districts in Cambodia. Women comprise over 81% of VFC’s clients and this has led to positive social changes, such as a reduction in domestic violence, an increase in women’s rights and improvements in food supply and quality.
VisionFund Cambodia is a financially sustainable organisation and is focused on continuing to expand and deliver affordable financial services to Cambodia’s poor.
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