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		Citi Country Head Arif Usmani, left, and Executive Director of Acumen Fund, Aun Rehmanat, at the ceremony commemorating Citi's US$30,000 grant for a low income housing research initiative.

There is an acute shortage of affordable housing units across Pakistan and the situation is more severe in low-income populations, a segment characterized by high levels of unmet demand. As the demand for affordable housing is on the rise, the issue is further compounded by the currently limited housing finance products available for low income segments that can facilitate home ownership. One of the overarching questions social entrepreneurs continue to face is how to adequately address the unmet demand for housing-related credit products.

This state of affairs was one of the key drivers behind Citi Foundation's decision to endorse Acumen Fund's "Pakistan Housing Knowledge Pillar" – a research program that seeks to better understand customer behavior and product preferences at the base of the pyramid and design appropriate financial products to better serve low income communities. Citi Foundation's US$30,000 grant will be used to conduct a detailed market assessment as well as create a prototype housing finance product which demonstrates the financial sustainability of offering housing finance to the low income housing market in Pakistan.

The grant, another milestone for Acumen Fund in its effort to address poverty and its associated ills in Pakistan, was commemorated at a joint ceremony held at the Acumen Fund's Karachi offices in the presence of Country Director Aun Rahman and Citi Pakistan Country Officer and Managing Director Arif Usmani. Also present at the occasion were senior board and management teams of both organizations.

Speaking at the ceremony, Acumen Fund Pakistan Country Director, Aun Rahman, said "Acumen Fund and Citi have a shared interest and goal in providing low income communities access to credit and second generation microfinance products that they could not otherwise obtain. Citi Foundation has demonstrated a clear commitment to the global microfinance industry and to small and medium entrepreneurs, especially in Pakistan where the bank is playing a lead role in financing and strengthening the sector. We are excited about this partnership and look forward to working with Citi on deepening knowledge around critical issues facing both these sectors."

Arif Usmani said, "Citi's social efforts are centered on financial inclusion for all through greater outreach in terms of education, financial literacy and the development of microfinance. We hope that this program and all the other social sector collaborations we are involved in will provide relief to individuals living on incomes of $2 to $4 per day. That is the biggest challenge all of us face and partnering with Acumen Fund – which has a global record in housing and poverty – we seek to address the need for housing finance products directed at low income communities."

Citi recognizes the global benefits of a robust microfinance industry such as poverty reduction and local sustainable economic growth and development and has worked extensively in this regard, through its nation-wide Microentrepreneurship awards program with the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), its Global Microfinance Network Strengthening Program with Pakistan Microfinance Network (PMN), its financial education for women program in interior Sind with Thardeep Rural Development Program (TRDP) and nationwide with Tameer Foundation Trust, product development initiatives with Kashf Foundation, as well as equity placements with a microfinance bank. Citi also arranged the first commercial funding transaction for an MFI in Pakistan in 2007– a landmark transaction that opened up alternative sources of funding for the local sector.