Meeting the double bottom line: the impact of Khushhali bank's microfinance program in Pakistan

Is it possible for microfinance institutions to simultaneously pursue profits and poverty reduction? This study explores this question by analyzing the impact of Khushhali Bank, the largest retail microfinance bank in Pakistan. Khushhali Bank has shown that it can scale up outreach while remaining focused on the core goals of operational and financial sustainability. Using primary data collected from over 2,000 rural and urban households across Pakistan, the study examines whether the bank also had an impact on economic or social measures of poverty, including empowerment of poor women, or income generating activities run by those households. The poorest of the poor - those subsisting on less than half the official poverty line - are demonstrated to have benefitted the most from the program.