General Loan: 

The loan is intended to allow rural and urban poor households to finance their economic activities and build a strong capital base. General Loans are working capital loans given to poor and disadvantaged households. General Loans range from BDT 5,000 to BDT 25,00,000, depending on the economic activity, the borrower’s management capacity, and demand for the product and/or services in the market. The loans are repayable in 45-90 installments weekly for 1-2 years and 12-36 installments monthly for 1-3 years.

Micro-Enterprise Loan:

SAP-Bangladesh has developed its micro-enterprise loan for the 15-20% of entrepreneurs capable of graduating from groups, as well as entrepreneurs in the community. Micro-enterprise loans are individual loans that are assessed on the basis of household cash flow, business projections, and the reputation of the borrower amongst her/his business peers/in the community. The size of the loan depends on the size of the businesses and the comparative advantages that the entrepreneurs have. With the Micro-enterprise loan, borrowers are expected both to provide equity and generate wage labor employment (other than family labor).

Micro-enterprise loans range between BDT 50,000 and 25,00,000, repayable in 45-90 installments as weekly for 1-2 years and 12-36 installments as monthly for 1-3 years.

Agriculture Loan:

The loan is exclusively for agricultural activities and is designed to increase the farm activities enhancing the livelihood of the poor rural and peri-urban households. The agricultural loan also enhances the food security of the households. The loans are disbursed to landless and marginal farmers in organized groups.

Agricultural loans range between BDT 10,000 to 25,00,000, repayable in 45-90 installments as weekly for 1-2 years and 12-36 installments as monthly for 1-3 years.

Hand Loan:

The loan is intended to serve as a “social security net” and was designed and implemented after the Customer Consultative Group Discussions and Client Satisfaction Surveys conducted by SAP-Bangladesh. The hand loan is designed to protect customers from shocks to their household economies and the erosion of their financial, physical, and social assets. Hand loans are used to finance important festivals (Eid, Puja, Christmas, marriages, etc.), health care, and child education. The hand loan is a small loan and ranges between BDT 5,000 and BDT 50,000, repayable within 3-6 months.

Disaster Loan:

In extreme emergencies, such as cyclones and floods, SAP-Bangladesh provides disaster relief with support from leading donor agencies. However, instead of offering large-scale or long-term charitable activities, the organization places emphasis on the promotion of self-help and self-reliance in disaster-affected rural communities, encouraging and helping households to stand on their own feet. The disaster loan ranges from BDT 1,000 – to BDT 20,000 with a low interest rate to be repaid in one year.

The disaster loan is intended to reduce the effect of shocks on the households’ financial and physical assets immediately after natural disasters. The disaster loans meet affected households’ immediate needs for cash and thus respond to their situation.

Water & Sanitation Loan:

Environmental health concerns continue to be an ominous factor contributing to diseases and poverty. Access to safe drinking water which is also free from arsenic contamination and to hygienic sanitation will reduce sickness and thus increase labor productivity. The tube-well loan facilitates access to safe water for drinking and other purposes. The sanitary loan is offered to customers seeking to install sanitary latrines in their homesteads. Both the sanitary and tube-well loans range from BDT 5,000 – to BDT 2,00,000, repayable in 45-90 installments as weekly for 1-2 years and 12-36 installments as monthly for 1-3 years.

SAP-Bangladesh MF Program

SAP-Bangladesh follows a peer group approach. All Groups are poor women. Each group has one group leader. All members sit together once a week. One field staff discuss different social or local issues, makes new decision through information sharing, find business opportunities, collect weekly savings and loan installment, consciously prepare new loan proposal, etc.

Some Special features of the SAP-Bangladesh Microfinance Program:

• Need-based product with the scope of diversification
• Customers freedom
• Open withdrawal savings
• Savings withdrawal has no relationship with loan outstanding
• Loan is optional
• Use of commercial money as RLF(RelationShip Fund)
• Strong financial discipline and internal control at the branch level
• Branch office automation with user-friendly software (ongoing)
• Operational and financial self-sufficiency