New Delhi: Pakistani microfinance pioneer Muhammad Amjad Saqib was Tuesday honoured with the Ramon Magsaysay Award, which is regarded as the ‘Asian Nobel Prize’.
An author, a former civil servant and a consultant for international organisations such as the UNICEF and World Bank, Saqib has had an over four-decade career in social and philanthropic services.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation Board described him as: “A visionary who founded one of the largest microfinance institutions in Pakistan, servicing millions of families.”
Saqib is the founder of Akhuwat Foundation, one of the largest MFIs in Pakistan. It offers loan packages to the poor, distributing the equivalent of $900 million.
Akhuwat uses places of worship, be it a mosque, church or temple, for loan disbursements, according to the award’s official website. It aims at transforming borrowers into donors, and fosters diversity and inclusion, serving anyone regardless of religion, caste, colour, and gender.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan congratulated Saqib on Twitter Wednesday saying, “We are proud of his achievement as we move forward in creating a welfare state based on Riasat e Madina Model”.
Have been told this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s highest honour, has been given to a Pakistani, Dr. Amjad Saqib, Founder Akhuwat. Congratulations to him. We are proud of his achievement as we move forward in creating a welfare state based on Riasat e Madina Model.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 31, 2021
The Ramon Magsaysay Award, established in 1957, pays homage to former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay. It is annually presented on the late president’s birthday — 31 August. The foundation gives the prize to Asians achieving excellence in various fields.
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Saqib’s career
Saqib was born on 1 February 1957, in Kamalia, a small city in Pakistan.
“I was more inclined towards reading than fun activities. I used to read Iqbal and Ghalib a lot,” he said, while speaking about his childhood in a 2016 interview with journalist Farrukh Shahbaz Warraich.
He graduated from King Edward Medical College, Lahore, and completed a Masters Degree in Public Administration from American University in Washington DC.
From 1985 to 2003, he served in the Pakistan Administrative Services after which he worked as a consultant to international organisations such as the Asian Development Bank, International Labour Organization, UNICEF and World Bank. His areas of expertise included poverty alleviation, microfinance, social mobilisation and education.
He established Akhuwat in 2001, which over the course of two decades, has grown into Pakistan’s largest MFI. In a 2017 interview to Gulf News, he explained that the word ‘Akhuwat’ comes from Prophet Mohammad’s concept of “Mawakhat” or brotherhood.
Throughout his life, he has received many honours including Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s third highest civilian award, and the UK’s Commonwealth Point of Light award.
(Edited by Amit Upadhyaya)
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