PRASAC

PRASAC started in 1995 with funding from the European Union as a development project. The credit component of the PRASAC project was implemented by three ministries of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC). The project aimed at rehabilitating and supporting the agricultural sector in 6 provinces around Phnom Penh namely Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Speu, Takeo, Prey Veng, and Svay Rieng. The project concluded in December 2003. To ensure access to financial services for rural communities and micro-enterprises the PRASAC project steering committee decided to transform its credit component into a licensed MFI. In March 2002, the transformation was started through the creation of the PRASAC Credit Association as a credit operator registered with the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC). In 2003, a trust fund called the Cambodia Rural Development Foundation (CRDF) and PRASAC Staff Company were established to facilitate the transformation. With two initial shareholders, PRASAC MFI Ltd. was established. It registered with the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) as a private limited liability company in August 2004. In November 2004 it received its license from the NBC to provide financial services to rural communities and micro-enterprises. To finalize the transformation PRASAC began to identify investors in 2005 and negotiate with them in order to replace its temporary shareholders namely CRDF.