Quetta, 24th January 2008: Khushhali Bank Limited (KBL) in association with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has extended the outreach of its Scholarship Program in collaboration with the Baluchistan University of Information Technology, Engineering & Management Sciences (BUITEMS), Quetta.

An award ceremony was organized to mark the occasion, during which the scholarships were distributed to the qualifying students by Ghalib Nishtar, President Khushhali Bank Limited. These are merit-based scholarships, which are awarded to the deserving students once they qualify for a degree program as per the admission criteria of the University. The scholarships include the tuition and examination fees, along with course related material/books, boarding & lodging expenses. The students who receive these scholarships may also be offered special internship opportunities during the course of their education.

Khushhali Bank Limited, through its 10 branches in Baluchistan, operates in several districts of the province. The bank has so far serviced 50,579 loans in the province under various categories of agriculture, live stock, asset purchase, working capital and new business.

USAID’s support to Khushhali Bank Limited for the Scholarship Program is a part of the $1.5 billion in aid that US Government is providing to Pakistan over a period of five years to improve economic growth, education, health, governance and reconstruction of earthquake affected areas.

Ghalib Nishtar, President, Khushhali Bank Limited, extended his appreciation to USAID on the occasion and acknowledged their support for facilitating an initiative, which is aimed towards promoting education in the remote areas of Pakistan. He further mentioned the dire importance of promoting education, especially in Balochistan, which is the largest province of Pakistan, yet lags behind as far as development is concerned. He said “a major segment of our society is deprived access to quality education, which is one of the main impediments towards the nation’s economic development and growth. Through this scholarship program, we aim to empower students from under-developed areas, via opportunities that specifically cater towards their intellectual and professional development”.

He further mentioned that Khushhali Bank Limited - USAID Scholarship Program, launched in the year 2005, has awarded more than 88 scholarships to date to deserving candidates in prestigious universities of the country like IBA (Karachi and Sukkur), LUMS (Lahore), SZABIST (Karachi) and IMS Hayatabad (Peshawar). BUITEMS has previously been awarded 13 scholarships and with the additional 06 scholarships, the total number of their students availing scholarships under USAID - Khushhali Bank Limited Scholarship Program will go up to 19.

Commenting on this collaboration, Ahmed Farooq Bazai, Vice Chancellor, Baluchistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS), lauded Khushhali Bank Limited for extending this initiative. “This Scholarship Program has given many deserving students a chance to obtain quality education, and we at BUITEMS are happy to play our role in investing towards the future of our younger generation.”

About Khushhali Bank Limited: Khushhali Bank Limited (KBL) is rated as Pakistan’s largest and fastest growing retail microfinance bank operating under the Central Bank regulations. Established in the year 2000, the bank is funded by leading international financial institutions as a partnership between public, multinational and private sector commercial financial institutions. KBL’s mission is to market financial services tailored for the low income segment in line with international microfinance practices through extended network operating across the country.